Under fire Jose Mourinho ‘not worried’

After spending a few minutes talking about “disrespect” and criticising the media and others within football regarding the “excitement” at the prospect of someone losing their job, Jose Mourinho made a strong claim about his position and his state of mind.

“I’m not worried about that at all,” the under-pressure Chelsea manager said about the prospect of being sacked. “At all. I don’t spend one day thinking about it. I’m worried about winning, about qualifying for the next round of the Champions League… I’m not worried about my job, my future, about anything other than that. I’m not worried. I’m not worried.” Mourinho is so “not worried”, in fact, he used those two words four times in the space of 30 seconds. Anyone might think he’s protesting too much, as he then continued his protestations about the coverage of his position ahead of a decisive fixture at home to Liverpool.

“It looks like you want to put a lot of pressure on me in relation to that, but you can’t do it. You can’t do it.”

The reality is that it is Chelsea’s dismal results - five defeats from 10 in the league - creating that pressure, as well as owner Roman Abramovich’s history with under- performing managers. Either way, all of that gives rise to a number of questions and one grand football story that almost transcends Chelsea’s troubles. Can one of the greatest managers of all time somehow figure a way out of this, the worst spell of his career, and something he’s never experienced before? Will Roman Abramovich change the custom of over 12 years at Stamford Bridge and keep Mourinho?

Those close to the circles of power at Chelsea say Abramovich still wants to give Mourinho time. When they met on the Russian’s yacht in early 2013 to negotiate the return of the Portuguese, there was a realisation it was time to do things differently. Both wanted to finally look to the long term. And, when you take that detached long-term view, it should really be a no-brainer that 13 years of near-relentless success trump three months of trouble. Mourinho’s track record alone should dictate he deserves the time to fix this.

The problem with that long-term view, though, is that it is significantly distorted when you properly look at what’s going on right now. All accounts from Chelsea’s training ground and squad indicate Mourinho is trying to do exactly the same things as when he was winning, but none of it is working. The opposite is happening. This should be the deeper worry. All the attributes that initially made him one of the best in the game are making this situation worse. Back when Chelsea were winning the title in March, the Portuguese himself talked expansively about how he bases his management on what he calls “confrontational leadership”. He referred to trying to “create some conflict with the intention to bring out the best” from players, to criticise them, “to provoke a reaction of anger”.

Now, rather than bring solutions, this has only led to more and more players questioning him. It does seem that, for all the talk of Mourinho’s “third-season syndrome”, that approach emotionally burns players out rather than firing them.

One story has it that most of the squad began to see the Portuguese’s provocative approach in a different light when he started to relentlessly go on about Sky’s critical coverage of Chelsea and Diego Costa last season. It marked a moment when many saw him as just a man with some very human and occasionally petty “obsessions”, rather than a genius authority figure. It also meant his provocative responses to this awful run - abruptly dropping players, abrasive media comments - just haven’t had the same effect.

Some of the squad have been privately furious at decisions. Those close to one player said his treatment had ensured he is “now deaf” to what his manager has to say..

That type of thing is becoming a growing problem, but is not universal. Mourinho still has a core of players loyal to him, and they are said to include John Terry, Cesc Fabregas, Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta and Diego Costa.

The Portuguese himself also knows that the team’s collective low confidence is only making all this worse. He knows that a few good results can erode their issues. Nothing makes people in football forget problems like a win.

The crux is whether his current methods can get those results in time, whether he can come up with the approach to fix things, or has it already gone too far? This is the biggest worry of all.