Mourinho risking Chelsea civil war with
Terry axe.
The Portuguese's decision to substitute his captain rather
than Gary Cahill was pointed and Sunday's drubbing at
the hands of Manchester City poses serious questions.
The most significant outcome of Chelsea 's wholly deserved
3-0 defeat by Manchester City was that Jose Mourinho
declared, in public, that John Terry was not up to the job
of marking Sergio Aguero .
Mourinho reasoned that the Argentine sharpshooter was
too canny for Terry during a first half in which he scored
one goal and could have had at least two more. A younger,
faster player would have to be fielded instead.
Never mind that it was Gary Cahill around whom Aguero
was running rings for the most part, having cleverly pulled
onto the right-sided centre-back whenever he could.
"I have to decide who is the fastest player in our
defensive line so, when you are going to play with a high
block, the fastest player has to be on the pitch," Mourinho
told reporters.
Never before had Mourinho substituted Terry. He has been
up against most of the world's best forwards and few
could be said to have given him a genuine run-around.
"The point was not to take John out but to put [Kurt]
Zouma in," the Blues boss continued. "I want to have my
fastest player on the pitch and not on the bench. I know
they are going to play counterattack and long balls to
Aguero."
Why Terry and not Cahill?
"That is a good question."
Why not start Zouma in the first place?
READ MORE | Mourinho: Terry was NOT injured
In any case, Chelsea conceded twice more with Zouma on
the field; Mourinho reckons that they were the better side
in the second half. There are not many who would agree
with him. He argues that his decision to replace Terry was
vindicated in that the Blues had most of the play after
the break. Warped logic.
Mourinho, though, had found himself another scapegoat.
"He was not dancing in the dressing room and he was not
having a bad reaction," he said of Terry at half-time
when he took delivery of the news that he was to be
subbed. "He did what everybody does. The manager says
this guy comes in and that guy goes out and they all
understand."
Terry - 'captain, leader, legend', as the sign reads - now
just like "everybody" else. Just like Petr Cech, just like
Juan Mata. Just like those players whose usefulness to
Chelsea and Mourinho expired. He has ushered out of the
door a good number of Chelsea legends in the three
summers since he returned to the club, with Didier Drogba
and Frank Lampard among them too. Terry endured. He
is still, comfortably, the best centre-back in the league
and maybe the world. To pick on him for a collectively
disastrous first-half display was, for Mourinho, pointed.
A 2-2 draw with Swansea City was, perhaps, even more
than they deserved on matchday one. After this 3-0
hammering, it is the worst shape in which Chelsea have
ever been after two games under Mourinho. Usually, they
win both their first games. Before this season, only in
2006-07 - when losing to Middlesbrough on Teeside - had
they failed to take six points out of the first six on offer
in the Premier League, so something is amiss.
They are five points behind City - perhaps fatally so,
even at this early stage. Five points is five points, no
matter what the stage of the season.
Before the game, eager to gloss over what had been a
fractious engagement with the press on Friday due to the
Eva Carniero affair, Mourinho conceded to the press that
his Chelsea team were, at this stage of the season, a little
underdone. He gave his team a month off over the
summer and played only three matches before the
season's competitive football began. They have been well
off the pace set by Manchester City and were brutally
exposed here.
He has been picking what is, on paper, his strongest XI.
Mourinho is one of those coaches whose substitutes' bench
actually looks like a substitutes' bench. There are his 11
favourites and then the rest. It does not appear that he is
capable of freshening up what is already on the books.
Branislav Ivanovic and Gary Cahill were two players whose
form dipped more than most at the end of last season.
Those tailspins have continued into this. Cesc Fabregas, at
the ripe old age of 28, looks about ready for the Middle
East or MLS given the manner in which he is dragging
himself around elite football pitches.
Mourinho has not, yet, been able to bring in the players he
wants but the signing of Abdul Baba Rahman could yet
spell trouble for either Cahill or Ivanovic.
"He is a left-back; he can compete with Azpilicueta," said
Mourinho before adding: "At the same time, Azpilicueta
can compete with Ivanovic for the right-back poitison so
he replaces Filipe Luis in the balance of the squad."
He is still courting John Stones, whom he sees as eventually
replacing Terry. The day when Terry needs to be replaced,
in Mourinho's eyes, could come around sooner than many
had expected.
"I don't know if you ask many questions to [Rafa]
Benitez, Andre Villas-Boas, [Roberto] Di Matteo, to the
ones that never played him," he said. "I am the one you
shouldn't ask because I am the one who played John every
game, made him captain, recovered him from a difficult
situation with other managers and I had the right to say I
want Zouma on the pitch."
To be enduring such a poor start is alien for Mourinho; in
his career he has never been at a club whose output was so
shambolic. He has a job on his hands turning this lot
around any time soon.
To endure such a start and fall out with his medical staff
and then drop his captain at half-time of a crucial
league game is abnormal. The pattern of Mourinho's
career is well woven. He is known for his itchy feet three
years into any project. A new contract extension took a lot
of people by surprise despite Mourinho's constant claims
that he is with Chelsea this time for the long term.
If that is indeed the case then he would do well not to
take on Terry. No player is bigger than any club but Terry
does more than most to challenge that thinking.
He was asked at the end of the press conference whether
these players could win him the Premier League again and
maybe the Champions League. "Yes," he said quickly and
walked away. He could not think of any convincing words
to back it up.
Terry axe.
The Portuguese's decision to substitute his captain rather
than Gary Cahill was pointed and Sunday's drubbing at
the hands of Manchester City poses serious questions.
The most significant outcome of Chelsea 's wholly deserved
3-0 defeat by Manchester City was that Jose Mourinho
declared, in public, that John Terry was not up to the job
of marking Sergio Aguero .
Mourinho reasoned that the Argentine sharpshooter was
too canny for Terry during a first half in which he scored
one goal and could have had at least two more. A younger,
faster player would have to be fielded instead.
Never mind that it was Gary Cahill around whom Aguero
was running rings for the most part, having cleverly pulled
onto the right-sided centre-back whenever he could.
"I have to decide who is the fastest player in our
defensive line so, when you are going to play with a high
block, the fastest player has to be on the pitch," Mourinho
told reporters.
Never before had Mourinho substituted Terry. He has been
up against most of the world's best forwards and few
could be said to have given him a genuine run-around.
"The point was not to take John out but to put [Kurt]
Zouma in," the Blues boss continued. "I want to have my
fastest player on the pitch and not on the bench. I know
they are going to play counterattack and long balls to
Aguero."
Why Terry and not Cahill?
"That is a good question."
Why not start Zouma in the first place?
READ MORE | Mourinho: Terry was NOT injured
In any case, Chelsea conceded twice more with Zouma on
the field; Mourinho reckons that they were the better side
in the second half. There are not many who would agree
with him. He argues that his decision to replace Terry was
vindicated in that the Blues had most of the play after
the break. Warped logic.
Mourinho, though, had found himself another scapegoat.
"He was not dancing in the dressing room and he was not
having a bad reaction," he said of Terry at half-time
when he took delivery of the news that he was to be
subbed. "He did what everybody does. The manager says
this guy comes in and that guy goes out and they all
understand."
Terry - 'captain, leader, legend', as the sign reads - now
just like "everybody" else. Just like Petr Cech, just like
Juan Mata. Just like those players whose usefulness to
Chelsea and Mourinho expired. He has ushered out of the
door a good number of Chelsea legends in the three
summers since he returned to the club, with Didier Drogba
and Frank Lampard among them too. Terry endured. He
is still, comfortably, the best centre-back in the league
and maybe the world. To pick on him for a collectively
disastrous first-half display was, for Mourinho, pointed.
A 2-2 draw with Swansea City was, perhaps, even more
than they deserved on matchday one. After this 3-0
hammering, it is the worst shape in which Chelsea have
ever been after two games under Mourinho. Usually, they
win both their first games. Before this season, only in
2006-07 - when losing to Middlesbrough on Teeside - had
they failed to take six points out of the first six on offer
in the Premier League, so something is amiss.
They are five points behind City - perhaps fatally so,
even at this early stage. Five points is five points, no
matter what the stage of the season.
Before the game, eager to gloss over what had been a
fractious engagement with the press on Friday due to the
Eva Carniero affair, Mourinho conceded to the press that
his Chelsea team were, at this stage of the season, a little
underdone. He gave his team a month off over the
summer and played only three matches before the
season's competitive football began. They have been well
off the pace set by Manchester City and were brutally
exposed here.
He has been picking what is, on paper, his strongest XI.
Mourinho is one of those coaches whose substitutes' bench
actually looks like a substitutes' bench. There are his 11
favourites and then the rest. It does not appear that he is
capable of freshening up what is already on the books.
Branislav Ivanovic and Gary Cahill were two players whose
form dipped more than most at the end of last season.
Those tailspins have continued into this. Cesc Fabregas, at
the ripe old age of 28, looks about ready for the Middle
East or MLS given the manner in which he is dragging
himself around elite football pitches.
Mourinho has not, yet, been able to bring in the players he
wants but the signing of Abdul Baba Rahman could yet
spell trouble for either Cahill or Ivanovic.
"He is a left-back; he can compete with Azpilicueta," said
Mourinho before adding: "At the same time, Azpilicueta
can compete with Ivanovic for the right-back poitison so
he replaces Filipe Luis in the balance of the squad."
He is still courting John Stones, whom he sees as eventually
replacing Terry. The day when Terry needs to be replaced,
in Mourinho's eyes, could come around sooner than many
had expected.
"I don't know if you ask many questions to [Rafa]
Benitez, Andre Villas-Boas, [Roberto] Di Matteo, to the
ones that never played him," he said. "I am the one you
shouldn't ask because I am the one who played John every
game, made him captain, recovered him from a difficult
situation with other managers and I had the right to say I
want Zouma on the pitch."
To be enduring such a poor start is alien for Mourinho; in
his career he has never been at a club whose output was so
shambolic. He has a job on his hands turning this lot
around any time soon.
To endure such a start and fall out with his medical staff
and then drop his captain at half-time of a crucial
league game is abnormal. The pattern of Mourinho's
career is well woven. He is known for his itchy feet three
years into any project. A new contract extension took a lot
of people by surprise despite Mourinho's constant claims
that he is with Chelsea this time for the long term.
If that is indeed the case then he would do well not to
take on Terry. No player is bigger than any club but Terry
does more than most to challenge that thinking.
He was asked at the end of the press conference whether
these players could win him the Premier League again and
maybe the Champions League. "Yes," he said quickly and
walked away. He could not think of any convincing words
to back it up.
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