Jose Mourinho looks dispirited as his side lose yet again in what is turning out to be a tormentuous season
“Hell hath no fury like a Woman scorned!” is what we all are thinking about right now. Ever since Jose uttered the choicest of words for Dr. Eva Carneiro, every tabloid in the media is laden with stories of how Eva’s curse has caused Chelsea to play underwhelmingly. Branislav Ivanovic and John Terry are prime examples of the Blues massive dip in form. The latter has been relegated to the bench but the former, rather surprisingly, has not followed him there and only Jose can explain that kind of sorcery.
Chelsea’s loss to Porto earlier in the week was a chastising experience. Mourinho would’ve loved to get a win over his former side, but his current side’s predicament, left them open for counter-attacking exploitation. And boy did Porto exploit it! Andre Andre latched onto a rebound to open the scoring on the 40th minute mark to compound misery on their boss. Willian though, gave Jose’s men a ray of hope, as he has been doing for the past few weeks, by converting a brilliant free kick that sailed past a frozen Iker Casillas. After the break however, the Portuguese team took Chelsea to task with swift passing and incisive counters. And these attacks resulted in a goal from captain Maicon who directed a firm header past Asmir Begovic from a corner. Chelsea tried every trick in the book to get back on terms once again, but to no avail.
Porto skipper Maicon wheels away to celebrate after putting the hosts back into the lead
The usual suspects could be blamed for this humiliation at Jose’s native land. Branislav Ivanovic again, defended woefully as he was run ragged by Brahimi on the left flank. How he still finds a place in the starting line-up, and how he has been promoted to captaincy, is a mystery even for the most ardent of Blues fans. Cesc Fabregas too, just can’t seem to track back and defend.
True, he is one of the most creative footballers in Europe at the moment, but his task list includes helping his defence too, which he has conveniently forgotten it seems. Diego Costa did hit the crossbar once and gave a hard time to the opposition defence once in a while, but that’s about it. John Obi Mikel was as usual, clueless.
The Chelsea players rush to celebrate as Willian equalises the game from a fantastic free-kick just before half time
The bright lights for Chelsea this season, have been Willian, Begovic and Ramires. These three players have worked their socks off for the Blue cause, though in vain. Eden Hazard has been astonishingly below par this season and it looks like Jose’s alleviation of him above Cristiano Ronaldo made him lose his bearings. Pedro has had a good start to his Premier League career and is playing good football all around. Yet, Chelsea’s machinery lacks the normally sound defence and the midfield supremacy of old. Also, their strikers are frustratingly barren in front of goal, and bringing Falcao into that kind of mix was, in my humble opinion, nothing short of suicide.
On a more serious note, what is going on at Stamford Bridge? More importantly, what is Jose thinking? We all know that had it not been Jose, the manager would’ve been sacked by now as per Chelsea customs. Since it is Jose, he has to prove why he is the self-proclaimed “Special One” and turn Chelsea Football Club’s fortunes around, before Roman pulls the plug.
