Chelsea: Jose Mourinho says his side are even better this season – panic buys John Stones
The season so far has exposed Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. Defeated by Arsenal in the Community Shield – a cup that when he wins it counts as a major trophy and when he doesn’t is reduced to a bit of silver less valuable than the shiny tinfoil on his KitKat; seeking someone to blame for a 2-2 draw with Swansea and settling on the physio and club doctor; and telling Manchester City they won only by three lucky goals to nil – Jose Mourinho is wobbling.
It was only last May that the bitchy Portuguese was telling everyone he would be spending nothing major:
“Next season will be even better than this season and without big investments, because we don’t want to do that because we are happy with the players. Our group is top. The qualities are good. The most important thing in the market for us is not to lose players, I want to keep my players.”
Now he says Chelsea have a “moral right” to spend money. John Stones is the target. But Everton have knocked back Chelsea’s £30m bid for the player. At the weekend, John Terry was substituted by Mourinho for the first time in 177 Premier League games. The message is clear: Mourinho is ready to spend big again.
In the Times, Rory Smith writes on how Jose wins the titlte:
First, the foot goes to the floor, and then it goes to the throat… In years in which he has won the league, Mourinho’s record in the first third of the campaign is astonishing: he has never lost more than one of his first 13 games.
Adding:
The greatest worry of all is less tangible: it is that Mourinho’s success has always been built on the short term. He extracts the maximum from his players. Those coaches who have followed him have spoken of finding squads physically and psychologically exhausted, not just by success but by his demands.
Plenty of time to recover, of course. Chelsea remain a formidable obstacle. But Mourinho is looking desperate.
Posted: 18th, August 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
