Chelsea: Has Jose Mourinho blown the tittle already ?

"They are the worst results ever in my career but I
am comfortable with the situation." - Jose Mourinho
after Saturday's defeat to Everton
The sound of Jose Mourinho insisting he is the best
man to lead Chelsea just four months after taking
them to the Premier League title is a measure of
the scale of their decline this season.
Chelsea's 3-1 defeat at Everton on Saturday was
their third in five league games - adding up to the
club's worst start in 29 years as they lie in the
uncharted territory, for Mourinho at least, of 16th
place in the table.
Is Chelsea's title defence over already?
It takes a brave man to write off Mourinho and
Chelsea after only five games of the new season -
but even "The Special One" himself was reduced to
offering assurances they would not be relegated
after being bundled out of the way by Everton.
Study the evidence and, premature as it may seem,
it looks like Chelsea's closest rivals Manchester
City are already over the hills and far away, with
five wins from five and 11 points ahead of the
faltering champions.
Chelsea have lost four of their last seven Premier
League games - they had lost only four of their
previous 44 before this run.
Of course Chelsea will improve. Mourinho is too
good a manager, there is too much quality locked in
his squad for this poor sequence to continue and
his talk of avoiding relegation sounding like a
sideways swipe at those revelling in his struggles.
Champions Chelsea's terrible start
This is the first time that Jose Mourinho has lost
two successive Premier League games since
May 2006.
In their last seven Premier League games,
Chelsea have conceded 16 goals - one more
than they conceded in the whole of Mourinho's
first season in charge in 2004-05 (15).
The last time that Chelsea had a worse start to a
top-flight season was in 1986-87 (three points -
P5 W0 D3 L2). They finished that season in 14th
position.
Chelsea have already equalled their tally of
defeats from the whole of 2014-15 (3) after five
games of 2015-16.
Chelsea have lost four of their last seven
Premier League games - they had only lost four
of their previous 44 PL games before this run.
Chelsea's position of 16th after five games is the
worst start by a defending champion since
Blackburn in 1996. Rovers too were in 16th
place after five games, but they were only eight
points behind leaders Newcastle.
The bottom line is, however, that City are currently
head and shoulders above the rest of the Premier
League, showing a capacity to dig out wins at
Crystal Palace - with a late goal from Nigerian
teenager Kelechi Iheanacho - as well as outclassing
Chelsea themselves.
Chelsea are already looking for City to lose four
games while they start winning theirs - and the
opposite looks more likely at the moment. The
crown may have already been taken off their heads.
BBC Sport pundit Robbie Savage told Radio 5 Live:
"Chelsea had no idea. I was looking at Jose in his
press conference before the game and he didn't
look quite right.
"I think the league is over for them, I really do. I
can't see them clawing back 11 points on City."
What's gone wrong?
Everything, according to Mourinho.
He said after the loss at Goodison Park: "The
moment is so negative that everything goes against
us. At the tactical meeting we had this morning
even the computer broke."
The more serious fractures are to be found at
sources that have previously been the foundations
of reliability for Chelsea and Mourinho.
Chelsea's successes, and indeed Mourinho's
success at Porto, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, have
always been built around solid, reliable defence.
Steven Naismith's hat-trick for Everton means
Chelsea have now conceded 12 league goals this
season, with Mourinho's trusted defensive
personnel suddenly vulnerable.
John Terry played at Everton but was substituted in
defeat at Manchester City and sent off at West
Bromwich Albion. Gary Cahill was only a substitute
at Goodison Park while Branislav Ivanovic, so
reliable for so long, has seen his form collapse.
It is the first time Mourinho has lost two
successive Premier League games since May 2006
and in their last seven Premier League games
Chelsea have conceded 16 goals, one more than
they conceded in the whole of his first season in
England, when they let in 15 as they won the title.
Further forward Cesc Fabregas looks a shadow of
the figure of such influence last season while
striker Diego Costa, the merchant of menace who
provided physical presence as well as goals last
season, is waging his usual wars on opponents but
not much else.
Costa announced his arrival in the Premier League
from Atletico Madrid with seven goals in his first
five league games last season - a year on he has
only one and looks nothing like the threat.
Mourinho has also had to cope with the loss of
first-choice keeper Thibaut Courtois for three
months after knee surgery while the fall-out from
his decision to demote team doctors Eva Carneiro
and Jon Fearn after they angered him by coming on
to treat Eden Hazard against Swansea City on the
opening day rumbles on.
So yes, plenty has gone wrong - now it is up to
Mourinho to put it right as he finds himself in an
unfamiliar state of struggle.
John Stones - Here's what you could
have had
Mourinho set his sights on bringing Everton's
elegant 21-year-old England defender to Chelsea as
his marquee summer signing but ran into a club,
and manager in Roberto Martinez, that simply
refused to budge.
Everton were unhappy at what they saw as
Mourinho and Chelsea's public pursuit of Stones,
who had a transfer request rejected after a third bid
of £30m was turned down.
Mourinho was, in the end, reduced to doing a £3m
deal with Nantes for Senegalese international Papy
Djilobodji, admitting: "It was not my choice. It was
the choice of someone I trust completely, which is
the same."
The failure to land Stones was put into even sharper
relief by the youngster's superb performance in
front of Mourinho at Goodison Park.
Mature and level-headed enough to put the
speculation behind him, Stones delivered the sort of
Rolls Royce display that made Chelsea so keen to
secure him.
Stones showed the sort of assurance, class, pace
and reliability that is just what Chelsea's rocking
rearguard needs right now.
Mourinho on the defensive
Mourinho's trademark is bristling defiance in these
rare times of struggle - but there have been traces
of delusion in his demeanour this season.
He has been prickly on many occasions already,
fostering a siege mentality, but was actually quite
calm in defeat at Everton although he said: "I know
that lots of people are happy finally to find me in a
situation like this after so many years. Fair play,
enjoy. I will enjoy my day on Sunday."
Where Mourinho veered off track was to suggest
the game at Everton was "completely under control"
adding "in every game they (Chelsea) deserve
better results."
This is palpably not the case, with Mourinho's claim
that the 3-0 loss at City was a "fake" result a
ludicrous assertion - unless he felt City should have
won by more.
Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton told BBC Sport
- after hearing Mourinho's comments - "Jose
Mourinho is talking rubbish, saying his team did not
get what they deserved.
"Everton were much the better side. It's all very
well Jose coming out and giving an interview to the
media smiling away - he's culpable.
"That result was very unlike Chelsea. Jose won't be
going anywhere, but you cannot afford to start the
Premier League sluggishly and they have done.
They are treading water, or really going backwards.
"This is the first time in his Chelsea career that he
has been under real, real pressure."
Will Jose Mourinho last the season?
Mourinho will feel the pressure of results - born
winners always do - but it is stretching the point to
suggest there are questions over his job or his
future.
When Mourinho left Chelsea in September 2007, his
relationship with owner Roman Abramovich had
broken down and the tensions made his departure
inevitable.
Mourinho has never stayed at any club longer than
three years but he signed a new four-year deal in
early August and has stated his intention to build a
long-term dynasty at Stamford Bridge.
Predicting any moves from Mourinho is a
hazardous occupation and he is not used to this
territory.
At Goodison Park he spoke like a man preparing for
a battle - not with his owner but to fight his way out
of a dreadful start to this season