Now that he’s settled back in to life at the bridge are
we firmly in the era of Jose 3.0?
First there was Jose as the Special One during his first
stint at Chelsea, riding into press conferences with the confidence of someone
who gets to write his own headlines. Then there was Jose the eye poker at Real
Madrid, dropping legendary players to make a point and speaking to the press
only to tell them he wouldn’t speak to them.
Chelsea fans may have thought they were getting version one. They might have hoped that they weren’t
getting the second. Instead they’ve
ended up with someone in between the two.
The attention ahead of their visit to Tottenham on
Saturday has focussed on the supposed rivalry between Mourinho and Andre Villas
Boas, one that apparently came into being after AVB stepped out from his mentor’s
shadow. Jose’s probably glad for the
shift in focus. Before the hype started
for ‘The Master Vs The Apprentice’ questions were being asked with increasing
frequency about Chelsea’s poor start (by their standards anyway; it’s worth remembering
that they topped the Premier League for twenty four hours last weekend). He’s brought the creative excuses that don’t
really stand up to scrutiny with him from Madrid, blaming the age of his young
eggs in the Champions League loss to Basel when the average age of the team he
picked was twenty seven. It sounded good
though.
He’s moved on now to blaming the change in style he’s in
the process of implementing. It’s common
knowledge, although never actually been confirmed, that Chelsea owner Roman
Abramovich wants to have his club change to a more pleasing on the eye
style. Roman apparently of the opinion
that an investment of over a billion pounds should buy you whatever you want. Mourinho’s comments have been all but an
admission that he’s been tasked to it. Dealing
with Jose on current form is like dealing with the secret service, every
question just leads to another question.
For example, if he’s been tasked with developing a more aesthetically pleasing
playing style what’s with his treatment of Juan Mata?
Last season’s player of the year has been ostracised more
than any other player, left to contemplate League Cup matches and little
else. As an on form Mata would walk into
any team in the league it’s difficult to reason with Jose’s decision,
especially to the extent to which he’s been left out in the cold. Mouriho’s reasoning is that because he has
Oscar (after all Brazil’s first choice at number 10 in a country that is blessed
with them) he has no space for Mata.
This is based on Oscar covering more ground without the ball than Mata
would. There seems to be no chance of
him trying to include both, as even as pragmatic a coach as Rafa Benitez did on
many occasions last season. What seems
odd about it is that at Madrid Jose would always include Ozil as well as two
other attacking midfield players like Di Maria or even further forward with Cristiano
Ronaldo. Either he believes that he
could get away with it with the quality of the competition in the Spanish
league or he’s making some other point that we can’t quite see yet. Time will tell.
Speaking of Benitez Jose has been, taking any chance he
can get to chip away at the reputation of his predecessor as Chelsea manager
like it’s 2005 all over again, starting with taking Rafa to task for having the
temerity to win a competition in the Europa League that they shouldn’t have
entered in the first place. Jose’s been
doing this since he came back, running through his greatest hits in an attempt
to get his lost mojo back, like a Fleetwood Mac reunion, dusting off that old
material. He’s gone back to some of his
less successful newer stuff as well, rekindling his rivalry with Pep Guardiola
before the European Super Cup Final then talking about how his whole career he’s
been the victim of a UEFA conspiracy (which means he’s done pretty well to win
two European Cups). It can only be a
matter of time before he starts looking around for more eyes to poke.
Jose used to only manage but create expectations. He was a master at it. His first press conference in England where
he declared himself special is proof enough of that. The first season at Chelsea he told the
players before the season started that they’d win the league when they played
Bolton away in April. Then they did just
that. He used to be a master of bringing
the pressure on himself to take it from his players. Now he’s struggling to manage the increased
expectation his return has brought and it’s showing in the way his team’s
performing (for an example of someone managing it better look at Manuel
Pellegrini at Manchester City, telling the press before the first game that he
had the league’s best squad at his disposal and if they didn’t win it was his
fault). Jose used to have the press
eating out of his hand. Now it’s not
that easy and you can see it rankling.
They’re like a separated couple that have gotten back together because
they couldn’t remember why they broke up in the first place. Now they’re at that awkward stage of not
wanting to be the one who brings it up first.
Which brings us to AVB.
Ever since he came to England he’s been billed as a kind of Jose Mark
II, Diet Jose, Jose The Next Generation.
They came up through the same clubs and were even both mentored by Bobby
Robson. Even the theory that they no
longer get on is that they’re rooted in an Oedipal struggle to replace/subjugate
each other. The worsening of their
relationship, although more has been made of it than should have been, has
added an extra spice to a game that didn’t really need any. At the start of the season Jose was already
talking about Tottenham being one of the main challengers for not just the top
four but for the title. Chelsea gazumping
Willian from under Tottenham’s noses when they plainly didn’t need him still
needles (although given the form of the Brazilian since he signed Spurs may
have gotten the better end of that deal).
AVB and Spurs should have more reason to complain about a
new style bedding in. Since bringing in
their new signings and adjusting to the loss of a certain Welshman they’ve
looked close to the real deal, more solid than they’ve been in living memory, reminiscent
a little of Mourihno’s Chelsea, the first version. They’ve only conceded once in five games and
that was in a closely fought derby with Arsenal, the other league leaders. In a league that promises to not have a
runaway winner being defensively sound and efficient going forward may be
enough to win it. Right at this moment
that sounds more like Tottenham than Chelsea.
It’s not inconceivable that Chelsea could finish fifth or
below. Someone out of last season’s top
four and Spurs will have to and Chelsea finished sixth as recently as the
season before. The match on Saturday
will go a long way to proving which is more likely out of these two teams to
miss out. With the pressure and
attention being on the managers I’m going for a low scoring draw. And for Spurs to finish ahead of Chelsea at
the end of the season.
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