English Premier League: What I expect of Schurrle is cold blood, says Mourinho

Chelsea manager believes in forward’s potential after Fulham win.

LONDON: Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes that there is more to come from Andre Schurrle after the Germany international’s hat-trick sent his side four points clear at the Premier League summit.

Schurrle has struggled to establish himself in Mourinho’s starting line-up and his appearance in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Fulham was only his eighth league start since his £18 million move from Bayer Leverkusen last June.

But he strengthened his claim for more regular action with a second-half treble at Craven Cottage — his first goals since early December.

Schurrle produced three excellent finishes within 17 minutes and Mourinho believes that the fleet-footed forward is now coming to terms with life in the Premier League.

“It’s something I expect from Schurrle,” said Mourinho. “He’s in a learning process in relation to the Premier League. He needs to understand what the Premier League is, to experiment.

“The referees are good, don’t give many faults, the defenders are aggressive, the teams are fighting teams. He is in a learning process.”

It’s difficult for him to play 90 minutes for us, doing things he’s never done in his life, but what I expect from him is cold blood.”

Mourinho admitted that he had been disappointed by his side’s first-half display and revealed that he had left his team in silence during the half-time break.

“They were there, ready for me [to talk], but I was not ready for them. They showed they were very intelligent. Without words, they understood.”

Liverpool more than just Suarez, insists Rodgers

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers insists that the Anfield giants’ pursuit of the Premier League title is not all down to Luis Suarez despite another virtuoso performance by the livewire Uruguayan.

Suarez, on his 100th league appearance for the club, was named man-of-the-match in the 3-0 win at Southampton that lifted Liverpool into second place in the table.

He scored the opening goal before his cross was swept home by Raheem Sterling for the second his turn in the area proved too much for Jose Fonte in the last minute and Steven Gerrard converted the penalty.

But Rodgers would not single out Suarez for special praise.

“It helps when you have a team and a squad, said Rodgers. “Suarez was sensational. Although he has only scored four of our last 33 goals ,he is a huge influence.”

Stoke defeat a major blow, admits Wenger

Arsene Wenger conceded Arsenal’s stuttering Premier League title bid had suffered a ‘major setback’ after they lost ground at the top with a shock 1-0 defeat at Stoke.

Jon Walters’ second-half penalty handed Stoke a famous win at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday and left the Gunners four points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea in third place.

“It is not slightly worrying, it is a big worry for us to lose a game like that,” said Wenger. “It’s a massive setback.

“In a game like that, we didn’t produce the performance we wanted. To win a title when you are expected to perform you have to perform. It’s as simple as that.”

Meanwhile, Newcastle fined manager Alan Pardew £100,000 for head butting an opposition player in the Premier League game at Hull.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2014.

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