EPL: The jaded one

EPL: The jaded one

SINGAPORE- I remember him as the straight-talking young manager who wasn't afraid to take on the footballing world in his first stint in London. He was also a media darling for his colourful quotes.

The Portuguese has certainly matured a fair bit, after difficult stints at Inter Milan and Real Madrid.

If he seems a little jaded now, it may well be because of his well-publicised troubles at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The old Mourinho would have breathed fire after the Blues' 3-2 defeat at Stoke on Saturday.

Instead, what we got was a manager who struggled to get any sort of coherent message across.

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Despite losing ground to league leaders Arsenal, who played Everton this morning (Singapore time), I think Mourinho's job is safe for now, even with Roman Abramovich's penchant for sacking under-performing managers.

They were a little unlucky at the Britannia Stadium - Andre Schuerrle hit the post at 2-2 before Oussama Assaidi netted the winner. This has been a topsy-turvy season so far.

The likes of Manchester United and Manchester City have been struggling under new managers, while teams such as Everton and Newcastle United have been performing well.

I reckon there will be five or six teams fighting for the title by February, and Chelsea will be one of them.

But the Special One needs to sort out his defence soon.

During his previous stint, the likes of John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho were hard as nails and ready to throw their bodies in front of shots.

Now, the likes of David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic seem like they are trying their best not to get hit.

That is a perfect anecdote when comparing the two Chelsea teams under Mourinho.

The previous squad, anchored by the likes of Terry, Frank Lampard, Claude Makelele and Didier Drogba, were willing to die for their boss.

I doubt Mourinho wields that kind of power now.

I haven't spoken to many players on this issue, but my personal feeling is that, these days, footballers are not too happy to be told what to do in training and in matches.

Perhaps it's the amount of money involved in the game, or maybe it's the involvement of the agents, but I get the feeling that players will seek greener pastures at the first sign of trouble.

They don't seem willing to rough it out for the club and the manager, and that is something that Mourinho needs to fix. Another department that needs fixing is obviously the strikers.

The trio of Demba Ba, Fernando Torres and Samuel Eto'o haven't been effective upfront, to say the least.

The strikers have netted just four Premiership goals this season, half the tally of Romelu Lukaku, who is on loan to Everton.

The Chelsea trio missed a glut of chances against Stoke, a game they should have easily won in the first half.

Mourinho will need to sign at least a sturdy centre back and a striker next month, with the likes of Luiz and maybe Ashley Cole possibly on the way out of Stamford Bridge.

Ray Houghton is a former Liverpool midfielder who played for the Reds from 1987 to 1992, winning two league titles and two FA Cup. He is now an ambassador for the Football Association of Ireland and also works as a co-presenter on UK radio station talkSPORT.


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