Carvalho backs down as Mourinho cracks the whip

Chelsea v Arsenal: Michael Essien witnessed the wrath of Jose Mourinho on his first day at Chelsea after his long-awaited £24.4 million move from Lyon as the manager made an example of the rebellious Ricardo Carvalho.

Mourinho was moved to give Carvalho a humiliating dressing-down in front of his team-mates yesterday after the Portugal centre-back publicly questioned his manager's decision to drop him for the first Premiership match at Wigan.

"I killed Carvalho," said Mourinho with not a little delight.

"You can imagine, Michael Essien arrives in the dressingroom and the manager kills Carvalho in front of everyone. We had a private conversation on Saturday and that was not enough - he gives his reaction to the world; everybody could read it.

"I felt, why not in front of the family? It is good: now Michael Essien doesn't need an IQ test."

That was a reference to Mourinho's earlier remark that Carvalho should visit a specialist for failing to understand his methods, something on which he expanded yesterday.

"I told Carvalho on Saturday to look at the statistics," he said. "Terry and Gallas have conceded two goals in 20 games together. "It is pure mathematics, it's not philosophy. Ricardo has worked for four years with me, he has a lot of experience and he knows how I work in these situations.

"You don't have to be clever to understand that; so that's why I told him to have an IQ test."

Though Carvalho wanted to put his side of the argument, he was denied the opportunity by his manager. Instead he had to content himself with a public apology yesterday, admitting his regret at his comments and saying that they "came from my frustration at not playing".

Clearly Mourinho's rebuke had the desired effect. "I saw the players on Thursday for the first time since Saturday and I spent my meeting with them speaking about the arrival of Michael and the 'beautiful' interview of Carvalho," said Mourinho.

"I gave him no chance to explain why he said what he said. My meeting is my meeting. He speaks only when I want. We spoke on Saturday and he gave an interview on Tuesday. So we spoke yesterday again. That's enough."

After that initiation Essien will be in no doubt where the authority lies at Chelsea. Mourinho said he will not select Carvalho for Arsenal's visit tomorrow but refuses to bear a grudge against a player he bought for £19.8 million from his former club Porto.

While he questions Carvalho's grasp of maths, Mourinho's understanding of psychology is evident.

"I don't need to be in love with my players, I just need a correct relationship with them," he said. "But there is no chance of him leaving, especially after that interview. No chance. You can't let a player go when he gives this kind of interview. If you do this it is easy (for players) to think that if I give an interview against the manager, I can leave."

The strategy illustrates Mourinho's understanding of players' thoughts, something for which Arsene Wenger has been credited as being the ultimate authority. Arsenal's manager is respected by his Chelsea counterpart despite their rivalry. Wenger marks his 500th Premiership game tomorrow, and the milestone drew a tribute from Mourinho.

"It is a fantastic achievement," he said. "For a non-English manager to arrive in this country and do 500 matches and a lot of victories, a lot of trophies, it's fantastic."

Essien joins the Premiership champions after the summer's longest transfer saga but the 22-year-old's reaction was benign.

"It was a very difficult situation," he said. "I wanted to play at Chelsea and in the end they understood my frustration. The chairman wanted to keep his best players and I wanted to come to the Premiership."

Meanwhile Wenger feels points against Chelsea are worth double. He has never lost to Chelsea in the 17 Premiership encounters of his Arsenal reign.

"You look at the seasons when you win the championship you always come back and say 'we did not lose against Man United, we did not lose against Chelsea or Liverpool' and, coincidence, you win the league," the Arsenal manager said. "So Sunday is a very, very big game." Guardian Service