Five reasons it’s time for the Mourinho sack.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is badly struggling to inspire his team at the moment, with the Premier League champions’ awful start to the new season continuing with a 3-1 defeat to Everton this weekend. Will Roman Abramovich show the ‘Special One’ the door? Here’s five reasons we think he should…
1) Poor signings
Pedro aside, Chelsea’s work in the transfer market this summer looks an absolute shambles. Having failed to land the big names needed, Mourinho has opted for bargain basement buys like Radamel Falcao, Asmir Begovic and Papy Djilobodji. None of these are of the calibre required at Stamford Bridge, and the Portuguese himself knows it. Having initially targeted the likes of Paul Pogba and John Stones, there is something clearly wrong with Chelsea if they can no longer finalise moves for these kinds of big-name players.
SEE ALSO:
Chelsea news: Five managers to replace struggling Mourinho, including Arsenal target & treble winner
Why Mourinho is wrong – his Chelsea team is boring and that is a problem
Chelsea transfer news
2) Poor sales
It’s not just the signings coming in that have been poor, Mourinho’s decision-making with player sales has also proven to be woeful. Up against his Chelsea side yesterday was the excellent Romelu Lukaku, who was shifted out in favour of a 36-year-old Didier Drogba, re-signed for just one season. Meanwhile, Juan Mata shone for Manchester United as they beat Liverpool, and Kevin De Bruyne enjoyed a fine debut for Manchester City, whom he joined for an incredible £55m this summer, when he’d been let go by Chelsea for just £14m not much more than a year earlier. Petr Cech also joined Arsenal this summer, while Juan Cuadrado has already been shown the door despite barely being given any playing time. Ditto Mohamed Salah.
3) Arguments
Known for being a difficult personality, Mourinho is going too far in his attempt to assert himself, having fallen out with club doctor Eva Carneiro in petty and unnecessary fashion. It remains to be seen what else is going on behind closed doors, but the Portuguese coach may also have damaged his relationship with captain John Terry after subbing him at half time in the recent defeat to Manchester City.
4) Awful defensive stats
Unbelievably, Chelsea currently have the worst defensive record in the Premier League. A side that once shipped only 15 goals in an entire season (2004/05 – their first under Mourinho), the Blues have already let in 12 in their opening five matches, and that’s despite only playing the likes of Swansea, West Brom and Crystal Palace as well as Manchester City and Everton. Terry and Branislav Ivanovic look unconfident and past their best despite being rock-solid last season, and it’s not clear why Mourinho is no longer able to organise his back four like he once could.
5) Attacking weakness
We argued earlier this year that Eden Hazard could never become truly world class at Chelsea, and there’s a case to be made that Mourinho is behind the Belgian’s struggles this term. So exciting to watch last season, Hazard had a lot of weight on his shoulders as an otherwise static Chelsea side chased the title, with players like Willian and Oscar simply not in the same league. We’ve seen this before from Mourinho sides – despite big-money signings like Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria at Real Madrid, they rarely had more than 20% possession in their games against Barcelona and their lack of attacking flair meant they didn’t go further in the Champions League. Chelsea have the same problem now as attacking football is generally on the rise around Europe.