Chelsea Will Be Forced to Unfairly Sack Jose Mourinho

It’s no secret that Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is in trouble. His side has been horrific out of the gate, only managing to earn 11 points from 10 matches. Even so, I’m not convinced that Mourinho’s management is the problem. I am, however, fairly certain that relieving Mourinho of his duties might be the only possible solution.

There’s an old adage in sports that says “you can’t fire the players.” If this were possible, Chelsea might employ this method. The club is full of star power that has failed to produce on the young season. A quick glance at the team’s Whoscored.com ratings reveals that only Pedro and Eden Hazard have average player ratings above 7. That’s not good enough for a side filled with such talented players.

So how do you fix a team where almost everyone is performing below their expectations? As you’ll recall, the old adage begins by saying” you can’t fire the players” but ends with “but you can fire the coach.” This is the only remedy really available for Chelsea.

If Jose Mourinho was a likely long-term manager for Chelsea then maybe, just maybe, they could afford to stick with him. Instead, his reputation as a manager that has a shelf life of about three years with a given club makes him much easier to sacrifice. Allowing him to preside over an epic roster transformation just doesn’t make sense for Chelsea ownership. Both because there is clear world-class ability in the squad and that it’s exceedingly unlikely that Mourinho would stick around to mold a new roster into a title-winning squad.

This might be an unfair result for Mourinho on a personal level. All he’s guilty of so far is calling players out for lack of defensive effort and refusing to play club veterans based on their past accomplishments. Anyone who thinks John Terry should still be starting every week for this team needs their head examined. Similarly, if you think Eden Hazard puts in maximum effort on the defensive side of the pitch I’d advise you to see your eye doctor.

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Nonetheless, the “Special One” is dead man walking at Stamford Bridge. Even if he’s right as it relates to his player evaluation and selection, it won’t be enough to save him. The collective might of the talented players Chelsea has will far outweigh any loyalty the club has to their manager. As thrilled as they all were to see Mourinho return and guide them to a title, they won’t hesitate to sack him to give their talented squad a fresh start.

It’s unlikely that fans around the Premier League will weep when Mourinho is shown the door by Chelsea. His brash personality and arrogance have made sure of that. Ironically though, his inevitable sacking might be entirely unfair. The more justified thing to do would be to “fire the players” but in today’s football that just isn’t a realistic solution.