Terrace Talk: Chelsea - Abramovich must step in and trap Jose’s ‘rat’

It’s probably not one of my best ideas to write this article immediately after witnessing possibly one of the most gutless performances I have seen for a very long time. In the pub, everyone wants to apportion blame – it’s Ivanovic’s fault, it’s Mourinho’s fault, it’s John Terry’s fault, it’s Eva Carneiro’s fault – it’s all getting a bit heated.

I have no idea whose fault it is – but what is evident is that there is something very wrong and whatever it is is not working itself out. Someone has to take control of the situation and make a few tough decisions.

Players who won the league last season do not (all) become complete liabilities overnight. They also, one would assume, do not lose faith in the manager who led them to that league victory overnight. The manager also does not become crap overnight – and save me the “Mourinho third season” theories please. That said, the Svengali-like influence Mourinho has traditionally held over his various squads does seem to be absent. How has that happened? Who has enough influence in the dressing room to undermine him?

It won’t have been the first time either.

Of course as far as Chelsea is concerned there is only one man whose opinion really counts – and it’s not often I advocate the owner getting involved in the actual football but I think tough times call for tough measures. We need Roman to nail his colours to a mast. And in my opinion, it needs to be the manager’s mast. That sends a clear message out to all the players. If there is any disruption in that dressing room, if there is anyone leading any sort of campaign – it stops it dead, there and then. The owner needs to make it clear that there will only be one winner.

Whoever this player is, it’s a fair assumption he is also the “rat” Jose alluded to who is briefing the press. However good that player is, however talented, however fundamental to the team – they need to go. That kind of player becomes a disease inside the dressing room and that disease needs to be cut out.

Ferguson had no qualms through his career of getting rid of anyone he saw as a disruption, or saw themselves as more important than the club or the manager. No matter how valuable or popular the player. Chelsea need to grow a backbone and do the same.

Jose came out fighting after the game although I was disappointed with his comments about the referee. Nothing was going to draw attention away from the fact that this game was lost due to our own shortcomings.

We saw Mourinho rattled certainly, but it was also the most defiant and passionate I have seen him. He used this interview to send a message to the owner, to the team and to the club as a whole including the supporters. He is calling for unity and is calling for our backing and as someone who has delivered time and time again, he deserves it. He is going through the worst period of his managerial career and really, it’s probably long overdue – no matter how good a manager is, they will invariably encounter this at some point. The thing is not to panic and over-react. Do we want to be the club that got rid of the best manager in the world not just once but twice?

There are already supporters starting to lose their nerve. Booing the Willian substitution – bet they felt stupid after finding out the Brazilian had been vomitting at half-time. Some fans have very short memories.

The international break could not have come at a better time. Regroup, take some time time to look at what is going wrong and why. Jose can perhaps take a couple of days to visit his sick father.

I saw a comment on social media after the match that sums up how the team is playing at the moment: “If Chelsea sack Jose and things improve and players started trying again, it says more about them than the boss – that would be a bigger issue”.

Mourinho may be making mistakes but the players are letting him down.