Jose Mourinho has found himself subject to a backlash of scrutiny this week since his public outing of Chelsea’s medical staff. Jon Fearn and Eva Carneiro were on the receiving end of another much-publicised rant by the Chelsea manager after their 2-2 draw with Swansea. Fearn and Carneiro ran onto the pitch to tend to the needs of Eden Hazard late on in the game which lead to Chelsea being down to 9-men for a short moment, with Thibaut Courtois sent off earlier on in the game. This miscommunication resulted in a disgruntled Mourinho and has been the talking point of the weekend.
Mourinho has since banned both Fearn and Carneiro from the bench, team hotel and training ground and his decision is very much disagreed with by the majority of people, however let’s just think hypothetically for a second. If this was a mistake by the medical team, then such punishments are a huge over-reaction. This leads me to believe there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes.
I personally don’t buy into this one situation being the main reason. Recent interviews suggest Mourinho’s not overly happy with the clubs work during this transfer window, with key targets unsigned and fringe players still around the place. Only a few weeks ago Jose expected John Stones and Baba Rahman to be Chelsea players by the opening weekend of the Premier League season. Almost a week later and they both still remain unsigned.
Take this interview with Sky Sports:
“Thibaut and Asmir are two fantastic keepers. My club did very well by getting a keeper on time and not on the August 31. If my club gives me a keeper on August 31, then we have a problem not just for today but also for the next match. Unless the people understand that it’s not a red card and they clear the suspension.”
I personally read this as an indirect jibe at the club regarding other targets we’ve currently not signed. The frustration is clear. Diego Costa’s persistent hamstring problems are surely weighing on his mind too. With the striker being passed fit, only to pull up again within a game or two. These issues that are mounting up smell strongly of a man who’s frustration has built up over a period of time and it just so happens to be a wrong place, wrong time situation for the medical staff on the end of it. Like a ticking time-bomb, Jose has over-reacted to a small incident and has just lost his cool.
After years of management, it is already well known that Mourinho is a man of emotion, he’s a clear winner and obviously felt the game could have been won still. However Thibaut Courtois isn’t subject to a public rant, nor are the other players who decided to leave their efforts in the changing room. Neither should the medical staff, though, that’s the issue here, some things are better left behind closed doors. It was only less than two weeks ago he signed a new four-year contract and already his actions have shown the club in a bad light. Roman Abramovich is said to be unhappy with the way this has all happened too, imagine that?
The result probably didn’t help matters, including the red card and other incidents, this was just the last issue on his mind as it was the latest incident during the game. We’ve all been there, arguing about something completely ridiculous because you’ve finally had enough and want to get all that anger out, yet that anger has no real relevance to the situation that’s being spoken about. This situation seems to me like it’s exactly that, everybody’s human including Jose Mourinho.
This ill-conceived tirade wasn’t another of Mourinho’s famous deflection techniques, no, it was clearly pent-up frustration at a number of things. Hopefully the Portuguese can pull himself together and have the decency to apologise, then it’s over to the club to deliver the goods in the transfer market and make this week go from terrible to something worth remembering, for the better.
