Mour grief for troubled Jose

I’M BEGINNING to think that I’m deluded in believing that Chelsea continue to have patience and faith in Jose Mourinho as their manager.

I know it’s only last week I was saying I thought he’d carry on until the end of the season and that his departure would come irrespective of who wins the Champions League final in Athens. But rumours are gathering pace that the split might come before that and Saturday’s defeat for the Champions at Anfield won’t stifle them.

Liverpool didn’t need to be outstanding though both Dirk Kuyt (if only he had a bit more pace he’d be a world beater) and Xavi Alonso both were. Nevertheless, Benitez’ team still won very easily. It should have been 4-0 after 18 minutes, not 2-0.

Apart from the excellence of Michael Essien, at great expense to the Chelsea midfield playing in the centre of defence, and Petr Cech, returning in goal, the Blues were woeful. It was beyond the hour before Pepe Reina had a save to make and that turned out to be the only one.

Of course, it mattered that the absence of the ill Ricardo Carvalho added to the uncertainty in defence but Chelsea looked uncertain all over the pitch. They were badly in need of organisation, the sort that can only come from a key player such as John Terry — still missing — or the manager.

The team’s body language was wrong, as if accepting the defeat as inevitable, but there’s no excuse for Mourinho looking exactly the same. And his defence of the performance afterwards, while suggesting he’s frequently a better loser than he is a winner, wasn’t what Chelsea fans wanted to hear.

For the first time, in all the time he’s been at the helm, Mourinho struck me as a man lurching out of control. He seemed unconvinced by the injury to Arjen Robben and only reluctantly withdrew the player from the action. The way the Dutchman subsequently ripped the shirt off his back as he disappeared down the tunnel spoke volumes as his being at least one player out of tune with his manager.

And the way Andrei Shevchenko waited unbelievably long to make a substitute appearance in the second half — £30 million worth of talent sitting on the bench when you’re losing 2-0 and the preferred Kalou is making the impact of a ghost? — said to me that Mourinho was making a rather dangerous political statement to his board: ‘I don’t care if we’re losing, I pick this team.’

Roman Abramovich wasn’t at Liverpool. Officially, he had business to attend to. But he hardly ever misses a match and certainly not one with so much riding on it. The atmosphere at Anfield made a huge impression on the Russian in that titanic Champions League semi-final and it’s one he’s desperate to see at Stamford Bridge.

If, as it seems, and despite what Peter Kenyon argues, Abramovich no longer believes Mourinho can deliver then his acknowledged business ruthless streak might be applied on the football front sooner than anyone thinks.