Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho: Pundits must be very brave to criticise my record

Mourinho finds himself in perhaps the most difficult moment of his career to date, with the Blues’ poor start to the season leaving them well off the pace in the Premier League and leading to press reports that the club are considering sacking the Portuguese.

Mourinho believes that the incessant analysis of pundits on television and radio has created a culture of knee-jerk reactions within football - saying that it is "brave" of those who have never achieved anything in management to criticise him after a couple of disappointing results.

"I know the culture now, even in England,” Mourinho said, in an interview with the Irish Times. “Before it was not the culture in this country, but, especially the pundits, they have a new job, which has become a very important job, it's changed the culture a lot.

"Some of the pundits are really brave. To criticise someone with my history, you need to be brave, as there is a risk someone like myself will say, ‘Shut up. You've won nothing in your life’. But I won't do that. I just work and hope that the good results are coming."

Mourinho also seemed to offer a veiled dig at another old nemesis, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, in noting that security is now an alien concept for all but a handful of managers.

“You know, stability for the manager, in general, it’s gone,” he said. “It’s gone for everyone, except a couple of ‘special ones.’”

Mourinho is confident he and Chelsea will come through their current difficulties – and insists that his track record means he is not feeling the strain of the situation.

He added: "I don't feel the kind of pressure of before. Because now I have a history, a big history.

"I really don't accept that people can doubt my ability just because I am having some bad results."

There was some good news for Mourinho on Tuesday, as it was confirmed that he is one the 10-man shortlist for the 2015 FIFA world coach of the year award.