Team Focus: Under Pressure Mourinho Facing Decisive Double Header

Much was made of Jose Mourinho’s flash interview after the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool, but, for all he sought to avoid confronting the reality of that latest reversal, it probably revealed more of the truth than he would have done by actually trying to talk. 

This really was a man with “nothing to say” any more. It wasn’t evasion. It was accuracy. Mourinho no longer has explanations for what’s going wrong, nor does he even have deflection tactics. Everything he’s tried has failed. 

This, then, is what it has come down to too. Roman Abramovich still wants to keep the Portuguese, especially since there are a paucity of truly convincing current replacements, but the pressure to make a dismissal may be impossible to resist if they lose at home to Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday and drop more Premier League points away at Stoke City on Saturday. 

These could well be the decisive two games in the job, especially since the international break would provide breathing space for any new manager to come in. If Mourinho can successfully navigate these two games to get through to then, he can probably hang on until January and make the additions he already needed in the summer. If he fails, then Abramovich would really have no better time to make what would then appear an inevitable decision. 

So, to prevent that, Mourinho is going to have to fix enough of this team’s problems in the short-term. 

The bigger issue, however, is almost picking which problem to try fix first. There are essentially issues with every area of the team, bar maybe goalkeeper, but Asmir Begovic has still had to face more shots than he would have anticipated when deputising for the injured Thibaut Courtois. 

That, of course, is where it begins. Mourinho’s foundation stone of a strong defensive structure has totally crumbled. They’re just so vulnerable, and open. It’s just so easy for strikers to get at them, and almost take clear efforts on goal. Chelsea concede 5.7 shots on target per game, the 19th worst in the league. That is down from 3.2 last season, the second best in the league. It is little wonder that they have conceded an average of two goals a game - simply remarkable from a Mourinho team. 

The oddity is that their rates of tackling and intercepting in defence have remained high, but the number of clearances from virtually every player has plummeted. With Nemanja Matic, it’s down from 3.3 to 1.6. With Cesar Azpilicueta, it’s down from 3.1 to 1.6. It's similar for John Terry and Gary Cahill. 

This reflects how Chelsea just can’t get rid of the ball, and are always being beaten back. That itself hints at the next flaw. The breakdown of Mourinho’s defence puts the onus on the attack to compensate, but instead only exposes just how uncreative the Portuguese teams are. His forward coaching has always been relatively unsophisticated compared to the rest of his methods, but he is admittedly being let down by other areas and individuals here too. 

For one, just as Matic and other defensive midfielders can’t adequately cover the back four, Cesc Fabregas can’t properly supply the attacking four. His key passes have dropped from 2.8 last season to 2. 

Even if Eden Hazard was getting more of the ball, though - he is playing only 49.6 passes per game compared to 58.4 last season - there is considerable doubt whether Chelsea’s main creative force is on the kind of form to do much with it. He is dribbling less, making 2.8 runs per game rather than 4.8, and shooting less – 2.1 shots per game to 1.1. In other words, all his vigour has gone. Diego Costa has been running about trying to make things happen himself in that vacuum and, with the striker also enduring fewer opportunities - down from 2.9 shots per game to 1.8 - it is perhaps little wonder he has got even more frustrated and lashed out. 

When that many things are wrong, it’s little wonder they’re losing that many games - a stunning six in 11. 

Far more galling for Mourinho, though, is that even when he temporarily fixed some of these problems - such as in taking the lead against Southampton and Liverpool - single setbacks cause a collective breakdown again. All the ructions come rushing back. 

The question is whether Mourinho can keep them together long enough. He feels that two wins in a row can start to restore confidence, and that all the issues will begin to erode. 

The possibility, however, is that they’re already in a negative cycle. 

If he has nothing to say, as he again emphasised in his pre-game press conference, he must do something against Kyiv tonight. 

This is what it comes down to. Otherwise, Abramovich may make much more of these setbacks than the others.

How do you think Chelsea will fare against Dynamo Kyiv tonight? Head over to the WhoScored match preview to have your say!