In what has been a strange and unpredictable 1st half of the season, there could be fewer fluctuations and bizarreness in football noticed than the one at Stamford Bridge. Jose Mourinho hailed as the supreme leader of West London had the most miserable premier league seasons ever witnessed by a defending champion team’s manager. Yet , his oustre caused quite a few upset faces amongst the many neutrals who follow the sport. Arsene Wenger certainly wasn’t one of them.

To say Chelsea’s defence  of the title anything mirrored that of a champion was a far outcry to begin with. A poor off season form meant losing the Community Shield to long time London rival Arsenal. Jose had  given his loser’s medals to the Wembley crowd as a sign of his displeasure. That failure just carried into the 1st game where Swansea challenged them. The famous Eva Carniero incident sparked Jose’s woes bright and early. Hazard being carried off the pitch left him with 9 players and he voiced his expression loud and clear on the medical team. He expelled Eva from the future bench appearances and she  ultimately left the post. The matter didn’t end there as Carniero pressed charges following her early departure form the club. Chelsea failed to put up a club defence on that row as well.Soon after Jose left. Roman Abramovich had more bills to pay in addition to Jose s salary deficits which he is bound to pay till the end of this season.

A loss at Etihad stadium to their title challengers, Manchester City in week 2 followed by a home loss to Crystal palace ended August on a poor note . The defence again being shocking at times. Further losses were to come. Away losses to Everton and  Southampton was a a result both teams taking the back four apart. Stoke knocked them out of the Capital One cup. Worse was to follow.At Upton Park,Jose was sent to the stand in the 2nd half following an earful to the referee at half time.That meant a ban from Britannia stadium 2 weeks later, a game they also lost which came as little surprise by then. Prior to that,Liverpool tore into Chelsea at the Bridge with a  3-1 pounding.

By mid December, the Blues had 9 defeats in 16 games.Enough was Enough. Bournemouth’s loss at home followed by the team of the season so far Leicester City meant the marching orders were in place for Jose. His failures were ominous.He had lost the dressing room who now had responded with a cry of their in sorts by performing poorly.Costa was the prime example.Hazard followed by not wanting to play having hurt himself during the  Leicester match.

If the dressing room was an appalling place, there was not much to sing about on the field. Ivanovic had played the worst half season,on the back of  a huge 2014-15 campaign and was a prime candidate for the “worst player” of the squad on many an occasion.  The back 4 even with Terry in it was jittery at times.Zouma struggled. Fabregas was a shadow of a player he had been last year.Hazard didn’t worry the goal scoring charts,a plain duck was all that needed. Up front Diego Costa was found fouling opposition back line more at times than doing some scoring damage. Jose’s critics say he didn’t use the youngsters as much and doesn’t give them much of an opportunity.Oscar was recurrently kept off as was the case with Hazard to warm the bench. Thibaut Courtois’s injury didn’t help and the  off season purchase of a backup Asmir Begovic suffered deeply in goal.It still didn’t add up to how poor the showings were. Has the team aged that much in the off season or just self exploded ? Was it right to have 33 players on loan ?

Jose is not new to sudden departures . He left 2007/08 season in a bit of a state when Chelsea drew to lowly Blackburn early on in week 6. His 3rd season in Inter and Real both ended with agony despite league successes. Nor does his absence is a denominator for future failures. Chelsea finished 2nd to champions Manchester United only on the last day of the season in 2008 after Jose poor start and runners up to champions league in the famous Moscow penalty shootout under Avram Grant.

Moving on, Jose’s expulsion meant a saviour had to come in. Roman depended on Guus Hiddink in 2009 following Felipe Scolari s demise to comfort the Blues to FA cup win over Everton. He lost only once then in league and so far the stretch is 7 league  games without a loss. Time will only tell whether he can salvage a top six spot for them.

As for Jose, much can’t be said of his future Premier League career. He has been longed for in Madrid camps who dismissed him with disdain following a league win in 2013. Real  who have employed Zidane for now as interim might have to roll the cheque book out in the summer if their woeful season continues. Manchester United might also be looking for a manager in summer and though the six page  “love letter” written might impress some at Old Trafford , the lack of the attacking style and nurturing youth , plus the fraction of the OT lobby who still don’t want him anywhere close to Carrington might have a lot to say when the decision is made.