Is talk of a Mourinho ‘demise’ far too premature?

For six months, abuse was hurled down at Rafa Benitez with Chelsea voicing their discontent at the appointment of the Spanish and former Liverpool manager. A torrid end at Anfield, despite winning the Champions league, was seen as the probable end of Benitez in England.

Roberto Di Matteo, the man who Benitez replaced, had just managed to secure the illustrious and elusive Champions league that the owner, Roman Abramovich, had been craving. It was a shock to everyone that the popular Italian had been sacked, seemingly paying the price for an average start to the new season.

Rumours quickly surfaced that Benitez was on his way, much to the dismay of many blues supporters. The rumours turned out to be correct and on the 21^st of November he took over. After guiding Chelsea to the Europa league, he left as he was always going to.

Only one name was on Chelsea fans minds, one Jose Mourinho. The prodigal son was about to return and Chelsea were to be the force they once were.

But what do they say about not going back?

A run of four games without a win, in all competitions, had many criticising the returning hero on his decision to come back and also his tactical decisions.

Juan Mata, one of Chelsea’s best performers last season, was linked with a move to PSG in the transfer window. This would have seemed a crazy rumour at the start of the season but judging the lack of Mata involvement, it may have been true.

But surely it is too premature to be predicting Jose’ demise, no? A 2-0 win over Fulham put them top of the table for a least a day. If that’s where they finished I’m sure the fans would be more than pleased.  It seems incredible that the same fans who were begging for his return are now moaning over his negative tactics. Let’s be honest he was always going to play like that.

One thing that is interesting is that he didn’t enjoy the most successful time at Real Madrid. One League title, one Spanish cup and one Super cup (the equivalent of the community shield) seems a very paltry return for the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ and a very expensive squad with the then most expensive player, Cristiano Ronaldo in their ranks.

The Portuguese man couldn’t escape Barcelona. Everywhere they turned they were there and more often than not it was the Catalan giants that would defeat them. But we must all remember that in that Barcelona contained a certain Lionel Messi. In Mourinho’s three seasons Messi scored 127 goals in 102 league games. Ultimately, this would be the real key to Barcelona’ dominance.

There is no Messi in the Premier League and who would doubt Mourinho turning Chelsea into the top team in England again?

Not me.

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