We have plenty of work to do, says Mourinho

JOSE MOURINHO feels there is still plenty of work ahead as he prepares for Chelsea's second match of the Champions World Series in America.

The squad were given some time off on Sunday morning, having arrived in Pittsburgh on the back of an impressive 4-2 victory over Celtic. The Blues face Roma on Thursday evening.

The match against the Scottish champions, played out in the searing heat of Seattle, gave the new Chelsea boss the perfect opportunity to cast his eye over the squad which he hopes will serve him well in both the forthcoming Premiership and Champions League campaigns.

And Mourinho, who admits he remains in the market for another central defender, hopes an encounter with the Italian giants will provide him with a few more clues as to what needs to be ironed out before the new Premiership season kicks off next month against Manchester United.

"They will give us a completely different football, a completely different culture, and this is good for us," said Mourinho.

"This is what I used to do at Porto in pre-season. I'd look to play a Spanish team, a German team, English, Italians. It's always good to play with different schools because we have to play in different ways."

The Chelsea manager added: "Some of our players are still not in the best condition yet, there is room for improvement and we will work on that."

Alexei Smertin, back at Stamford Bridge after a loan spell with Portsmouth, made the most of his opportunity on Saturday with a spectacular strike to open the scoring.

New signing Mateja Kezman was also on the mark, netting twice after coming off the bench and is looking forward to another run-out on Thursday.

"We must keep our confidence and motivation," said the Serbia and Montenegro striker who joined this summer for £5.25million from PSV Eindhoven.

"We all know Roma from television, we have watched them many times, it's a big club."

Record signing Didier Drogba did not feature against Celtic, nor did midfielder Tiago. But both could make their Chelsea bows on Thursday, while Republic of Ireland winger Damien Duff is in contention as he continues his recovery from a shoulder problem, with goalkeepers Carlo Cudicini and Petr Cech set to play a half each against the Italians.

Whoever Mourinho chooses to field later this week, he now seems certain to be without Tiago during Portugal's Olympic campaign.

Manchester United starlet Cristiano Ronaldo has also been called up for the Athens trip and both men could miss as many as six Premiership matches as a result, despite protests from both their clubs.

"The Portuguese Football Federation have rejected requests by Chelsea and Manchester United not to include Tiago and Cristiano Ronaldo, respectively, from the Olympic Games," federation spokesman Felipe Felix said.

"If it had been friendly games, we may have considered this option, but the Olympic Games are an official competition and the FIFA regulations are very clear regarding this."