A 2-1 defeat by West Ham is painful enough for Chelsea, leaving the
reigning Premier League champions nine points behind the Hammers and
rapidly running out of a time to make a charge towards the top four, but
more worrying was the air of capitulation in a period of absolute disarray in
the 10 minutes leading up to half-time.
That spell, from the 35th minute until the end of the period, presented
Chelsea as a club at breaking point, with all the frustrations and
annoyances of their poor start to the season bursting out into the open. By
the time that they came out for the resumption, Jose Mourinho had been
banished to the directors' box.
The Portuguese's position harked back to the end of his previous reign at
Stamford Bridge and the chaos in which he left Real Madrid in 2013 before
returning to the Blues. The first was a spiral of intrigue, frustration and
whispers that saw Mourinho part company with Chelsea after an
embarrassing Champions League match against Rosenborg.
At the Santiago Bernabeu, a succession of fallings-out with key players at
the club, including a long-standing disagreement with Iker Casillas, pushed
the 52-year-old towards the exit door. Recent issues with Eden Hazard and
Nemanja Matic correspond to the enmity felt between Mourinho and a
number of the players at Madrid, as does the fact that his whole team were
so visibly wound up as soon as anything started going against them here.
The Portguese has never lasted more than three seasons at a club. His last
spell at Stamford Bridge saw him flame out in late September. At this rate,
with a paltry 11 points from 10 games, he looks increasingly like he will not
last much longer into this season.
The catalyst for Saturday's furious mental collapse was a a Manuel Lanzini
clearance off the line, with the Goal Decision System showing the ball
millimetres from fully crossing the white chalk. Cesc Fabregas then had a
goal disallowed for a tight offside but the real moment of turmoil came with
Nemanja Matic being issued with a second yellow card for hauling down
Diafra Sakho.
From that moment, Chelsea lost all mental control. Fabregas and John
Terry lunged towards the referee, berating the decision to send the Serbian
midfielder to an early bath. Both picked up yellow cards, with Fabregas
dragged off at half-time, evidently deemed in danger of further losing his
temper and turning a dire situation into an unrecoverable one.
But the lack of control also engulfed Mourinho and his coaching staff,
illustrating the desperation in seeing yet another poor result for what is now
a consistently below-par side. Assistant manager Silvino Loura was the first
to lose his cool, with Moss sending him to the stands shortly after the
Matic incident. Mourinho's dismissal took a little longer, with the
Portuguese failing to appear on the manager's bench for the second half,
instead taking a position in the directors' box.
Gary Cahill netted an equaliser shortly after half-time but the goal brought
no smile to Mourinho's mouth, marooned in his position to the right of the
press box, before an Andy Carroll header ended the contest. That
emphatically taken winner had to it an air of inevitability, with Chelsea yet
to regain control following their irate end to the first half.
Mourinho's first spell at the club ended after a similarly hopeless game
against Rosenborg. At this point in his second, the title can be all but
written off and, nine points behind Slaven Bilic's side - who were
comfortably the better team here - even making the top four is a
monumental task. Whether or not the 'Special One', who has cut an
increasingly frustrated figure, is close to the exit door, this defeat and the
capitulation that went with it felt like a major marker in his reign.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
