What new manager needs to do to fix Blues
Sat in a business class this afternoon, a report on Jose Mourinho being sacked was the last thing I was expecting to read.
After him not going yesterday, I was confident that Chelsea would at least be giving him until the club’s home game with Sunderland on Saturday, giving him one final chance to pick up some momentum and save himself for another week. Lose in that game, and it was all over, sure, but I wasn’t expecting it today at all.
I think that the decision is poor from the Chelsea board, who are certainly known for their eagerness to sack a manager when things aren’t going too well, look at Andre Villas-Boas and Robeto Di Matteo’s periods in charge and you’ll see exactly what I mean. However, to be fair to owner Roman Abramovic, he’s given Mourinho a longer period than most recent managers have had at Chelsea.
That’s still no good reason to be sacking a manager 7 months after winning the Premier League in a manor that dominated all other teams in the division.
Nevertheless, I don’t believe that sacking Mourinho this time around (the second in total) was completely down to the club’s results. I honestly believe that Mourinho had completely lost the dressing room, and once you lose that, your job isn’t far behind. I think there were obvious player-manager relationship problems between Mourinho and the top players at the club, such as Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, which has been reflected in their poor form on the pitch for the majority of this season.
So the time for a change is now at Chelsea, but what does the new manager need to change at the club? I don’t believe that the situation is a quick fix, and I don’t believe that Chelsea will be challenging for top 4 this season (especially if Brendan Rodgers is instated…), but what’s important is the new man at the club arrives and straight away makes a good connection with his new players. They need to sort out the ego’s of players who think they’re better players than they actually are, and they need to make a good impression on Chelsea fans, who aren’t taking kindly to the news of Mourinho leaving.
I think the reason Mourinho was sacked at this point in the season in particular, was the fact that there are 13 days until the January transfer window opening. The new manager needs to use it. On paper, the squad definitely shouldn’t need changing, but Chelsea need to get rid of players who are non-existent in games. In my opinion, Oscar, Ramires, Falcao, Jon Obi Mikel and Loic Remy all fall under this catagory. The new manager needs to recognize the players who are the strongest in the team, and either turn their form around, or use them to help compliment players who aren’t playing well. He needs to get Costa, Hazard and Fabregas all playing well again, and instruct players such as Matic, Willian and captain John Terry, who’d I’d say are the only players you can say are having a decent season, to help restore harmony and team spirit back into the squad.
Whether it’s Rodgers, Ancelotti or Pep Guadiola, the man who arrives at Stamford Bridge has an incredible amount of work to do, and big shoes to fill. The question is, in a year’s time, will paying £40million to sack Mourinho be worth it for the billionare Russian owner? Well, it’s a drop in the ocean for him anyway…
By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10
