I know this could be discussed under other headings but it is probably short lived and this makes it easy to find. How can a club / manager fall apart so quickly? Love him or hate him Mourinho has know incredible success. When Chelsea sacked him previously most people probably were surprised and maybe thought it premature. Few were surprised when he returned. He wins the league. But what then went wrong. It is rumoured that he has fallen out with senior players - that sort of thing has happened before with other managers but with someone of his credentials you would have thought he would change the faces. Also most players at a club like Chelsea believe they can and want to win trophies. What would make the players deliberately fail to give their best - as seems to have been happening at Chelsea. Was it really player power? Lastly - why oh why did he have to go before they play us? We will end up with them playing under someone like Guus HIddink and they will be good enough to even get a draw from us. That had been a 3 point banker
Last year I seem to recall a few managers losing their jobs just after we had played them, this year it seems to be just before we play them. Neither Aston Villa or Sunderland seemed to have the 'new manager bounce factor' when we played them, so hopefully the same will happen with Chelski. It does seem that this year has potentially shown a flaw in Jose's character, in problems dealing with adversity. He has always managed to build motivated, and solid teams, even if a little uninspiring in the way they play, but this year his reaction to a loss or two seems to have resulted in a spiralling loss of form. His childish and unneccessary jibes at Wenger, the way he turned un the media, and the constant questioning referees after every loss - the rant after the Southampton game about referees being 'scared' to give Chelsea decisions in a game when Southampton had two far better penalty shouts not given, the Liverpool games when Skirtel (I think) escaped a second yellow, but Costa deliberately kicked a player in the chest, etc - were giving the impression that for want of a better phrase, he had 'lost it'. Then the turning on his own players. The art of management is knowing he to have a go at, who to encourage, who to put an arm round the shoulder, to get the best of them. Did his manner these last few weeks make players fearful rather than confident? Did they lose a bit of their sharpness as a result? Did it make them 'hide' a bit, less likely to try things, express themselves etc? There are a lot of good players in the premiership, so it can be a fine line sometimes that makes the difference.
I wanted him sacked after we play them not before , but we have 25pts before Xmas have a good one everyone
There is something truly odd going on at Chelsea, especially with the turn over of highly accomplished managers. Over the last few years, since Jose Mourinho left the first time they have got through Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Ray Wilkins(!), Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti, André Villas-Boas, Roberto di Matteo and Rafael Benitez, eight managers in six years - with Carlo Ancelotti lasting two years. All these guys were successful before and after there time at Chelsea, but not there. Some of the playing staff remained the same throughout this period so could the blame be laid there? I can see Roman Abramovich as a hire 'em and fire 'em on that evidence, but something/someone has to be loading the bullets. A team cannot go from Champions to relegation contenders without some serious shenanigans going on.
Yes - but his success over the years probably took him "above" the law. Even so he did lose a player or two along the way
Did he start to lose the plot even before the season started? That disgraceful episode with the doctor (Eva Carneiro) in the first game may have been symptomatic of the pressure that he was under even then. It seemed totally over the top with his refusal to apologise for what he said and how he acted. I suspect he may have started to lose a few players then and, being stubborn and arrogant, didn't quite know how to react.
If she's a real lady, I bet she's not, though I dare say she feels vindicated! That episode is the one thing I will always hold against him, generally he provided good entertainment, we need characters like him in the game. The whole Arsen Wenger affair was generated by Wenger's antics initially, but Jose just took it away from him!
Although we know absolutely nothing about the 'behind the scenes' goings-on, it does seem to me the the Carneiro episode was extraordinarily badly handled by Mourinho. It's not unreasonable to think that quite a few players saw what happened and thought 'Wait a minute this isn't how I would like to be treated' and, player power being what it is, decided to play with their toys by themselves instead of listening to hear how to share them. He could have resolved all of that shambles with a bit of humility. To me, he was on the way from that point on. Apparently, he has had very poor 3rd seasons at every club e has worked for. What the impact will be when we turn up is anyone's guess, but I cannot imagine the cohesiveness that marked them out last season will magically return.
