Given recent results, Jose Mourinho’s sacking shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise.
After nine Premier League defeats already this season, Roman Abramovich has ended Mourinho’s second spell in charge of Chelsea, just months after awarding him a new contract.
We’ve taken a look at five things that went wrong for Jose Mourinho.
Champions League failing
As Chelsea marched towards the Premier League title last season, many expected them to make a serious push for Champions League glory.
They breezed through the knock-out stages of the competition and into the last 16.
Despite Zlatan Ibrahimovic being sent off for Paris Saint-Germain after half an hour of their second leg at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea could only draw 2-2.
Disappointingly, this saw the French side progress on the away goals rule.
The Radamel Falcao gamble
Diego Costa’s goals were a significant factor in Chelsea’s successful league victory last season. That said, their striking options were left desperately thin in the summer with the departure of Didier Drogba.
Despite the Colombian having endured a miserable season on loan at Manchester United, Mourinho decided to sign Radamel Falcao to bolster his goal threat.
With no more strikers coming in and Costa’s goalscoring not as prolific as it was a year ago, the Falcao move appears to have backfired.
The Eva Carneiro episode
Chelsea’s opening game against Swansea saw Mourinho criticise team doctor Eva Carneiro for treating an injured player when he felt it wasn’t necessary.
Accusing his medical staff as being “naive”, the incident attracted plenty of negative headlines and overshadowed the start of Chelsea’s title defence.
Carneiro has since left the club and her dismissal has become a legal matter.
Defensive woes
Many of Chelsea’s defeats have been attributed to poor defending, bringing into focus Mourinho’s failure to strengthen his back line in the summer.
Chelsea’s pursuit of the Everton defender, John Stones, was well documented but when Roberto Martinez stood firm on his decision not to sell, it appeared Mourinho had no plan B.
As a result, there’s been increased pressure on an ageing John Terry and constant shuffling in an unsettled Chelsea defence.
The deterioration of key players
Along with the aforementioned Diego Costa, several of last season’s key players have failed to replicate the form that guided Chelsea to the title.
Cesc Fabregas and PFA Player of the Year Eden Hazard have been noticeably short of form in an attacking sense but the performances of Nemanja Matic and Branislav Ivanovic have also been below where they were 12 months ago.
The first challenge faced by his successor will be to address this.
