World Football's Monday Morning Hangover: A Simulated Anger

Welcome to world football's Monday Morning Hangover, an homage to the NFL section's own Monday Morning Hangover, where we round up the key stories and important points from the weekend that was in world football.

With an inevitable focus on the Premier League, let's get started.

Mourinho Fires Starting Pistol on Title Run-in

You know the title race is firmly on when Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has started questioning—not just questioning, ranting against—the standard of refereeing when it comes to decisions involving his side.

On Sunday, Mourinho suddenly couldn't contain his anger any longer, after Cesc Fabregas was denied what admittedly appeared to be a clear penalty during the 1-1 draw with Southampton. Instead, the Spaniard was punished for diving—a problem that Chelsea have struggled with throughout the campaign to date.

As Mourinho tells it, however, it is not a case of the Blues cheating to try to gain an advantage, but instead, it's a matter of the club being cleverly targeted by opposing managers that have slowly led referees to believe the Portuguese's side are a collection of divers who are not to be trusted in and around the penalty area.

Now, with referees having heard so much about Chelsea's propensity to dive, Mourinho is convinced that when his players are genuinely fouled, they are not getting the decisions they deserve.

In the first of many speeches on the same theme, Mourinho said, per the Daily Mail: 

"

Referees are not here to guess, they are there to see. He [the referee] assumed dishonest with Cesc and he is wrong. 

Match after match coaches are saying Chelsea players are diving. Out of nothing Sam Allardyce starts talking about my players. I will go to the referee, wish him a good year and tell him he will be ashamed. There is a campaign against Chelsea. 

In other countries where I worked before, tomorrow in the sports papers it would be front-page scandal because it is a scandal.

In this country—and I am happy with that, more than happy with that—we will just say that it was a big mistake with a big influence in the result.

"

Michael Steele/Getty Images

The timing of Mourinho's diatribe cannot be considered a coincidence. Barely an hour after Chelsea's draw, Manchester City were due to host Burnley, where a win would have elevated them within a single point of Chelsea at the top of the table.

Considering Burnley's limited threat (they were easily beaten by the Blues on opening day, in a game that saw the first "diving" controversy of the season as Diego Costa was denied a penalty) Mourinho surely expected City to win, something that would have heightened the pressure on his team's shoulders as we enter 2015.

In that light, the outburst against officiating seemed to be as much a preemptive distraction tactic as an attempt to influence the referees going forward or even (least likely of all) a genuine complaint. In the aftermath of City's draw, however, suddenly Mourinho's calculated loss of cool feels like the misstep of a man—a tactical decision that underlines just how concerned he is about City's title threat.

Not that it is necessarily a significant misstep. City's collapse against Burnley reminded us all not only why they are considered second favourites for the title this season but also why they remain such a threat: Manuel Pellegrini's side clearly have a number of flaws, but if they can overcome those flaws, their potential is tantalising.

City remain a defensively suspect side, especially with Eliaquim Mangala still adjusting to English football, while they are still searching for the right balance in midfield, and their forwards continue to struggle with injuries. Chelsea had no need for Frank Lampard this season, yet City have increasingly used him as a crutch to prop up their midfield at certain key moments in games.

And yet, despite all that, City remain just three points behind Chelsea, who have looked like a well-oiled machine all season. The Blues have yet to struggle through a really difficult patch in their campaign (the draw with Sunderland and subsequent loss to Newcastle notwithstanding), while City have barely strung a month together with a settled lineup.

If they can overcome those myriad issues, they promise to be a real threat. Of course, if those issues are endemic, then few would imagine they have the consistency to keep up with Chelsea forever.

“Of course it is a chance to have two more points, but we have to play a complete second round," Pellegrini noted, per The Guardian. "We finished the first round with 43 points; that is a good amount of points.”

All in all, perhaps it is no wonder Mourinho is turning to the media at this point in the campaign.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Has Alan Pardew Finally Found His Palace?

Alan Pardew (never a man to knowingly pass up an opportunity to gloat) skipped all his post-match press obligations on Sunday, following Newcastle's impressive 3-2 victory over Everton at St James' Park. The immediate assumption was that the manager was attempting to avoid any and all questions about the vacant Crystal Palace manager's job in the wake of the dismissal of Neil Warnock.

The assumption to follow that assumption, of course, is that Pardew did not want to talk about Palace (a club he spent happy years with as a player) because he was interested in the position. Already, however, the whole situation is based on a lot of assumptions and half-truths. The Chronicle's Lee Ryder noted there was "nothing new on Alan Pardew":

It is not impossible to imagine Pardew would be interested in Palace (and vice versa), but the compensation involved (quoted by some sources to be as high as £5 million) belies how the Palace board have tended to operate.

Tony Pulis (whose demands the board now surely wish they had agreed to) left in part because the board was unwilling to overspend, just as Warnock was appointed in part because he was free and cheap.

Given that, the sense is that perhaps Pardew is using the Palace job as a gambit, as leverage to improve his circumstances at Newcastle. On the eve of the January transfer window, it would make sense that the Magpies boss would demand certain assurances over spending and enhancements to the squad. 

If Pardew stays, then the pool of candidates for Palace diminishes—especially if the criteria includes Premier League experience (and success in relegation battles). Tim Sherwood would be a gamble and Chris Hughton's record hardly inspires confidence, while Steve Clarke might be wondering if he accepted the Reading job a few weeks too soon.

After Sunday's 0-0 draw with QPR, caretaker manager Keith Millen expressed his desire to take on the job full time. After a successful stint before Pulis' appointment last season, Millen might not be an awful option—although the board have already expressed their determination to find a new boss as soon as possible.

If it is not Pardew, however, then there are not many superior options out there.

Goals of the Weekend

"

¡QUÉ GOLAZO DE THEO ZIDANE! El pichichi del torneo ha heredado la magia de su padre, tremendo: https://t.co/ejDXfF4F6Q

— Madrid Sports (@MadridSportsEs) December 29, 2014"

Random Asides 

• Arsenal showed impressive resolve to hold on for victory against West Ham, making another small but significant statement in their ongoing pursuit of another top-four finish. No Olivier Giroud, no problem, as Danny Welbeck and Santi Cazorla stepped up and delivered. Upton Park is one of the hardest grounds to visit this season: The Gunners come in for a huge amount of criticism, but this was a victory worthy of high praise (even if it required a little bit of luck).

• Nickname of the week goes to Southampton holding midfielder Harrison Reed, who may be in for a busy New Year's Day with Morgan Schneiderlin out suspended. Apparently team-mates call him Ray Donovan (after the television character), “because he just cleans up in midfield.” Which is better than being called Ray Donovan, "because he had all the ingredients to be a great TV show but turned out to be very run-of-the-mill."

• Unsavoury in some of their antics against Chelsea, Stoke rebounded with successive victories; an impressive 1-0 away win at Everton and then a clinical 2-0 triumph over West Brom at the Britannia Stadium. After a tiny net spend in the summer, Mark Hughes has fashioned a side with a few different dimensions and approaches. If 2015 brings a continuation of such steady progress, then a top-10 finish might not be out of the question.

• Has any player surprised this season more than Ashley Young? Considered by many to be expendable at the start of the campaign, Young has refashioned himself as a tireless left wing-back, a player capable of giving his side balance and (most surprisingly of all) defensive stability down the flank. Injuries to full-backs Rafael and Luke Shaw necessitated Louis van Gaal's switch to a wing-back system; now that both players are approaching full fitness, it will be interesting to see if, not when, Van Gaal ditches the system that has allowed Young (and Antonio Valencia) to impress.

• The transfer window opens on Thursday and with it a chance for every club to change their fortunes heading into the second half of the season. It will be intriguing to see just how aggressively each team pursues additions and which clubs feel comfortable with what they already have.

Tony Marshall/Getty Images

Good Week, Bad Week

Good Week

Ashley Barnes: Continues to be a most unexpected catalyst to Burnley's resurgence.

Matt Targett: Given his debut against Chelsea—another youngster the Saints clearly have huge faith in.

Riyad Mahrez: Vital winning goal was a gift to Leicester before he departs for the African Cup of Nations.

Paddy McNair: Slowly but surely developing into a comfortable Premier League central defender.

Fernando Torres: No longer a Chelsea player and back to his boyhood club!

Bad Week

Alan Irvine: Sacking of Neil Warnock will have all other under-pressure managers looking over their shoulder.

Fabian Delph: Aston Villa's disciplinary record is quickly becoming a disgrace.

Manchester City: Two dropped points against Burnley—how crucial could that be at the end of the season?

Roberto Martinez: Patience is beginning to turn into disappointment as Everton continue to flounder.

Alex Song: How might his goal, and a point against Arsenal, have changed the Hammers' perception heading into 2015?