Just four months ago it was joy all over West London as Chelsea was celebrating winning the Capital One Cup and League title. Fast forward to the 2015/16 season and things are not going well for the English champions as they currently occupy the 16th position on the log. From eight games they have just managed to collect as many points and are ten points behind log leaders, Manchester City. After a surprising 1-3 home defeat to Southampton, the question everyone wants to know is whether Jose Mourinho is losing control of the champions’ dressing room.
Going into the new season most pundits put their money on Chelsea and Mourinho to successfully defend their title, but at the moment it seems like they will just be fighting to finish the season in the top 4. Even the manager asserted himself that it will be difficult to challenge for the title now, but a top 4 finish is still possible.
In the post-match press conference after the Southampton game, ‘The Special One’ continued to blame officials for some of his team’s losses this season and that’s what he always does, deflecting off the pressure from himself, but how long will he keep on coming up with excuses and admit that he is on the wrong? Clearly the pressure is mounting on The Blues.
Chelsea owner, Roman Abromovich is known to sack managers who do not produce results. We have seen it with the likes of Luiz Felipe Scolari, Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto Di Matteo. Will we see the same with Jose? It is highly unlikely that he will be sacked after signing a new 4year contract that should keep him at the Bridge until 2019, but he needs to step up his game, same as his players. These are quality players with a top manager and they have it in their means to turn things around. Jose promised that around December, January and February they will be sitting in the top 4 and that will decide his future in West London.
The problems started during the pre-season apparently, Jose’s lads started pre-season late and they didn’t have a good transfer window as they failed to secure the services of highly rated Everton defender, John Stones who would have been a fantastic signing for the Blues as Mourinho’s defense is struggling to emulate the performance that saw them concede the fewest goals in the league last season. Eva Carneiro is also not the issue to the current problem, but just a symptom of the wider problem. Is Mourinho to blame for failure to signing world class players during the summer? The answer is no! The board is to blame and its time everyone assume their responsibilities at the club as Jose said.
We are now in the last FIFA week for the 2015 calendar year and after that the games come thick and fast. Jose and his technical team have to use this period to work things out and turn things around. At least the club still backs him and Chelsea need stability in this difficult period.
