It wasn't meant to be like this.
Premier League champions in 2014/15, Chelsea came into the season with few worries. Their summer transfer activity had been solid enough. The players that shone last season were all present and correct. Jose Mourinho seemed settled.
The last few months, though, have been a reality check for the Blues.
Languishing in 15th after just three wins from their opening 10 games of the season,Chelsea have been at sixes and sevens on the field of play.
Off it, things have arguably been even more fraught, with Mourinho cutting a frustrated, angry figure for much of the campaign to date.
His season is beginning to look like a trail of destruction. There have been PR wrangles (he has been rightly criticised for his role in the Eva Carneiro row), mind games with his own players and tetchy, sulky press conferences.
The latest chapter came on Saturday, when Mourinho was sent to the stands as his side lost to West Ham at Upton Park. The back page almost wrote itself.
Many believe that this all signals one thing: the beginning of the end of Mourinho's second spell at Stamford Bridge. The word is that he could face the axe if Chelsea lose to Liverpool at the weekend.
Can he rescue the situation? Our scribes share their views below...
Darren Lewis
It shouldn't be the end. Everything that can go wrong IS going wrong for him, but his outstanding record demands he be given the time to turn it around.
No club in the world is immune from the kind of run that Chelsea are going through right now.
Consider the amount of times they built the gallows for Arsene Wenger during the first half of the season only for Arsenal to go on to finish in the Champions League.
What happens if Chelsea sack Mourinho, bring in, say, Ancelotti and the Italian follows up an initial successful campaign with one similar to the nightmare that the Portuguese is having now? They are back to square one.
Chelsea want to move away from short-termism and build a dynasty. To do that they have to weather the storm and resist the knee-jerk culture (made even worse by frenzied social media) that has been their trademark over the last ten years.
From the outside people may be salivating at the prospect of the Special One somehow getting his come-uppance but - while it makes sense for the Chelsea board to consider their options - they really should hold their nerve.
Chelsea defeats – Premier League
Adrian Kajumba
Mourinho and Chelsea are having an awful time.
Even his biggest supporters' belief will be draining away. Mourinho's current mood and demeanour only adds to the feeling that the end might not be far away.
We know he is not happy with the media, the authorities, old foe Arsene Wenger and, as we were reminded again against West Ham, officials. He also hasn't been best pleased at various stages this season with his team, individual players and his medical staff.
But – and it maybe nothing more than blind faith given what we have seen this season – I refuse to believe, for now, that his time will be coming to an end and Mourinho can't turn around Chelsea's season.
He is a managerial great. A few bad months don't cancel out over a decade of trophy-winning brilliance.
Yes he has never been in a situation this bad before and a whole host of things have contributed to Chelsea's woes, meaning solving them won't be easy. And then there is ruthless owner Roman Abramovich who has sacked managers in the past for less.
But if there is one manager I would back to get himself and his team out of a corner, it's Mourinho.
Jack Lang
It certainly feels like the end, doesn't it?
First things first: Chelsea have, for the most part, been lousy this season. Gone is the defensive solidity of last term, while the attack has resembled a Rolls Royce stuck in first gear. Diego Costa has struggled, Oscar and Eden Hazard have been below their best and Pedro has not kicked on after a promising start.
All of this is troubling, but you'd probably back the Blues to get through their bad patch if Mourinho wasn't doing the whole Sultan of Sulking routine. At the moment, he doesn't look like a man desperate to drag his team from the brink.
The Portuguese may think everyone is out to get him, but the truth is that he's brought most of the misery upon himself. The Carneiro row was an embarrassment and entirely unnecessary. His treatment of Eden Hazard, Nemanja Matic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and John Terry has been needlessly vindictive and cannot have helped morale in the changing room.
It feels like Mourinho is setting up the guillotine for himself. It will take some escape act – and a major change of heart – for him to avoid the blade now.
Hamish Mackay
If this was the Roman Abramovich of 10 years ago, Mourinho would already have been sacked. But Chelsea's owner is not as volatile as he once was, and the same can be said of the manager's position.
Of course a coach who has won the Champions League twice and domestic titles in four countries is capable of solving the issues at Stamford Bridge. How long it will take him is the unknown factor.
Abramovich's decision to bring Mourinho back to the club two years ago was an admission not only that it had been a mistake to let him go the first time, but also that he was the best option available. Both those facts remain true.
As he himself has said, Mourinho is the best coach in Chelsea's history and the best option currently available to them. Though opposition fans may wish it, this is not the end of Mourinho at Chelsea.
Joe Mewis
It doesn’t look too good for Jose. Not only are Chelsea slumping on the pitch, but the boss is also imploding off it.
If Chelsea’s troubles were merely restricted to a poor run of form, he would likely be given time to sort it out – after all, he’s the club’s most successful manager and has plenty of credit in the bank.
But it’s his off-the-pitch shenanigans that are perhaps more of a concern for the Portuguese’s Stamford Bridge future. With every passing rant he becomes more of an embarrassment for the club’s hierarchy, with this season’s triple whammy of the Carneiro debacle, the bizarre obsession with badmouthing Wenger and weekly referee rants testing the owner’s patience more and more.
This could prove to be the kicker if Abramovich decides that he has given Mourinho enough chances to improve their lacklustre form this season.
Plus there are candidates waiting in the wings. Carlo Ancelotti and Guus Hiddink could provide temporary cover at the very least and a certain Pep Guardiola recently said saying in the same job for too long is “boring”, so could well be in the market.
Unless Chelsea’s form quickly improves and Mourinho learns how to count to ten, he will likely be out of work in time to do his Christmas shopping.
Ben Burrows
It may not be the end – but it looks an awfully lot like it.
Mourinho is cutting the figure of a man on the brink: the paranoia and delusions grow by the week as Chelsea's plight deepens.
Many have speculated as to just what has caused the champions – the best team in the land just a matter of months ago – to plummet so low, so fast. And while the players must take their share of the blame for their sub-par performances thus far, the blame must surely fall at the manager's door.
Mourinho's darkening demeanour both in and outside of the dugout seems to only be pointing one way and his team is following his lead.
You would think a footballing mind of the calibre of Mourinho's should be able to turn it around, but the longer it continues to spiral downwards the less chance Abramovich will give him to do so.
The clock is ticking and Mourinho's time may already be up.
Ben Curtis
It's all over – and it's not all about the football.
Chelsea have had an atrocious start, yes, but sacking Mourinho ten league games into the season, months after a title triumph, when they're still sitting OK in the Champions League, would be a very premature.
It's the circus that surrounds each match that will contribute heftily to his undoing. It's the Carneiro and Jon Fern farce, the seven-minute TV rant (including a message to Abramovich), the book-signing attack on the FA and Wenger.
Even in the last week, he's had a "weak and naive" pop at the referee, a dig at the media and been sent to the stands at West Ham. All of that's come in the first 16 games of the season.
It's hard to imagine Mourinho – surely on a final strike – not hitting the headlines again and departing before Christmas.
David Anderson
I think Mourinho, Abramovich and his pals need to keep calm at Chelsea and realise just how much they need each other.
Chelsea spent six years and dears know how many millions trying to replace Jose when he left in a huff in 2007 only to realise finally that that person was him.
Mourinho also needs Chelsea because he has no other top job to walk into. He has done Serie A and he has done Real Madrid, which rules out Barcelona.
Manchester United didn't want him because he is so high maintenance and I'm not sure Manchester City or Bayern Munich would want him either at some point in the future for the same reason.
Mourinho likes clubs where he can dominate and be number one and his time at Real was not the happiest because his ego did not like the fact that they were bigger than him.
Mourinho needs to focus on turning around Chelsea and they have not suddenly become a bad side over the course of the summer. They still have enough talent to finish in the top four and make the latter stages of the Champions League if they pull together and improve their woeful discipline.
But if he continues to hit the self-destruct button, then a second - and final - parting of the ways will be inevitable.
Jose Mourinho's downward spiral
July 16th
Chelsea report for pre-season training, a week later than their rivals.
July 29th
Beat Barcelona on penalties in the final game of their pre-season tour of America, just four days before they are due to play Arsenal at Wembley.
August 2nd
Lose 1-0 to Arsenal in the Community Shield, as Arsene Wenger gets his first win over Mourinho in 13 attempts.
8th August
Chelsea open their season with a 2-2 draw at home to Swansea - but the game is marred by Mourinho’s criticism of club doctor Eva Carneiro and head physiotherapist Jon Fearn, who rushed onto the pitch to treat injured Eden Hazard.
16th August
Chelsea suffer a comprehensive 3-0 defeat at Manchester City. Skipper John Terry is subbed at half-time.
23rd August
John Terry keeps his place in the starting XI for the trip to West Brom - but is sent off after 54 minutes. The Blues escape with a narrow 3-2 win.
29th August
The Blues lose 2-1 at home to Crystal Palace in what is only Mourinho’s second home defeat in 100 league games at Stamford Bridge.
19th September
Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Arsenal marred by Diego Costa’s spat with Gabriel, which saw the Arsenal defender sent off.
22nd September
Eva Carneiro leaves her position of first-team doctor at Chelsea.
29th September
Loses to his former side Porto in the Champions League.
30th September
The FA clear Mourinho of making discriminatory comments towards Carneiro.
3rd October
The Portuguese goes on a seven-minute rant following his side’s 3-1 loss against Southampton, claiming that referees are “afraid” to give Chelsea any decisions. Says he will not walk away from Chelsea and will have to be sacked if they want rid of him. Subs Matic off after 20 minutes.
5th October
The club give Jose Mourinho a vote of confidence following their poor start to the season.
14th October
Slapped with a one-match suspended stadium ban and £50,000 fine following his post-Southampton rant.
15th October
Calls his £50,000 fine and suspended stadium ban a “disgrace” then has another pop at Arsene Wenger at the launch for his new book.
17th October
Leaves last year's player of the season Eden Hazard on the bench, claiming the playmaker needs to work harder to win his place back in the team.
19th October
Reignites feud with TV pundits - “You need to be brave to criticise my history”
20th October
Footage emerges of Mourinho appearing to shove schoolboy on London street. He later denied intimidating the youth.
21st October
Blands referee Damir Skomina “weak and naive” following Chelsea’s goalless draw with Dynamo Kiev - another dig at Arsene Wenger, who used the exact words against Mike Dean but went unpunished by the FA.
24th October
Mourinho sent to the stands during a fiery 2-1 loss at West Ham, which leaves the Blues in 15th place after ten games.
No comments:
Post a Comment