Jose Mourinho, love him or loathe him his talent as a football manager is unquestionable, but also undeniable is his fractious and petulant supposition that he as the ”Special One” has a divine right to operate outside the accepted boundaries of the game. As Chelsea‘s hopes of mustering a meaningful defence of their title continue to ebb away this caustic part of his persona is becoming increasingly common place, so much so that his latest brush with the FA at the weekend came as no surprise and in the process pushing his already strained relationship with the FA to breaking point.
Conflicting reports in the media either suggest that Mourinho was invited into the referee’s room at the Boleyn Ground or he took upon himself to invite himself in to discuss the sending off of Nemanja Matić and subsequent dismissal of the assistant coach, Silvino Louro, after his over animated protestation of the decision. It is believed that from here Mourinho’s conduct bordered on that unbecoming of a gentleman during his tête-à-tête with referee Jon Moss and as result he watched Chelsea falter to their fifth league defeat of the season at the hands of their London neighbours West Ham United from the directors box.
With a one match suspended stadium ban hanging over him, Mourinho’s behaviour on Saturday, even if it had any sense of justification, has to call into question his current state of rationale. It would be incomprehensible to think that a person as intelligent as Mourinho would not understand the ramifications of his latest alleged transgression, it just beggars belief. Is Mourinho through his actions looking to be shown the door to help prevent any further tarnishing of his reputation? His colossal stubbornness and pride counters any tendency he might have to walk himself.
Despite Chelsea’s eight point winning margin last season on the way to their first title in five years they were somewhat limping toward the end. It was evident to many a shrewd observer that even at the end of last season that there were areas that needed strengthening to mount a serious title defence. Creatively the onus was placed too heavily on Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas, especially after the departure of the grossly under-utilised André Schürrle. While defensively, age was always going to catch up with John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic at some stage, but the extent of their capitulations this season has come as shock.
The simple fact is that they never strengthened their ranks sufficiently, with Mourinho on record saying that he was more than happy with the squad at his disposal. Given Diego Costa’s injury concerns and his likeness for mirroring his manager’s prickly nature on the pitch it was unfathomable to think that Radamel Falcao, given his own problems, could counterbalance this. Therefore simply put, Chelsea’s implosion this season falls firmly at the managers feet. Even the arrival of John Stones would not have prevented Chelsea and Mourinho changing their current downward spiral.
Mourinho has till Thursday to respond to his latest charge of misconduct, the general consensus is the least that will happen is that Mourinho will invoke that promised ban that was initially suspended but there is speculation that it could surmount to a five match touchline ban. Far from the desired alleviation thats needed at Chelsea given their current predicament.
https://twitter.com/ReadChelseaFC/status/658719049451503616
Could this prove to be final straw for the Chelsea hierarchy? Mourinho’s conduct since the start of the season has slide in tandem with his team’s performances with Mourinho antagonistically blaming everyone else but himself. How much longer will Roman Abramovich continue to allow Mourinho to damage the club from within and publicly? If he hasn’t transcended that point of no return just yet, Mourinho can undoubtedly turn around the fortunes of the club, a club he defines as ”a great passion” but this will only happen if he himself choses to put a stop to the septic wound he has inflicted.
By Cillian Ryan @Cillian_Ryan33
