A look at Mourinho & his Chelsea struggles (Opinion)
Today we're taking on our experts on the most burning issue in world football at the moment.
Jose Mourinho has lost his magic wand, he's no more that special one we used to herald, results are failing him, his legs are failing him, what in the world has gone wrong?
Let me start from you Komptrolla, where did Jose get it wrong?
Komptrolla: It's a dicey one, Mourinho is a victim of his own standards. It's ok for teams and in fact coaches to have some down times, it doesn't take away their respects, but Jose created unnecessary problems for himself with his misguided utterances and wayward attacks on some individuals. Juventus are blowing hot and cold and no one is attacking Allegri, Jose needs to keep shut and concentrate on football. For me he's still the special one.
zikson_b: Mourinho got it all wrong with his transfers. I think he wanted to maintain his main team from last season but sometimes, these players need healthy competitions.
Segunake: I don't know where to start. I would say he is stubborn with his tactics and yeah he believes in his own philosophies which is basically building a team on a solid defence. But not all players will be defenders, he tried so hard to make his current players neglect their attacking instincts and focus on the defensive.
Sold off a bunch of players for "defensive and not working for the team" reasons, this has affected the mentality of the other players, why is it affecting them this season? People tend to have doubt in their leaders during stugglesbut are happy with his ideas when things are working.
I can go on and on about some of his failures but generally his public utterances and talent/man management skills are the main catalysts to his current struggles.
Anchor: When exactly did this down time start for Chelsea?
Komptrolla: Many didn't take note but it actually started from preseason, Chelsea struggled throughout and some players returned overweight, Diego Costa for instance. And after losing to Arsenal in the shield cup things just didn't click afterwards and nobody seemed to care until it became a norm for Chelsea to turn up for games and get beaten
Zikson_b: Towards the end of last season, the blues struggled to maintain the good form they started with. That was the beginning for me.
SegunAke: Since the beginning of 2015, they only managed to win the 2014/2015 title thanks to a great start to last season.
Anchor: With this situation what is Mourinho doing wrongly?
Komptrolla: isn't it obvious? His blame game is his major albatross. He has to take responsibilities and play football. If he's not blaming the referee he's blaming the FA or another coach that he's not even playing come on!
Zikson_b: Mourinho is just trying to take the pressure off his team by picking on specific people in public. I think he needs to be calm, talk less and probably make some big decisions to help the team back.
SegunAke: Too much antics and talking, I agree with Komptrolla and Zikson, concentrate on the football and let the football do the talking.
Anchor: Mourinho feels referees and the FA pick on his players, how true is this?
Komptrolla: He's just making a bad situation worse. Look at Costa, you saw what he did against Arsenal, look at him stabbing studs against Skirtel last weekend, if the latter had fallen for his antics he would have been sent off, if the FA decides to punish Costa for that devilish act Mourinho will cry foul, he has to contain the excesses of his boys or else the bans continue
Zikson_b: The team is not helping with their attitude on the pitch. So we can't conclude they are not been favoured.
Segunake: Not true...
Anchor: Are these players truly playing against Mourinho?
Komptrolla: Do these players want to ruin their stocks in the market? I don't think so
Zikson_b: No. Things are not just working at the moment
Segunake: No, he is playing against himself. Sold off creative players like Kevin De Bruyne, Mata, Salah, Schurrle and Cuadrado for "defensive" reasons, sold Betrand and Felipe Luis to play Azpilicueta on the left and Zouma at right back? Is he joking? kept a bunch of average players just because they can run around and hassle teams. All the players that left are enjoying football at their new clubs.
Anchor: But news broke out recently that a certain key player said they'll rather lose than to win for Mourinho
Komptrolla: I want to believe it's fallacy. Yes some players look disinterested and nonchalant, Hazard and Fabregas for example but you can't question their commitment. These same players won the league last season in commanding fashion, if they're complaining about something then you need to take them serious.
Zikson_b: I rather not speak on that. So many things can be happening underground that we know nothing about but I don't think any player will want to do that. If you don't play for Mou, is it Sheerwood you will play for?
Segunake: We never can tell... Hazard had a good game against Stoke but struggled against Liverpool, this is based on Mourinho's tactical blunder... He flourished at Stoke from the left but Jose decided to move him to the middle behind Costa and play Oscar on the wings. Hazard needs space to perform, Lucas and Can did not allow him to breathe and were kicking him around. I do not want to believe the players are revolting against him.
Anchor: Mourinho feels his boys are trying but results are harsh on them, do you agree?
Komptrolla: That's the same problem we're talking about. Mourinho is the only one that sees it that way, against Liverpool, Chelsea only played for ten minutes on either side of each half, they switched off after scoring the opener and they got battered. There hasn't been any game where Chelsea truly dominated this season, not even the ones they won.
Zikson_b: Mourinho should probably speak to Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger to understand what it takes to be in a club for long. I think they just need to adapt and change their style to be honest. Chelsea have been average this season and it's not about results been harsh on them.
Segunake: You need luck in every aspect of life but hard work usually creates luck. His tactics and approach are not just working, teams have discovered the weaknesses of his current squad and he is not willing to change his tactics.
Anchor: Now, what is the way out?
Komptrolla: Well, I'm not one of those who feel the manager should go, the pay off clause won't make the management sack him but he should be allowed to turn it around. He has to motivate his players, he has to change tactics and try something new. He bought a left back for 21m bucks and he's still playing a right back in that position and a center back at right back... Who does that? Mou must step up himself and make big decisions.
Zikson_b: All EPL teams will come at them this season. It's going to be a long season because confidence is low and the players will have to get back to their best to help Chelsea out of this.
Segunake: The way out is to change the dynamics of the team, play players in their right positions and stop the square peg in a round hole. Stop making them rigid in their approach. Let his creative players have fun.
That's where it ends today, until we return next time on this hot seat, keep on checking us out at @footballnus and keep retweeting. Thank you
