Mourinho's Chelsea headache

Under-fire Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho cut a frustrated figure as he weathered questions about his side’s bruising 3-0 defeat at the hands of Premier League title rivals Manchester City. Ever the pugilist, Mourinho protested that Chelsea’s improved second-half performance yesterday meant the scoreline was “fake”, but neither the impression left by the game nor the statistics bore him out. Bloodied after a week that saw him roundly criticised for demoting medics Eva Carneiro and Jon Fearn over a row about their treatment of Hazard during the 2-2 draw with Swansea City, Mourinho was reduced to claiming that City had abandoned their principles by tightening up in the second half.

It was a tactic he had employed after Chelsea’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal in the Community Shield, when he accused Arsene Wenger’s team of “leaving their philosophy in the dressing room”, and it felt like a similarly redundant observation at the newly expanded Etihad Stadium.

We take a look at some of the issues facing the Portuguese manager in the domestic league over the past two weeks.

Carneiro saga

If José Mourinho’s public spat with one of his club’s doctors, Eva Carneiro, and a physio, Jon Fearn, was no more than a distraction tactic, the Chelsea manager will have to find a spectacular ruse to draw attention away from Chelsea’s resounding defeat at Manchester City on Sunday. The Eva Carneiro subject went on for subsequent days after the game which finally led him to take off the medic from the bench. Whether this was a smart move or not Mourinho's move was highlighted in the Man City game when two of his players got injured at the same time.

 
On Sunday, when Chelsea’s training staff tended to Gary Cahill in the first half, the Man City fans responded with a mock cheer and began chanting “Eva, Eva.” Cahill had suffered a bloody nose but he was not the Chelsea defender removed at halftime. Cahill got punched by Begovic while attempting to clear the ball and while receiving treatment Diego Costa suffered a head injury. This exposed the fact that Chelsea were short of medical teams on the pitch which led to delay of the match.

City won, 3-0, to go to the top of the Premier League table. In front of a record crowd at the enlarged Etihad Stadium, the home team showed familiar strengths and weaknesses.

Taking off Terry

It was very odd when captain John Terry came off the pitch at the half- time break while the Blues were trailing to the Man City. Many analysts and football critics condoned this move questioning whether it inspired confidence in the team to see the captain taken off. 

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho defended his decision to substitute captain John Terry at half-time in the 3-0 defeat at Manchester City. The 34-year-old was replaced by Kurt Zouma with City leading 1-0 - the first time he has been taken off by Mourinho in the Premier League. The Chelsea boss confirmed that Terry was not injured and that tactics were behind his decision to replace him.

"It was clear to me Zouma has to play," said Mourinho after Sunday's game.

Line- up: Players mistakes

His line-up surprised few; the industrious Ramires and Willian were alongside Eden Hazard in a three behind Diego Costa, despite the two Brazilian midfielders scoring just 15 league goals between them in the past three seasons. It was no surprise that the vast majority of City’s attacking play came down their left, with Branislav Ivanovic having another afternoon to forget, not helped by Ramires on the right side of midfield. He struggled with Aleksandar Kolarov and Raheem Sterling’s overlapping, dragged Gary Cahill out with him, and just eight days after being given the runaround by Jefferson Montero of Swansea, was Chelsea’s weak link again.

While Cesar Azpilicueta spent most the game in City’s half, Ivanovic’s average position was pegged back dead in line with the centre-halves, unusual for a full-back.

But Ivanovic was not alone. Cesc Fabregas was deployed in a deep-lying central midfield two alongside Nemanja Matic, but he loitered in City’s half far too often without retreating, exposing the back four and leading Mourinho to take off John Terry for the first time in the Premier League.

Wake up Call

Chelsea needs to get their game on and improve their form in the league as they are now traling leader Man City to 5 points. Nobody knows the criticality of the getting points early on in the season than Jose Mourinho. They have the players and quality to mount a successful defense on the league title and now it is just a matter of showing character. Their midfield should become more organized and inject more to create chances and improve their odds of attacks scoring.