Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho is expected to turn in a season-end report to the board detailing his plans for next season, and explaining this seasons’ stumbles. What will he put in?
It’s not often that Chelsea ends a season without any silverware. For that matter, Jose Mourinho is in virgin territory too – and skating on thin ice.
Roman Abramovich isn’t going to be pleased at the manner in which his team capitulated when the going got tough. An especially painful loss to Sunderland at home, and losses to Aston Villa and Crystal Palace stunned Chelsea’s title challenge into non-existence. Jose Mourinho’s report will undoubtedly touch upon those losses, while also pointing to games that should have been victories but instead ended in draws. In the grand scheme of things, those 7 draws might well have given Mourinho the welcome he had hoped for in his first season back in charge, at Chelsea.
The season-end report Mourinho prepares for the shadowy board that runs all things Chelsea, will be eagerly anticipated by the intended recipients for more than just an explanation for Chelsea’s failures this season. It will give them their first look into his insights about how some of the critical decisions he made earlier this season, played out.
The page on letting Juan Mata will be especially important: in light of the sudden and dramatic dip in form by Oscar, something Mourinho insinuated had more to do with the upcoming World Cup than the natural ebbs and flows of a player’s skill levels. With Oscar having been eclipsed by others in the team, and Eden Hazard openly criticising the manager and the team’s style, the departure of Juan Mata from the side will certainly seem like a costly decision by Jose Mourinho.
Juan Mata knows this more than anyone else, and he trained his sights on his former boss, with a public statement detailing how little he knew about the reasons for his exit from the team. Furthermore, Mourinho’s barbed response to Hazard’s suggestions, couldn’t have come at a worse time as other clubs smell blood in their bid to prise the Belgian from West London.
Of equally critical importance will be the pages dedicated to the last remaining stalwarts in the team: the weeping Ashley Cole, and the injured John Terry, Frank Lmapard and Petr Cech. If there ever was a manager with the large-enough personality to turn the page on these larger-than-life icons, it would have to be Jose Mourinho. It would be a case of sad irony if the man who oversaw the rise of Terry, Lampard and Cech into the behemoths they are, was the one who finally pulled the plug on them.
Ashley Cole certainly looks like he’s on his way out. One of the premier left backs in the world, Cole found himself running against the clock as the faster, lither and more agile Azpilicueta made himself a star. Ashley Cole might still find himself a home in the MLS, but he leaves at a time he will barely be missed.
Petr Cech could very well become the Blues’ second choice to man the posts, if Thibaut Courtois returns to the helm. The young keeper loaned to Atletico Madrid made a couple of crucial saves to prevent Chelsea from reaching the finals of the Champions League, and has seen his stock rise at Stamford Bridge. Three years has been long enough, Chelsea will feel, and loaning him out for an additional year will see the West Londoners run the risk of losing him for good. Unless Diego Costa is sold to Chelsea, with a rider that keeps Courtois back at Madrid, expect to see the young superstar in place of Cech.
John Terry’s role will be harder to judge. This was one of his better seasons for the Blues in terms of rock-like solidity at the back, but what he brings to the table – apart from his talismanic status – is increasingly under question. With Kalas, Ivanovic, Luiz and Cahill all proving to be more than adept at holding the fort. While Lampard’s shown that he can be comfortable being just one of the men, that might be too hard a leap for Terry.
Having spent the past decade being more than just one of the men, Terry certainly has big shoes to fill.Ai??His own.
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