José Mourinho still a great manager​ despite return of familiar flaws

It was against that backdrop, with the team treading dangerously close to the relegation quicksands and so much evidence of broken-down professionalism it was almost a surprise Roman Abramovich did not reach for the eject button the morning after Mourinho emerged for what will now be remembered as his last press conference on Monday and lamented the possibility that maybe his players simply were not as brilliant at their jobs as he was at his own.



“Last season I did phenomenal work,” Mourinho informed us. “Sometimes I find myself thinking that last season I did such an amazing job I brought players to a level that is not their level and, if this is true, I brought them to such a level where this season they couldn’t keep the super motivation to be leaders and champions. That is one possibility.” That was the moment, among a series of self-serving utterances, we finally saw Mourinho drowning in his own ego.

It was an exercise in passing the buck and some of us in his company did wonder whether Mourinho, as streetwise as they come, sensed what was coming and was getting in his retaliation in first. Mourinho acquitted himself in a way a jury never would and his announcement that his work had been “betrayed” abandoned one of the basic rules of man-management not to turn against your own players in public. It was a high-risk strategy and, if that relationship had broken, Abramovich was probably entitled to wonder what hope there was realistically of it getting any better.
Mourinho certainly put in a valiant attempt to absolve himself of blame but a manager has to be held accountable if the champions are suddenly playing as though in a straightjacket. Eden Hazard has flitted around half-heartedly. Cesc Fàbregas has made it feel like a trick of the imagination this was once the most refined passer of the ball in the league and, with the exception of Willian, the deterioration has affected everyone at Stamford Bridge. A manager is there to lift his players from these lapses. It is his job to find a way to replenish the lost confidence and inspire better performances. Mourinho, for all his other gifts, has failed to show he has those restorative powers.

It would be nice to think in his next spell of employment we may see more of his better qualities and less of the more unappealing ones. Perhaps he will understand the irony that on the morning of his last match Chelsea languished fifth from bottom while the team managed by a “specialist in failure” were admiring the view from the top. Maybe he will heed his own words and “be humble”, just like he said his players should be. The soft-focus Mourinho can be warm, charming and convivial and time in his company is rewarding and fascinating. It is just not easy sometimes to square his more appealing characteristics with his darker sides – the cold, ruthless Mourinho that Eva Carneiro may one day speak about.

All that can really be said for certain is this was supposed to be the season when Mourinho showed he was capable of creating a dynasty at Chelsea. Sir Alex Ferguson lasted 26 years at Manchester United. Arsène Wenger is approaching two decades in the job at Arsenal. Mourinho? He took offence to the suggestion everything tended to unravel in the third season but, once again, we are at the same stage, with the same questions and suspicions. It happened at Chelsea in his first stint, it divided Real Madrid into a state of civil war, and it partly explained why United took a long, hard look when they needed someone to replace Ferguson, then turned the other way.

This is the story of Mourinho’s career: a succession of brief and sometimes wild flings without ever settling into a long-term relationship. Yes, the sex can be amazing at first – but the split is not always amicable. It is the one challenge that has always been beyond him and, at this stage, the overwhelming conclusion is that will probably always be the case.