Samuel Eto’o showed he bears no hard feelings to Jose Mourinho over the Chelsea’s boss’s jibes about his age with a goal celebration mocking his OAP status.
Mourinho was caught on camera recently suggesting Eto’o was 35 rather than his stated age of 32, but the Cameroon striker looked like a teenager as he raced on to Jan Vertonghen’s disastrous back-pass to put Chelsea ahead against Spurs in the 56th minute of their 4-0 win on Sunday.
And his goal celebration — walking like a hunched old man to lean on a corner flag, feeling his back — brought a smile to his team-mates and Mourinho.
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Sense of humour: Eto'o aims his celebration at those saying he is too old for the Chelsea team
Going ahead: Eto'o pounced on a mistake from Jan Vertonghen to put Chelsea into the lead
Favourites: Chelsea players celebrate as they move seven points clear at the top of the Premier League
‘I didn’t suggest the celebration but I knew about it,’ laughed the manager afterwards.
‘We thought it was good because the best way to defuse the situation is to make fun of it.’
Eto’o celebrates his 33rd birthday on Monday but Mourinho will not be joining in. ‘The players are not training on Sunday and Monday so I suppose Samuel will celebrate with his family,’ he said.
Animated: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho gesticulates from the touchline during the game
Meanwhile, Mourinho insisted he would not discuss the chances of an England return for John Terry out of respect for Roy Hodgson.
‘Roy said a couple of weeks ago it is no story. Roy and I are very professional — he doesn’t speak about Ashley Cole and I don’t speak about John Terry,' he went on.
Terry reiterated that he sees no way back to the international scene. ‘Those days are behind me now,’ he said.
All over: John Terry says his England days are over
Man-marked: Terry put in another impressive performance during Saturday's win over Spurs as he kept quiet Emmanuel Adebayor
When Jan Vertonghen gifted Chelsea their opening goal, the groans from Tottenham’s dugout would have been echoed in north London and the North-West.
There is less hope for Arsenal, Liverpool and even Manchester City to be champions. Chelsea lead the table by seven points and five of their next six opponents lie in the bottom half of the table.
‘Little Horse’ Mourinho can try to dampen expectations all he likes, but nobody is fooled. Chelsea are unbeaten in the League in 2014 and, as they showed on Saturday, once in front they are utterly ruthless.
For 56 minutes, the game plan set out by Tim Sherwood and Spurs to stifle Chelsea, with Kyle Walker surprisingly used as a winger and Aaron Lennon at No 10, had worked.
On target: Eden Hazard celebrates after putting Chelsea two goals ahead from the penalty spot
Finding the corner: The Belgian winger calmly slotted the ball past Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal
Marching orders: Referee Michael Oliver shows Younes Kaboul a red card for a challenge on Samuel Eto'o
Sense of humour: Eto'o aims his celebration at those saying he is too old for the Chelsea team
Going ahead: Eto'o pounced on a mistake from Jan Vertonghen to put Chelsea into the lead
Favourites: Chelsea players celebrate as they move seven points clear at the top of the Premier League
Match facts
Chelsea: Cech 6, Ivanovic 6, Cahill 6, Terry 6.5, Azpilicueta 7, Lampard 5 (Oscar 46, 6.5), Matic 7.5, Ramires 6.5, Hazard 8, Schurrle 6 (Willian 66, 6), Eto’o 8 (Ba 76, 7)
Subs: Mikel, Salah, Schwarzer, Kalas.
Manager: Jose Mourinho 7.5
Yellow: Lampard, Azpilicueta
Goals: Eto'o 56, Hazard 60, Ba 88, 89
Spurs: Lloris 5.5, Naughton 5, Dawson 6 (Fryers 72, 5), Kaboul 4, Vertonghen 4.5, Sandro 6, Bentaleb 5, Walker 5.5, Sigurdsson 5 (Paulinho 61, 5.5), Lennon 5, Adebayor 5.5.
Subs: Soldado, Townsend, Chadli, Friedel, Kane.
Manager: Tim Sherwood 6
Yellow: Bentaleb, Naughton, Sandro
Red: Kaboul
Referee: Michael Oliver 7.
Attendance: 41,598
Man of the Match: Eden Hazard
*Player ratings by Alex Horlock at Stamford Bridge
Then, came Vertonghen’s double folly. First, the Belgian slipped as he tried to turn inside to stop Andre Schurrle closing him down. Then, in a desperate attempt to retrieve the situation, he stuck out a leg and succeeded only in playing the perfect pass for Samuel Eto’o.
The Cameroon striker, drafted into in the starting line-up minutes before kick-off when Fernando Torres injured his groin in the warm-up, finished easily.
His ‘old man’ celebration, poking fun at Mourinho’s recent comments questioning his official age of 32, lifted the atmosphere and transformed a close game into a Chelsea romp.
Spurs manager Sherwood, who refused to bite at Gary Lineker’s suggestion that he’d named a ‘pick ’n’ mix line-up’, was peeved at referee Michael Oliver for giving a spot-kick after a tangle between Eto’o and Younes Kaboul.
But he saved most of his anger for his own players and their meek surrender after playing so well for an hour. ‘We have capitulated too often and again today,’ he said.
‘It is disappointing to see: 2-0 down to Chelsea you are not going to win the game, but you expect to see a little bit more gut and a little bit of feather-rustling.
I don’t want to be the only one who shouts at them (the players). I think they need to dig each other out. I am gutted, not about the result but on the capitulation the team have shown this season.’
Opposite emotions: Tim Sherwood shakes the hand of Jose Mourinho after the final whistle
Taking advantage: Demba Ba scored Chelsea's third and fourth goals of the evening
Embarrassing: Eden Hazard rounded Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris early in the game but couldn't finish
Keep your composure! He had an open goal to aim at with no defenders in sight
Wasted opportunity: His shot went wide of the goal to the dismay of the home fans
Season at glance
- Premier League
- Championship
- League One
- League Two
- Scottish Premiership
- Scottish Div 1
- Scottish Div 2
- Scottish Div 3
Of Tottenham’s top-four hopes now, he replied: ‘Slim.’ He added: ‘It all went Pete Tong (wrong) after the first goal. I appreciate referees have a tough job and have to make a tough call but it could well have gone against us. I think it is a soft decision because I didn’t think it was a penalty.’
Interestingly, Sherwood believes City can still pip Chelsea and deny Mourinho a third Premier League title because of their extra firepower.
Less plausible was Mourinho’s assertion that he would rather be in City’s position — nine points behind Chelsea but with three games in hand and a superior goal difference.
‘If they win all their matches, they are champions. We can’t say the same so I would prefer to be them,’ he said.
After a goalless first half, Mourinho the master tactician did it again, hauling off Frank Lampard, who had been booked, and introducing Oscar, who narrowed the gaps between defence and attack.
The manager said: ‘We can say the first goal was a mistake but the way Eto’o read it was fantastic. After that, it was easy to pass, easy to control, easy for me to be calm.’
Until Vertonghen’s blunder, Stamford Bridge was getting edgy as the fans feared a repeat of the 0-0 draw against West Ham in January, although on this occasion Spurs could not be accused of ‘19th-century tactics’ with Sandro and Kaboul forcing Petr Cech into good saves.
Tricky decision: Samuel Eto'o also rounded keeper Lloris but when he went down no foul was given
Down: The Chelsea striker was left sprawling and required several minutes of treatment
Argument: The pair didn't quite see eye to eye on the incident afterwards
Big men: Emmanuel Adebayor and John Terry were up against each at Stamford Bridge
DISTANCE COVERED STATS
MINS PLD KM MILES
Chelsea - total 109.5 68.0
Nemanja Matic 90 12.0 7.4
Ramires 90 11.2 7.0
Eden Hazard 90 10.2 6.3
Ramires 90 11.2 7.0
Eden Hazard 90 10.2 6.3
Spurs - total 104.2 64.7
Nabil Bentaleb 90 11.0 6.9
Sandro 90 10.7 6.7
Kyle Walker 90 10.7 6.6
Sandro 90 10.7 6.7
Kyle Walker 90 10.7 6.6
- Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the Official Player Rating Index of the Barclays Premier League
The fine finish from Eto’o between Hugo Lloris’s legs opened the floodgates however.
Just four minutes later, Kaboul felt aggrieved to be shown a red card though Eto’o had got goalside of him and there seemed to be contact.
Eden Hazard planted the penalty down the middle and Mourinho had little sympathy for Spurs.
‘I have complained about referees before, as you know, but not when I lost 4-0. It has to be more than that,’ he said.
With Sandro being used as an emergency centre-half and other players still in unfamiliar positions, it was little surprise when Chelsea boosted their goal difference late on.
Substitute Demba Ba could not miss from four yards when Sandro fell in front of him.
Even more bizarre was the final goal, Lloris and Walker attempting a ridiculous ‘one-two’ that fell kindly for the Senegal striker.
Athletic: Tottenham Nabil Bentaleb springs up to intercept a ball in the midfield
Watchful eye: Tottenham's Kyle Walker comes under pressure from Chelsea defender Branislas Ivanovic
Tough challenge: Cesar Azpilicueta goes in studs up with Spurs' man Jan Vertonghen
Annoyance: Bentaleb shows his frustration after missing a simple chance for Tottenham
Physicality: Spurs' defender Walker feels the full force of a challenge from Nemanja Matic
Head up: Matic plays the ball around Younes Kaboul as he looks to get Chelsea up the other end of the pitch
Famous face: Former tennis player Boris Becker was on of the interested spectators at Stamford Bridge
Giant leap: Chelsea's Andre Schurrle rises above Walker to head a chance
Wrestling match: The masked Ramires battles with Sandro in the middle of the park
Animated: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho gesticulates from the touchline during the game
Grabbing hold of: Kyle Naughton keeps a close eye on Schurrle as he tries to turn away
Foul! Hazard falls flat on his face under a challenge from the enthusiastic Walker
All smiles: Man vs Food presenter Adam Richman (blue cap) sits in the Tottenham fans
On the wing: Tottenham's Gylfi Sigurdsson keeps the ball in play as Gary Cahill watches on
Power play: Eto'o uses his body to hold off his marker Michael Dawson
Anger: There were protests outside Stamford Bridge aimed at Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich
Sensitive topic: Several of the protestors carried Ukrainian flags after the recent political problems
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