Guest Post By Karl Matchett
A late Willian goal gave Chelsea a much-needed 2-1 victory in the Champions League in midweek, leading some to label the goal a "Mark Robins" moment-the goal which saved the manager's job, in other words, after the infamous goal scored by the former Manchester United striker which urban legend claims saved Alex Ferguson's job, back before he became a multiple title-winner.
Jose Mourinho doesn't need such interventions to send him on to unprecedented success at his current club; the Portuguese boss won the Premier League title just six months ago yet has seen his largely unchanged squad fall short domestically and abroad this term, with Chelsea struggling for consistency at either end of the pitch and enduring disciplinary problems off it too.
It has led to calls from some-fans in some quarters and pundits in others, it should be noted-that a change is needed, that Mourinho's "third season syndrome" has hit and that the club need a new leader to turn things around.
That, not to put too fine a point on it, is complete nonsense.
It's not simply a matter of no other managerial candidate out there being better than Mourinho-Carlo Ancelotti is a revered name and plenty of in-work managers would also be attracted by the proposition of managing Chelsea-but of several other factors being at work too. The squad is one built in Mourinho's own image, even if there are problematic individuals held within at present and a lack of identity in attack. The in-stadium supporters, protective of their own and suspicious of outsiders like most clubs' core fans, are fully behind Mourinho's efforts to turn things around and sacking him would not just alienate them from those in charge, but also immediately make them more likely to be hostile of the incoming replacement.Â
Mourinho might well have gotten some aspects of the season wrong so far, and retaining the title already looks well out of reach-Chelsea are 14 points behind Manchester City after just 11 matches-but from the viewpoint of near-future success, the blues would be far better served by writing off this season and rebuilding according to Mourinho's wishes, rather than ditching him and trying to shoehorn continuity out of the current crop of players.
While a handful in the squad are of genuine top-tier quality, few can truly claim to be irreplaceable.
Big money signings make for big money sales, more often than not, and if Mourinho was-clearly within the hierarchy of the club and its players, if not entirely publicly-given licence to pick and choose which players stayed to play for him and which were forcibly ejected from the club, it wouldn't be long before results turned around.
As a manager, he riles some due to his style of play. As a football persona, he isn't to everybody's tastes due to his penchant for playing the blame game in every direction except inward. As a manager though, as a proven trophy-winner and results-earner in the modern age, there are few who can match his consistency.
Mourinho himself spoke only a few short weeks back about this being a critical time for Chelsea, whether they would stick together and work through problems which even then were evident, or whether they would sack the most successful figure in the club's history. Results and performances haven't noticeably improved, even counting the win over the relatively modest Dynamo Kyiv, but sometimes a single victory can be enough to spark a resurgence of confidence and trust, appreciation and belief.
Write off the season and aim merely for progression, write off the players and rebuild with the money they bring in. Both are extreme measures, but being 15th in the table in November is also pretty extreme.
What Chelsea shouldn't be looking to do, now or at any time soon, is write off the manager who has the best chance of taking them back to challenging on all fronts and keeping the inside of the club-fans, players and board alike-united in their support of each other.