Chelsea Mourns as Mou leaves club, finally
Originally posted in IntoTheTopCorner [now defunct] football blog website.
Date: Dec 20, 2015
The Special One
A man who hails from Portuguese, mercurial character and a force to reckon with. Man of the day — whose sacking has triggered much uproar and fizz in the football world. Jose Mourinho, now, a former Coach of Chelsea Football Club, finally shown the door after weeks of speculation and rumors.
Mourinho led Chelsea to a historic Premier league victory in the season 2014–15 i.e. last season of Barclays English premier league. Little did he know that it was the start of his end. An end to his 2nd stint as the manager of London club, who rose through mediocre and low key status to be a Champion. 6months was all it took to turn his fortunes. In May 2015, he must have sat with a lions heart prodding over the successful season which saw Chelsea greet stars like Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, Cesc Fàbregas. Just as the season ended, so did their form. Pre-season friendly losses were shrugged off under the mat as a one-off.
Legends of 21st Century Chelsea — Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Petr Cech all bid adieu and Chelsea this season started with only 1 legend left in its tank — JT. The 34 year old who last year played unlike his age, suddenly showed signs of burnout.
While last year’s playmakers, Fabregas and Hazard, no longer had the aura of invincibility, both were reduced to a pale shadow of their past. At the back, Terry used to be assisted with Cesar Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill and Zouma with much strength, vigor and purpose. Defense this year has been shambolic and down right careless at times. Defense always needs a leader to drive the 4 man guard. Unfortunately with JT underperforming ship looked abandoned by the captain. If this wasn’t enough, on and off the field antics of Diego Costa coupled with poor finishes stopped the goal scoring Chelsea machine. In tough times like these in the past, Didier used to step on the plate and deliver. His absence looked all the more large.
Amidst all this, the tactician seemed to be out of ideas. Either his strategies lacked bite or they were too shrill to outwit the opposition. Besides Jose’s shenanigans with press hardly further his cause.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, the taskmaster and success driven Russian oil mogul, known for his merciless decisions, seemed to have shown faith in him far longer this time. A string of loses against comparatively weaker oppositions marked a rusty start to the elusive title race. However, with loses being more regular than draws (leave aside the thought of a victory), doubts seemed to creep in everyone’s mind. The media played its part by citing instances of rift inside the dressing room and ego clashes amidst big names in the club. Through all this 3–4 month chaos, fans continued to support the Blues and their beloved Special One. To everyone’s surprise even Roman seemed to have let it loose this time.
But it was only a matter of time and few more loses before the businessman wielded the axe. It’s time Chelsea now looks forward to remainder of the season with optimism and positivity. There’s a lot to play for in the league.
While Chelsea haven’t played to their potential, surprisingly neither of the Big 4(or the 5 — City can hardly be overlooked) capitalized. With more than 19 games to be played, Chelsea can still “turn the proverbial table” and script a dramatic victory or a top 4 finish. Besides the Champions league draw against Paris Saint German would be a great test to see how strong the Chelsea players character really is.
Road ahead isn’t easy. But that’s how it is meant to be. “Pep Guardiola to be the next manager “ — has started making media rounds but we will have to wait to see the drama unfold. All in all, the second stint of Jose has come to an end. Just like most exits, it’s on a sad unfortunate note. But the man will always be remembered and cheered by one and all in Stamford Bridge.
Although the original website is no longer existent, I can cling on to its remains, a social media post.
