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By Mark Jones, Featured Columnist
IAN KINGTON/Getty Images
I know what you’re thinking. Only three?
Chelsea’s 2015/16 campaign continues to lurch from one crisis to another, with the solace of the international break saving the club’s fans from more misery for a couple of weeks at least.
Placed 16th in the table, just three points off the relegation zone, the reigning champions are breaking all kinds of unwanted records as they continue to sink without a trace.
Of their many star players, arguably only Willian has lived up to his billing during this miserable opening third to the campaign, but what about the wider problems?
Here’s a look at a trio of them.
Jose Mourinho Has Gone Rogue
In coming to resemble Michael Douglas’ stressed-out character William "D-Fens" Foster in the 1993 film Falling Down, Jose Mourinho has eroded much of the respect he’s built up over the years. We always knew that he was a relentless winner and admired him for it, but now he just seems a bit frantic.
Referees, opposing managers and even his own medical staff have been in the firing line. The support Chelsea fans have shown for the man who has won three of their five league titles has been admirable, but even they can’t be surprised that there isn’t much sympathy for the Portuguese elsewhere.
Mourinho seems to regard his club’s current struggles as a personal affront to him, thereby clouding his judgement and his ability to motivate his players.
Until he realises that this isn’t all about him, then you get the sense that Chelsea won’t get out of their malaise.
They’ve Lost Their Spirit
The four defeats in their last five Premier League games perfectly capture the lack of fighting spirit among the Chelsea players right now.
In the home games with Southampton and Liverpool, the Blues took the lead within the first 10 minutes—something which, had it happened last season, would almost certainly have led to a gritty, ground-out win perhaps garnished with a late goal.
On both occasions, though, Mourinho’s side—perhaps nervous—sat back and allowed their opponents both time on the ball and a way back into the match, with crucial goals coming just before half-time from Southampton’s Steven Davis and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho.
Deflated and devastated by the loss of their lead, Chelsea went on to concede twice in each second half against the Saints and the Reds, something which would have been unheard of last season and just underlined the club’s fall from grace.
In the two away losses during this nightmare five-game run, the Blues conceded the first goal to West Ham and Stoke and were unable to recover.
In fairness, they were more than a little unfortunate in both matches—with Cesc Fabregas seeing a marginal offside call go against him at Upton Park, and the loss at Stoke coming despite a largely promising performance.
However, a lack of discipline also played its part—see Nemanja Matic’s foolish red card at West Ham—and they came to resemble a side full of individuals unable to work out how best to get back into the contest.
They’re losing from all angles, in other words.
What Will Roman Abramovich Do If There’s No Champions League?
Roman Abramovich isn’t a man used to being told that he can’t have something, and woe betide whoever has to tell the Russian oligarch that his Chelsea side won’t be a part of the Champions League next season at this rate.
It isn’t the glitz, glamour or Champions League anthem thatAbramovich will miss most, of course—he isn’t a regular attendee at matches anyway—but the rather cold, hard cash which Europe’s premier competition generates, and the subsequent hole it will leave in his sizeable wallet.
Obviously, a club with the vast resources that Chelsea enjoy won’t find themselves out of pocket for too long, but the difference on the balance sheets of clubs who aren’t in the competition and those that are isn’t negligible, and Abramovich will know that.
The worry for Chelsea fans would be that he’d react by, perhaps, sacking Mourinho or maybe selling off a star player to cover for the loss, but the key thing is that we don’t really know what he’d do.
Still as secretive today as he was when he arrived in 2003, Abramovichwould be placed into a situation that he has no experience of and certainly wouldn’t want to be in again.
How he reacts could determine Chelsea’s future.
