A Coutinho double worsened Mourinho’s troubles as Liverpool
came from a goal down to disgrace Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge.
It’s the Blues sixth defeat in just 11 matches and it’s
nearly impossible to recognize the same team that cantered to the title only
five months ago. The media, pundits and every self-acclaimed fan have
placed the blame for the poor form squarely at the Portuguese doorsteps and
it’s understandable.
When the going is good, the players are stars. When the ride
gets rough, the manager gets sacked.
Trust Mou, though. The Chelsea manager has tried to smartly
deflect the pressure and negative attention at other interesting figures. He’s
blamed the club’s physio, the FA, the referee, even bad luck but the longer the
trash run continued, the thinner his excuses have gotten. Nothing has worked.
I hate to give my vote of confidence to Jose, but contrary to
public opinion, he’s not the only one to blame in this whole mess.
Who else? I’d blame Abrahamovic first!
We were all here in August when Mourinho insisted he didn’t
want Cech sold. Especially to Arsenal. Did Roman listen? No! Rather, the
Russian sanctioned the sale of Petr to the Gunners and look at the result. Cech
has kept 7 clean sheets in 11 games while Chelsea have conceded 22 in as many
matches. All of a sudden, Wenger’s side are title contenders.
You have to also fault the transfer team at the Bridge,
whoever Roman’s lapdog is. They made Jose sell Schurlle and Salah, two
attacking players that brought pace and goals to the side. And when he demanded
that Pogba and Vidal be purchased, they failed. Instead, they dumped Falcao and
some unknown defender from the Ligue 1 on his laps.
His players too have to bear some of the backlash as well. Just because the stars earn fat salaries doesn’t excuse them from the blame. In truth, only Azpilicueta, Ramires and Willian have shown any form that
resembles last season’s. Costa came back from the summer break slow, sluggish
and several pounds overweight. Courtois has been injured. Hazard is a pale
shadow of the talent fans have come to adore and Fabregas simply seem short of
attacking ideas. Pedro and Baba Rahman, both new additions, have found that the
EPL is not such easy waters to thread in.
What about Terry and Ivanovic? The skipper and his deputy
have gotten older and slower and are now constantly tormented by faster Premier
League forwards. Their decline has coincided with Chelsea’s worst start to a
title defence.
Mourinho may be the Chelsea manager but there are more
factors responsible for his team’s collapse than he cares to publicly admit and he will need more than his ego
and witty remarks to get out of this one. Or he alone suffers the consequences.
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