Few would consider Jose Mourinho a mild-mannered, let alone humble, individual. After all, he did give himself the nickname of “the special one.” However special Mourinho may be as a manager, things certainly aren’t working out the way they should be in his second stint as manager of Chelsea Football Club.
A 79th minute header from the lost man in England, Andy Carroll, sent Mourinho’s side back to West London with another devastating defeat. However, Mourinho wasn’t around to see much of it from the sidelines.
With Nemanja Matic receiving a red card in the 44th minute, Mourinho and fellow Chelsea coach Silvino Louro went nuts on the touch line. It led to official Jonathan Moss to see both off to the stands for the rest of the match.
Call it a microcosm or omen, but the reality is, Mourinho’s out of control actions mirror what has happened to his side in his third year of his second stint in charge of the Blues. It’s also hard to ignore the feeling that this has happened before to “the special one.”
A little look at Mourinho’s history suggests that perhaps we shouldn’t be shocked to see the Blues struggling to stay afloat in the race for the EPL title or in the Champions League.
In fact, the reality of Mourinho’s management career suggests he’s not long for teams beyond the second year of management. Getting to that third year of management for Mourinho has also been a huge challenge. He’s only done it twice, in his first stint at Chelsea (2nd place in EPL) and at Real Madrid (2nd place in La Liga).
While Mourinho clearly knows the game and has the ability to get the most out of his players, it seems as though his act wears thin after a few years.
No doubt that is the case with an owner like Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, and with the Blues sitting in 15th place in the EPL table patience is likely running thin. It’s even more troubling that his side is just five points clear of the relegation places on 11 points from 10 matches on the season.
It doesn’t help that Mourinho decided to snub the press following the match either. That’s because of him receiving a £50,000 fine and a suspended stadium ban earlier this season from the FA. That incident happened after the shocking 3-1 loss to Southampton and was handed down just a few weeks ago.
The FA had this to say about further actions by Mourniho at the time:
“Mr. Mourinho’s suspended stadium ban will be immediately invoked should he be found by an Independent Regulatory Commission to have committed a further breach of FA Rule E3 for any comment or statement to or through the media before 13 October 2016.”
While the time frame for that extra ban is gone, this isn’t the first time he’s been sent off in his second stint and it isn’t the first or even second incident regarding his conduct in matches this season. Mourniho started the season off with a snub of Arsene Wenger in the FA Community Shield and then flung his medal in to the stands following that loss.
To say Mourinho is in the FA’s cross-hairs may be an understatement, and it may be his ultimate undoing given the club’s standing in the EPL and abroad.
Mourinho’s act is usually an attempt to deflect attention away from his squad and put it on him, but things seem to be spiraling out of control for the manager and he is hurting the squad and the club more than helping it at this point in time.
No doubt the latest incident by itself would not be enough for Abramovich to make a move with his high-profile manager. But, taken in the context of all that has happened with his manager and his team, this could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
Add in his snub of the press when he didn’t need to and another loss that compounds any attempt to win the league, and the heavily involved Abramovich may see fit to move in a different direction for his club.
