Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho admitted that he risked the sack after a 3-1 home defeat by Southampton on Saturday left the Premier League champions 10 points off the pace.
“If the club wants to sack me, they have to sack me, because I am not running away,” Mourinho told Sky Sports in an extraordinary post-match interview at Stamford Bridge.
“It is a crucial moment in the history of this club because if the club sacks me, they sack the best manager this club had and the message is bad results and the manager is guilty.
“This is a moment for people to assume their responsibilities. I assume my responsibility and the players should assume theirs too.
“There are other people at the club who should assume their responsibilities and stick together.”
Having fallen behind to a 10th-minute Willian free-kick, Southampton hit back through Steven Davis, Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle to condemn Chelsea to their fourth defeat of the campaign.
It is Chelsea’s worst start to an English top-flight season since 1978, when they finished the campaign at the foot of the table and were relegated.
“I consider myself to have a big self-esteem and a big ego, and I consider myself the best, leaving the worst period of my career and worst results of my career,” Mourinho added.
“Doing that as a professional hurts me a lot. Doing that at Chelsea hurts me twice because it hurts me as a professional and because I like this club very, very much, so I want to carry on, no doubt.”
Beaten 2-1 at Porto in the Champions League earlier this week, Chelsea failed to muster a single shot on target in the second half against Southampton as they lost at home for the second time in three league matches.
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