Claudio Ranieri's parting shot that Jose Mourinho might struggle to adapt to the gulf in class from Portugal to the English premier league was dismissed within an hour of the new man taking the helm at Stamford Bridge.
The 41-year-old, whose considerable faith in his own ability was further underpinned by Porto's Champions League success last week, spent his first day at work completely winning over the usually disdainful English media.
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"Please don't call me arrogant, but I am European champion and I think I am a special one," he cooed, to acquiescent nods from the assembled journalists at his "unveiling" on Wednesday.
"We have top players and a top manager so we want top things. We should not be afraid to say we want to win."
For a man who led Porto to back-to-back league titles, the UEFA Cup last season and, against all the odds, the Champions League this year, it is no surprise that he has come to a club with almost limitless funds fully expecting more silverware.
"I've had a taste of success as manager and I want to keep it," he said. "I don't want to get to 2010 with the same titles I have now, I want more."
His eyes were alive with excitement as he explained how his success has been built on team work and mutual respect. "There is no 'I', only 'we'," he said.
It quickly became clear that many of the under-performing, highly-paid stars bought by his predecessor would play no part in the new regime.
"There are no bad players here but I need players who can adapt to the manager's philosophy," he said, adding that he would need 15 days to make his initial evaluation.
IDEAL SQUAD
"You think you know them from TV or playing against them but only when you really know them, when you work with them, can you detect their football philosophy and see if they are able to work with the manager and his ideas."
Mourinho said his ideal squad would be 21 players plus three goalkeepers, explaining that a huge squad of under-utilised star players could breed only discontent.
"A big squad cannot work well," he said. "I cannot have a player who knows he has little chance of playing ... where is his motivation?
"It is not good for the team. When you have a box of oranges and one of the oranges is sick, one month later you have 10 to send to the garbage."
A graduate in physical education, Mourinho also has a refreshing attitude to the "gruelling" nature of the modern game, saying that there is no reason players should not be able to operate twice a week.
"To do so you need perfect tactical organisation," he said. "When you have it, players don't need to run so much, not even use their energy thinking what they have to do.
"Also it is very important to have a style of play and try to dominate and play how you want to and not how the opposition wants you to."
Having studied "football methodology" and worked alongside Bobby Robson at Porto and Louis van Gaal at Barcelona, Mourinho has definite ideas on how the game should be played.
DIAMOND FORMATION
He says he likes 4-4-2, usually preferring the diamond formation, but said he wanted players who could operate "between the lines".
He dismissed Ranieri's criticism by saying: "I didn't win the UEFA Cup and Champions League playing against 20 teams from the Portuguese league. We played Partizan Belgrade, Real Madrid, Olympique Marseille, Olympique Lyon, Manchester United, Deportivo Coruna and Monaco."
Saying he would rather not react further he could not resist adding with a smile: "I could say that he (Ranieri) is in football for 20 years and the only thing he has won is the Spanish Cup ... I don't like to, but I could."
He made respectful noises about Ferguson and Wenger but made it clear he was relishing playing a full part in the mind games the two have become known for.
"With some coaches in Portuguese football I could smell from my dugout which substitute they were going to use at halftime," he said.
"So I have to study them (English managers) as opponents and to try to know them, their playing style, their philosophy, their strengths and weaknesses and everything about them."
