02 May 2014 : Chelsea are crowned the Champions of England.
07 August 2014 : Mourinho signs a new 4-yr deal with Chelsea.
17 December 2015 : Mourinho Sacked.
In 7 months Jose Mourinho has seen it all. From being selected as the Premier League Manager of the Year last season to leaving Chelsea just one point above the relegation zone. The club where Mourinho had announced himself as “The Special One“ have now sacked him twice. Towards the end of last season you could feel that something special was brewing at Chelsea, but alas, the club have flattered to decieve.
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Last season Chelsea’s performances were characterised by an unpenetrable defence, a magical midfield and a lethal attack, but this season they seemed to be a pale shadow of their former selves. The defense was shaky, the midfield looked unorganised and the attack was toothless. Jose Mourinho tried every trick up his sleeve, played almost every player at his disposal and gave every excuse he could, but sadly he couldn’t avoid the sack.
Wenger’s first win over Mourinho
Chelsea’s very first defeat of the 2015-16 season came in the Community Shield against Arsenal and could that have been the beginning of the end for Mourinho? Arsenal defeated Chelsea by a solitary goal and for the first time ever Arsene Wenger got the better of his nemesis. Maybe that Community Shield game, which is touted as the curtain raiser of a new Premier League season resulted in curtains for Mourinho.
Even before that game Wenger had got one over his counterpart by signing one of Mourinho’s most trusted and cherished players Petr Cech. Cech had been Mourinho’s go-to goalkeeper ever since he had been at Chelsea and to see him go to a rival was certainly a big blow for the Portugese. Thibaut Courtois became Mourinho’s preferred goalkeeper in the 2014-15 campaign and Cech was relegated to the bench.
Mourinho was always going to have a hard time keeping both his ‘keepers happy and expectedly Cech pushed for a move. Although it was highly improbable for Arsenal to sign Cech , Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich stepped in to help finalise a deal. Petr Cech was sold against the wishes of Jose Mourinho and Abramovich showed him who held power at Stamford Bridge.
Obsession with a ‘Voyeur’
Mourinho never missed out on an opportunity to criticise his Arsenal counterpart and the infamous “Specialist In Failure“ jibe has now come back to haunt him. Mourinho had mocked Wenger for his trophyless run but it seems that it is Wenger who is having the last laugh. Mourinho has labelled Wenger a “Voyeur“ in the past while Wenger has indirectly referred to Jose as “stupid“. The two have never missed out on an opportunity to have a go at each other but of late Wenger seems to have calmed himself.
Jose Mourinho, being Jose Mourinho has never let go of a chance to take a swipe at Wenger and sometimes it seems that he is obsessed with the Arsenal manager. Mourinho had mentioned Arsene Wenger’s name on around 10 occasions in his press conferences this season which is remarkable considering he managed only 16 PL games in all.
Mourinho hit out at the FA for fining him for calling a referee ‘afraid‘ but not punishing Wenger for calling a referee ‘weak and naive‘. Mourinho and Wenger seldom agree with each other, but when they did it resulted in a stadium ban for Mourinho. Mourinho is believed to have told the official in the game against West Ham that “Wenger was right-you are f’****** soft“.
In September, Mourinho took another dig at Wenger saying that “in the country only one manager is not under pressure“. He went on to say that he could not be “below par“ and had to “meet objectives“. When Mourinho said this he was talking about other managers who were facing the sack but little did he know that the same thing would turn out to be true in his case so soon.
Mourinho should’ve focused on himself
One would be naive (pun intended) to suggest that one game or one player could have been the sole reason behind Chelsea’s shocking downfall but it seems as though Wenger certainly did trigger the downfall. Other reasons like poor recruitment policies, row with the physios, comments at the officials, under- performing stars and the alleged conflict with the players definitely played their parts in Chelsea’s downfall but the loss to Arsenal in the Community Shield and the transfer of Cech were definitely a sign of things to come..
Mourinho’s first ever loss to Arsenal would also have been a bitter pill to swallow and as the season has panned out so far, I think I can cheekily suggest that Chelsea could never recover from that. Mourinho would have been better off focusing on his own follies rather than taking swipes at Wenger. He should have shouldered more responsibility for Chelsea’s poor show rather than blaming others. While Wenger is now in a great position to lead his team to another Barclays Premier League triumph, Mourinho is unemployed.
