Chelsea are still my team, says Jose Mourinho

As Chelsea's Champions League clash with Inter Milan approaches Jose Mourinho has begun the mind games, reigniting his rivalry with Carlo Ancelotti and claiming that Chelsea have not improved or moved on since he left Stamford Bridge two-and-a-half years ago.

The Portuguese coach claimed credit for most of the talent at the club and went as far as suggested that even the warm-up drills are the ones he introduced during his tenure.

The unmistakable implication is that Chelsea are still Mourinho's team and he even took a sly swipe at Ancelotti - praising him for not tinkering with the successful methods he had introduced.

The former Chelsea coach returned to Stamford Bridge in December to watch the game against Fulham and based his comments on what he saw that day.

"The warm-up is the warm-up they did in our time. The way they defend set-pieces is exactly the same," he said. "Sometimes they play a 4-4-2 diamond, sometimes they play 4-3-3, which are exactly the systems we worked when there."

He said the only frontline players who he wasn't familiar with were Nicolas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic, and described Chelsea as "a team without secrets".

Mourinho appeared to suggest that the reason nothing had changed under the four managers the club have had since he left in 2007 was because his methods were so good.

"I think it's the quality of a good coach — and Ancelotti is a good coach — to understand how the players feel most comfortable and instead of making crazy changes just fine tune. Ancelotti is very good and the team feels comfortable this way."

The faint praise may be designed to get a rise out of Ancelotti and cajole him into abandoning his usual gameplan for the clash with Inter. There is already history between the Chelsea coaches old and new. Ancelotti was in charge of AC Milan when Mourinho arrived at Inter, and the Italian was said to be unimpressed by the manner in which the 'Special One' conducted himself. ·