Mourinho insists quadruple can be achieved

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho insisted the quadruple in England is possible after seeing his side’s hopes of achieving it this season ended at Newcastle.

Patrick Kluivert’s fourth-minute header ensured it was the Magpies rather than the much-changed Blues who went into the hat for today’s FA Cup quarter-final draw after an eventful afternoon at St James’ Park.

Mourinho rested six key players despite having skipper John Terry suspended and then saw Wayne Bridge suffer a suspected broken ankle and William Gallas and Damien Duff pick up injuries which make them major doubts for Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Barcelona.

Furthermore, keeper Carlo Cudicini picked up a red card which will rule him out of Sunday’s Carling Cup Final, but Mourinho is still confident that a single team could one day pick up all four major prizes.

“Is it possible? I know it’s possible because I did it before, not in England, but I did it when I was in Porto,” he said.

“We won the UEFA Cup, the Portuguese Super Cup, the Portuguese Championship and the Portuguese Cup. We did the quadruple, so I know it’s possible.

“But I know it’s very difficult, especially in England, it’s very, very difficult because English domestic competitions are more difficult to win, and especially when you have no control of the fixtures.

“When you have to play when people say to play, I have to make decisions like I made today.

“When I play a team which is not my best team against a team like Newcastle at a place like this, and against a team that has in the FA Cup the only chance to get silverware, I know the risks.

“But to think about four competitions in this country is very, very, very, very difficult and we know that.”

If Chelsea kicked off dreaming of four cups, Newcastle would willingly settle for one, and in the space of four days, they have significantly increased their chances of lifting a first trophy since 1969 after Thursday night’s 2-1 UEFA Cup third round victory in Heerenveen.

Central defender Titus Bramble was the villain of the piece in Holland, gifting the Dutchmen a first-half lead, but his response was to turn in an excellent individual display against Mateja Kezman and later Eidur Gudjohnsen.

“Titus had a bit of a stinker on Thursday night in Heerenveen and he knew it,” Graeme Souness said. “Previous to that, he’d been arguably our best player in the previous six games.

“For Titus – some people in football might laugh at this – but he’s as good as anybody when he’s on his day, and he has to have more days like that if he wants to (a) stay in this team and (b) get himself into the international squad, because he’s got everything.

“He’s a great big unit, a big powerful man, he can pass it, he’s quick, and in seven out of the last eight games, he’s been outstanding.”

Skipper Alan Shearer and midfielder Kieron Dyer were both withdrawn with more than 20 minutes remaining, but Souness later revealed that the striker had not trained since Thursday night because of a hamstring problem and that Dyer had still been suffering with the after-effects of a viral infection.