Jose Mourinho Mocks Ref Phil Dowd After Chelsea Defeat to Tottenham

Jose Mourinho clearly feels the Premier League is missing Sir Alex Ferguson. The Chelsea gaffer has taken it upon himself to assume the ex-Manchester United chief's role as the chief antagonist of Premier League referees.

Phil Dowd is the latest target of Mourinho's wrath. The Portuguese coach sent a scathing verbal salvo Dowd's way after Chelsea were beaten 5-3 by Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

Mourinho was especially critical of Dowd's fitness when Chelsea had the second of two penalty claims dismissed, per Daily Mirror reporter Dave Kidd:

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In spite the fact Mr Dowd was too slow to follow that ball. He was 40 yards away, but he made the right decision. The decision when he was 10 yards away, he couldn’t make.

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The "10 yards away" decision Mourinho referred to involved an earlier claim for a spot kick. Dowd had dismissed an apparent handball from Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen.

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At the time, Mourinho's side were 1-0 to the good. He was in no doubt what a successful penalty conversion would have meant for the game:

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I can say what we all know, which is, with the score 1-0, one clear action could make it 2-0.

Normally, at 2-0, the result would be completely different and the history of the game would be different. I don’t think we need clarification when there are no doubts.

"

Dowd is the second referee in less than a week to be treated to public scrutiny by Mourinho. After the Blues were held 1-1 at Southampton, Mourinho was merciless in his assessment of Anthony Taylor.

He had booked Cesc Fabregas for diving when it appeared clear he had been felled in the box, albeit inadvertently. That rather bizarre decision prompted Mourinho to suggest there is a "clear campaign" against his table-topping squad, per Sky Sports.

Those who treat Mourinho as though he is the very model of a modern battlefield strategist will claim that his latest outbursts are merely part of a grand plan. The puppet master is merely pulling strings to deflect from his side's sudden fragility in the title race.

There's perhaps some merit to that. Certainly, few will be talking about how vulnerable the normally stout Chelsea defence looked against Spurs.

But no matter if Mourinho is playing games, you can bet he'll be concerned by the minor slips in form that now see Chelsea clinging onto top spot purely on alphabetical order ahead of Manchester City.

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In a cynical way, Mourinho could also be applying his own pressure to future referees. Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville certainly sees some of that method behind Mourinho's latest expressions of madness.

In this sense, the Chelsea manager is becoming increasingly reminiscent of Neville's old boss Ferguson. That's a view endorsed by Jeremy Wilson of The Telegraph.

Ferguson was often critical of the fitness of referees, particularly when decisions went against his team. Dowd was a target, as was Alan Wiley.

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But if, as Wilson suggested, Mourinho is executing a Ferguson-style "wider strategy" to possibly pressure referees, that strategy appears to have initially backfired.

Mourinho will count on supposed better luck when Chelsea return to the home soil of Stamford Bridge to host Newcastle United in their next league match.

No matter what's said before or after, or what the referee does, Mourinho's side will need three points to keep the increasingly keen City at bay.