The 3-0 scoreline with which Manchester City beat Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday is indeed a “fake result”, as Jose Mourinho termed it. City could have won the match at least 6-0.
The characteristic taunt at the opposition after a heavy defeat came at the back of a rough three weeks for the Chelsea manager, not least the last eight days. Since their pre-season tour started, Mourinho has been at the helm of a seven-match Chelsea winless streak, which now includes defeats to Arsenal and Manchester City.
In what has been a rather colourful summer so far, Mourinho has already had public spats with two Premier League managers, Roberto Martinez and Arsene Wenger. He has publicly berated two members of his medical staff – one of whom is hugely popular among his players and fans – before demoting them and then threatened to walk out of a press conference when asked about it.
On Sunday, Mourinho raised more eyebrows when he substituted his captain, John Terry, at half-time against City. The same Terry, a fan favourite, who had never been substituted in 176 previous matches under the Portuguese.
Some would say this is classic Mourinho. When things are not going his team’s way, he is regarded as the master of distraction, diverting all the traffic in his direction and away from the players. Come and get me. I can take it.
He did it last season when he went on national television and tried to convince one and all that there was a “campaign” against Chelsea in the Premier League. His us-against-the-world war cry worked, as it had during his previous managerial stints across Europe. Chelsea won the title by eight points.
Of course, he’s only trying to do it again, isn’t he? Oh Jose, you clever, devious genius!
Or is he?
Exit strategies
What if these are not pre-calculated Sir Alex Ferguson-esque mind games, as his followers would have you believe? What if he is just being plain arrogant and chucking his toys out of the cradle? What if, not for the first time in his managerial career, he is suffering from his third-season syndrome?
Mourinho is also the master of orchestrating his own exit from a club at his will, and Chelsea fans will hope that isn’t what they are beginning to see here.
Right from his days at Porto, Mourinho has never lasted at a club for more than two seasons. During his first stint at Chelsea, he had two hugely successful seasons, winning back-to-back league titles, before falling out with owner Roman Abramovich in the third and getting sacked.
When he was at Inter Milan, he had an eye on the Spanish capital even while mounting a successful treble challenge. When he finally got to Real Madrid, he had two prosperous seasons and even signed a four-year contract at the end of it, before sparring with Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and the Spanish media. He then sounded a come-and-get-me call to Chelsea when Madrid got eliminated from the Champions League.
Is it happening again?
Just two games into the current season, it appears as if Mourinho has got himself into the corner of the ring and is blindly lashing out. It doesn’t matter who gets in the way, whether it is the opposition, Arsene Wenger, the media or his own staff.
When you’re dealing with Mourinho, he is almost never accountable. He will, as he did on Sunday, defend his team to the hilt. He will also very occasionally accept that his team was second best, but even so you generally get the sense he is only doing it to keep up pretences.
What has been surprising this time around is that Mourinho has gone into his hostile mode so early in the season. Yes, Chelsea have had far from an ideal start, but there are 36 games left to play.
It makes you wonder why he is acting so aggressively defensive just in August. One of the factors could be Abramovich, who is never content and wants his employees to keep raising the bar. Merely defending the league title may not be enough for the Russian.
Chelsea’s title challenge in 2014-15 was boosted by a scintillating run in the first half of the season, when they were unstoppable until December, which was when they suffered their first loss. Since January, Mourinho’s team had the leisure to coast along to the title. Towards the end, they were scrapping out hard-fought wins, but that is the hallmark of a title-winning team and manager.
Two ways to go
With the start they have had to the current season, there are two possible reactions. Either they will stay calm and led the storm pass over, or they will panic and realise early that things need to change quickly, which includes bolstering the squad in the two remaining weeks of the transfer window.
Whichever option they take, Chelsea will need a manager who is up for the task. Their fans adore Mourinho and will defend him to their graves, and why wouldn’t they? Whatever said and written about him, he has proven on multiple occasions that he is a winner.
Mourinho’s CV leaves you with no doubt that he can steer the wobbling ship, but he will have to stop courting unnecessary controversies and manufacturing PR disasters if he is planning to do so. Deflecting criticism is one thing, but if that results in alienating members of his own team and staff then it is the club that will be the loser.
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The characteristic taunt at the opposition after a heavy defeat came at the back of a rough three weeks for the Chelsea manager, not least the last eight days. Since their pre-season tour started, Mourinho has been at the helm of a seven-match Chelsea winless streak, which now includes defeats to Arsenal and Manchester City.
In what has been a rather colourful summer so far, Mourinho has already had public spats with two Premier League managers, Roberto Martinez and Arsene Wenger. He has publicly berated two members of his medical staff – one of whom is hugely popular among his players and fans – before demoting them and then threatened to walk out of a press conference when asked about it.
On Sunday, Mourinho raised more eyebrows when he substituted his captain, John Terry, at half-time against City. The same Terry, a fan favourite, who had never been substituted in 176 previous matches under the Portuguese.
Some would say this is classic Mourinho. When things are not going his team’s way, he is regarded as the master of distraction, diverting all the traffic in his direction and away from the players. Come and get me. I can take it.
He did it last season when he went on national television and tried to convince one and all that there was a “campaign” against Chelsea in the Premier League. His us-against-the-world war cry worked, as it had during his previous managerial stints across Europe. Chelsea won the title by eight points.
Of course, he’s only trying to do it again, isn’t he? Oh Jose, you clever, devious genius!
Or is he?
Exit strategies
What if these are not pre-calculated Sir Alex Ferguson-esque mind games, as his followers would have you believe? What if he is just being plain arrogant and chucking his toys out of the cradle? What if, not for the first time in his managerial career, he is suffering from his third-season syndrome?
Mourinho is also the master of orchestrating his own exit from a club at his will, and Chelsea fans will hope that isn’t what they are beginning to see here.
Right from his days at Porto, Mourinho has never lasted at a club for more than two seasons. During his first stint at Chelsea, he had two hugely successful seasons, winning back-to-back league titles, before falling out with owner Roman Abramovich in the third and getting sacked.
When he was at Inter Milan, he had an eye on the Spanish capital even while mounting a successful treble challenge. When he finally got to Real Madrid, he had two prosperous seasons and even signed a four-year contract at the end of it, before sparring with Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and the Spanish media. He then sounded a come-and-get-me call to Chelsea when Madrid got eliminated from the Champions League.
Is it happening again?
Just two games into the current season, it appears as if Mourinho has got himself into the corner of the ring and is blindly lashing out. It doesn’t matter who gets in the way, whether it is the opposition, Arsene Wenger, the media or his own staff.
When you’re dealing with Mourinho, he is almost never accountable. He will, as he did on Sunday, defend his team to the hilt. He will also very occasionally accept that his team was second best, but even so you generally get the sense he is only doing it to keep up pretences.
What has been surprising this time around is that Mourinho has gone into his hostile mode so early in the season. Yes, Chelsea have had far from an ideal start, but there are 36 games left to play.
It makes you wonder why he is acting so aggressively defensive just in August. One of the factors could be Abramovich, who is never content and wants his employees to keep raising the bar. Merely defending the league title may not be enough for the Russian.
Chelsea’s title challenge in 2014-15 was boosted by a scintillating run in the first half of the season, when they were unstoppable until December, which was when they suffered their first loss. Since January, Mourinho’s team had the leisure to coast along to the title. Towards the end, they were scrapping out hard-fought wins, but that is the hallmark of a title-winning team and manager.
Two ways to go
With the start they have had to the current season, there are two possible reactions. Either they will stay calm and led the storm pass over, or they will panic and realise early that things need to change quickly, which includes bolstering the squad in the two remaining weeks of the transfer window.
Whichever option they take, Chelsea will need a manager who is up for the task. Their fans adore Mourinho and will defend him to their graves, and why wouldn’t they? Whatever said and written about him, he has proven on multiple occasions that he is a winner.
Mourinho’s CV leaves you with no doubt that he can steer the wobbling ship, but he will have to stop courting unnecessary controversies and manufacturing PR disasters if he is planning to do so. Deflecting criticism is one thing, but if that results in alienating members of his own team and staff then it is the club that will be the loser.