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Chelsea and José Mourinho’s rough start to Premier League title defense

By David Hathaway

Could Chelsea actually be relegated?
Could Chelsea actually be relegated? /
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Deemed champions-elect by many before the season kicked off, Chelsea have grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons in the opening weeks of the 2015/16 Premier League campaign.

After a pre-season where Chelsea failed to record a single victory, culminating in a 1-0 loss to Arsenal in the FA Community Shield, their stunted performances have largely been overlooked—and rightly so—as further evidence of the irrelevancy of performance and results in pre-season football.. 

Post-match analysis of the Community Shield instead focused on Arsène Wenger finally breaking his Josè Mourinho hoodoo at the fourteenth time of asking—a barren run stretching over 11 years.

But after a 2-2 draw with Swansea City and a 3-0 dismantling at the hands of Manchester City, Chelsea look bereft of inspiration from defence to attack.

For a team that appears so settled—only Asmir Begovic and Radamel Falcao have made debuts for Chelsea this season, both as second-half substitutes—everything surrounding Chelsea seems in flux.

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With John Terry’s substitution at half time in the loss to Man City in favour of the pacier Kurt Zouma, speculation has mounted on a possible changing-of-the-guard at the heart of defence. Coupled with the team’s open desire to recruit Everton centre-half John Stones and fundamental changes to the team appear to be in the offing.

Away from their lacklustre performances in the league, Mourinho’s recent comments to the media have soured many towards the ‘Special One’.

His public dressing down of medics Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn following the season opener against Swansea has received rightful condemnation.

After Carneiro and Fearn ran onto the pitch at the referee’s request to attend to a prostrate Eden Hazard, Mourinho reacted with visible incredulity on the touchline.

Once a player is attended to on the field of play, they must first leave the field before returning to the game. At this point in the contest, Chelsea were already down to ten men following Courtois’ dismissal, and could have been left vulnerable to a Swansea counter-attack.

But despite being given time to cool down before his post-match interview, Mourinho was unrelenting: “They were impulsive and naïve. Whether you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench you have to understand the game”.

These comments were then followed up by both members of staff being banished from the bench for Chelsea’s next game; the full extent of Carneiro and Fearn’s punishment is as yet unclear.

When viewed alongside Mourinho’s comments that last week’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City was a “fake result”, the Chelsea manager has been at his Machiavellian best in his attempt to distract the public from his side’s sluggish performances.

It’s a tactic from page one of the Mourinho playbook and one that we should all be well versed in by now. Following any high-profile defeat, Mourinho plays the British media with ease, reducing the spotlight on his players’ shortcomings, and framing the narrative around himself or an opposition force: (delete as appropriate) referee, oppositions fans, players, manager, pitch condition.

His ability to protect his players by diverting media attention is one of the primary reasons he’s seemingly so beloved by his charges. And the media, by and large, have followed this song and dance every time.

But with the massively unfair treatment towards members of his own backroom staff, and the utter delusion—even if just a media stunt—at the gulf in class in last week’s hammering at the City of Manchester Stadium, the Portuguese seems to finally be running out of good will.

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The Italian and Spanish media ran out of patience with Mourinho very quickly during his time at the helm of both Inter Milan and Real Madrid, and now he is running the risk of finally losing the support of the British media that has treated him so well.

At this point, Mourinho must attempt to forget the mind games and any attempted manipulation of the media and instead focus his considerable talents towards rerouting his team back on course.

The season is still in its infancy and any proclamations of Chelsea’s implosion should be avoided, but they need a good result—if not performance—this weekend away at West Bromwich Albion to quell their ever-increasing number of ever-increasingly vocal deriders. At the very least, they’ll pray that they avoid a repeat of last season’s performance at the Hawthorns: a 3-0 defeat.

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