Chelsea Players Reportedly Worried by Jose Mourinho's Apparent Scapegoating

The Chelsea players are reportedly unhappy with manager Jose Mourinho and his attempts to make them scapegoats for the team’s poor beginning to the season.

According to Dominic Fifield of the Guardian, some of the decisions being made by the boss have left key figures in the dressing room puzzled, especially choices made in the 2-1 loss to Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday:

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The decision not to take Oscar and Loic Remy to Porto in midweek and the continued absence of John Terry from the starting lineup are understood to have surprised senior squad members.

Mourinho dropped Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic at Estadio do Dragao, summoning both from the bench after Chelsea fell 2-1 behind to his former club Porto. The manager also put on the teenage Brazilian forward Kenedy as his side chased the game but had opted against including Remy or Radamel Falcao, back-up senior strikers to Diego Costa, or the playmaker Oscar in the travelling party.

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Fifield writes that the decision to persist with Branislav Ivanovic, who has endured a torrid start to the season, but not reintegrate skipper John Terry into the first XI, has left many puzzled, especially when you consider just how poor Chelsea have been at the back so far this term.

As we can see here courtesy of WhoScored.com, the usually tight-knit defensive shape has been massively accommodating for opponents in the last few matches:

Mourinho has been openly critical of his players in public. As noted by Fifield, after a disappointing showing in the first half at Newcastle United last weekend, the Portuguese coach claimed he would have rated the display “minus one out of 10” and questioned the “attitude, desire and commitment” of six unnamed players in the starting XI.

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But a team is a reflection of the manager, and Chelsea are a rabble. So Mourinho must take a sizeable portion of the blame for this stuttering start to the campaign.

As Miguel Delaney of ESPN FC notes, the decisions made for the Porto game almost beggar belief when analysed:

So Mourinho has some big decisions to make moving forward. As of yet, he seems unsettled on the personnel best suited for this team, unsure on how to shore up the defence, and if the aforementioned report is to be believed, he now has to win over a dressing room which is slowly becoming disillusioned by his antics.

As one of the finest managers in the world, Mourinho is capable of doing so. But even with his remarkable skill set considered, this Chelsea team is so many shades removed from last season’s title-winning team and as such, will be a mightily big challenge to turn around. Although resisting public critiques of his players would probably be a good way to start that process.