It is not usual to see the champions of a league languishing at the bottom half of the table in the next season itself.
By the month of November, the standings in the table give you a fair idea where the teams are more or less going to finish at the end of the season. However, this season shows up the biggest surprise with Chelsea placed at 16th and Leicester City occupying one of the top four places.
Much of the blame has been placed on Mourinho and rightly so. Mourinho is the first one to congratulate himself when his team succeeds. Hence, when Chelsea are going through such a rough patch like in this season, it is only understandable that he gets most of the criticism.
The fact that Chelsea won the title last year by a huge margin should not overshadow the fact that they were fading away towards the end of last season. Ironically, it was Hazard who is arguably their worst performer this season that carried them through till the end.
It is understandable that the manager can do little when most of his biggest stars stop performing largely due to lack of motivation or fatigue. In the current era of football, however, top managers are paid handsomely to actually handle such issues.
One way to look at this would be that the seeds of this catastrophic season were sown last year itself. The Premier league is physically challenging and when you add the fact that Mourinho preferred a smaller squad of players last season, we can imagine the stress and physical drain that the players might have endured.
Apart from that, the Premier league calendar this year was quite congested. The league ended late last season compared to other seasons and started early this season. Although it can argued it is the same for all teams, not all teams had to play with a comparatively smaller squad with the added pressure of a title race the previous season.
The Premier league can be a tough nut to crack when the energy levels drop even by a small margin. The fatigue coupled with the lack of motivation and the increase in quality of the league may partly justify the current scenario. However, Mourinho should be blamed for the lack of signings and failing to provide that much needed freshness to the squad.
It is important that Chelsea get their act together immediately after the international break or they may have to see their most successful manager sacked once again with another former manager waiting on the wings.
By the month of November, the standings in the table give you a fair idea where the teams are more or less going to finish at the end of the season. However, this season shows up the biggest surprise with Chelsea placed at 16th and Leicester City occupying one of the top four places.
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| Jose Mourinho |
The fact that Chelsea won the title last year by a huge margin should not overshadow the fact that they were fading away towards the end of last season. Ironically, it was Hazard who is arguably their worst performer this season that carried them through till the end.
It is understandable that the manager can do little when most of his biggest stars stop performing largely due to lack of motivation or fatigue. In the current era of football, however, top managers are paid handsomely to actually handle such issues.
One way to look at this would be that the seeds of this catastrophic season were sown last year itself. The Premier league is physically challenging and when you add the fact that Mourinho preferred a smaller squad of players last season, we can imagine the stress and physical drain that the players might have endured.
Apart from that, the Premier league calendar this year was quite congested. The league ended late last season compared to other seasons and started early this season. Although it can argued it is the same for all teams, not all teams had to play with a comparatively smaller squad with the added pressure of a title race the previous season.
The Premier league can be a tough nut to crack when the energy levels drop even by a small margin. The fatigue coupled with the lack of motivation and the increase in quality of the league may partly justify the current scenario. However, Mourinho should be blamed for the lack of signings and failing to provide that much needed freshness to the squad.
It is important that Chelsea get their act together immediately after the international break or they may have to see their most successful manager sacked once again with another former manager waiting on the wings.
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