Although the possibility of sacking Mourinho has been discussed at the top level of the club a few times this season, Abramovich has remained strong in his belief that the Portuguese should be given time to turn things around, partially because the owner wants Chelsea to start doing things differently and partially because of a lack of options.
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Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea languish in 14th position, 14 points adrift of Manchester United, who occupy the fourth and final Champions League spot. Our problem is that our objective is to finish top four.
“But this defeat leaves us in a position that means now we maybe have to think about top six”.
He had set the record of scoring in 11 straight EPL games the previous week but could not find the target despite a couple of opportunities.
Jose Mourinho’s side produced another disjointed display and were stunned in the 82nd minute when substitute Glenn Murray, who had only been on the field for two minutes, headed home after a goalmouth scramble.
“I am concerned, of course”, Mourinho told Sky Sports.
However, he accepted his share of responsibility for this season’s alarming slide. “The bad moment is my responsibility and the players’ responsibility”. Willian is the club’s top scorer with six goals, but none has come from open play, while Pedro Rodriguez, Oscar and Falcao have one apiece in the Premier League.
But Mourinho said he was more concerned by referee Mike Jones’ decision not to award his team a penalty when Simon Francis slid in to tackle Diego Costa and the ball struck the Cherries skipper’s arm. His attitude reflected the boring, burnt-out performance of his team; there’s only so much Mourinho can do to explain and deflect attention away from Chelsea’s poor form before the results simply speak for themselves. It was a penalty and the goal was offside.
“We are keen to always try and play our way”, he said.
“But apart from that, inconsistency has also to do with individual inconsistency”.
It was Chelsea’s fourth home defeat of a dismal campaign, while Bournemouth were left to celebrate a famous result that lifted them out of the bottom three. We didn’t score; they were lucky and scored one goal.
Bournemouth are now unbeaten in three – and were unfortunate to go down 1-0 to Newcastle before that – and they will be in buoyant mood ahead of Manchester United’s visit. – Chelsea lost at home to a newly promoted side for the first time since April 2001 (1-0 v Charlton), going 43 games without defeat since then (W37 D6).
The game only truly came to life in the 83rd minute when Roma’s Pjanic scored his seventh league goal this season, a free kick that evaded team mate Edin Dzeko but bounced straight in after being horribly misread by Torino keeper Daniele Padelli.
But Mourinho said last week Costa should feel “privileged” because he was the last of a seemingly settled pre-season XI to be sacrificed as the manager has struggled to determine a solution to the club’s current slump.
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Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth are now unbeaten in three games and they move out of the relegation zone after defeating the champions.
