José Mourinho is not in immediate danger of losing his job as Chelsea manager despite his team slumping to 16th in the Premier League, and only three points above the relegation zone, with their 1-0 defeat at Stoke on Saturday.
There were reports immediately after the game that the club’s hierarchy had already started the process of replacing Mourinho, with three former Chelsea managers, Roberto Di Matteo, Carlo Ancelotti and Guus Hiddink, as well as the former Liverpool manager and one-time Stamford Bridge reserve-team coach Brendan Rodgers, mentioned as possible successors. But Chelsea sources insist that while the club’s owner, Roman Abramovich, remains concerned by the champions’ slump, he retains faith in Mourinho and has no desire to sack him yet, for the second time in eight years.
What is for sure, however, is that the manager is in a precarious position following Chelsea’s seventh defeat in 12 Premier League games and 10th in all competitions this season. The visitors performed well at the Britannia Stadium but nonetheless came away with nothing and should that again prove the case when they host Norwich after the international break, Mourinho’s position may well become untenable only six months after he led Chelsea to the title and three months after he signed a new four-year contract.
Mourinho did not witness his team slump to a third successive league defeat as he was serving a one-match stadium ban and instead watched proceedings from the team hotel while remaining in contact with his assistants, Steve Holland, Rui Faria and Silvino Louro, via mobile phones, which was allowed as part of the Football Association’s sanction.
The Portuguese gave his usual team-talk to the players in the hotel before they boarded the team bus and headed to the Britannia Stadium. He also supplied Holland, Faria and Louro with specific instructions to carry out should certain situations arise, with the arrivals of Oscar and Cesc Fàbregas from the substitutes’ bench 17 minutes after Stoke had taken the lead through Marko Arnautovic’s volley believed to be among them.
Several Chelsea players have come out in support for Mourinho in recent weeks, with Kurt Zouma among those to do so after the Saturday defeat. “I do not feel he is being let down by the players,” the defender told the French football programme Téléfoot. “We might not be at last year’s level but we are all together as a team. We trust in Mourinho, just like the fans.”
A potential, further headache for the Chelsea manager before the Norwich game is a ban for Diego Costa after the striker was accused by a Stoke steward of treading on his foot as he went to retrieve the ball for a Chelsea corner in the 73rd minute of Saturday’s fixture.
Video footage shows that, at worst, there was minimal contact and Chelsea have dismissed the accusation as “utter nonsense” and insist the issue was dealt with amicably after the final whistle. However, as the incident was reported to the referee, Anthony Taylor, he is obliged to include it in his post-match report.
The FA expect to receive the report on Monday at which point it will be passed on to its governance department and it could decide to hit Costa with what would be his third retrospective ban since joining Chelsea in July 2014. It seems highly unlikely, however, that will prove to be the case.
