Examining the Mistakes Jose Mourinho Has Made in the First Part of the Season
As far as a fashion faux pas goes, Jose Mourinho's appearance in Ukraine this week was pretty much as bad as it gets.
The Chelsea boss was spotted in a hooded disguise as he watched Ukraine take on Spain in Kiev on Monday, leading to an explosion of memes across social media depicting him as anything from a Sith Lord to a character from Assassin's Creed.
While Mourinho's poor choice of clothing may have sparked a humorous response, his mistakes elsewhere this season have been far more serious.
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Chelsea's dreadful defence of their Premier League title has seen them languish in the bottom half of the table all season, with the Blues closer to a place in the relegation zone than they are the top four.
Key players have been off form, while the club's lack of transfer activity in the summer has also been suggested as a factor in things going so wrong.
Mourinho isn't free of criticism in all of this, either, as he has admitted himself.
"We have to do better. Me and the players, we have to do better," he said after the 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace in late August.
That game was particularly calamitous, with Mourinho admitting he needed to make more substitutes than the regulation three, so bad was his team.
"I blame myself for not changing one of [the players], because I kept him in the game for 90 minutes," he added. "When I made the third change, I realised that I need a fourth, and I don't have a fourth."
It pretty much sums up Chelsea's season to date, where things have been so bad that even the manager hasn't been able to save them.
Chelsea have suffered against eager opponents that have sniffed blood and have been unable to react when things have gone awry.
So what have been Mourinho's biggest mistakes? Bleacher Report takes a closer look.
Chasing games too early in the season
A sign of the panic in the Chelsea dressing room has been best outlined by Mourinho's insistence on Chelsea chasing matches in their frantic need to put points on the board.
Mourinho has spoken confidently to the media about the title still being obtainable, but his actions have told us something altogether different about his state of mind when it comes to the campaign as a whole.
John Terry was dropped in favour of Kurt Zouma in order to allow Chelsea to play a higher defensive line, thus playing their football further up the field. That was the aim at least, with the view to putting more pressure on teams and seizing the initiative in matches.
That has worked just once, against Arsenal. Chelsea's other results in the league have been draws or defeats with this approach.
It's been far from convincing.
Now hasn't been the time for Chelsea to chase games. They've been woefully off form, so a better option would have been to play with more care and control, which is the basis for where Mourinho has been successful in his managerial career.
Watching Chelsea throw a little more caution to the wind so early in matches is uncharacteristic of the manager. His tactics have been more akin to the final 20 minutes of games, when Chelsea may be chasing a result.
Indeed, it's uncharacteristic of this team.
Chelsea are lethal when they're soaking up pressure before breaking at pace. They've been doing the opposite, which has led to them lacking penetration and causing even more problems defensively.
There have been more holes at the back than we're used to seeing, and opposition strikers have benefited to the point that Chelsea have conceded an average of two goals a game.
The impression is that Mourinho's hit the panic button, which has unsettled his team further.
Resistance to drop the big names
Chief among Chelsea's underperforming stars has been Branislav Ivanovic, yet he remains the only defender to have played every minute of every game in the Premier League this season.
Outside of him, Nemanja Matic has struggled in midfield, while Cesc Fabregas is far from the player we saw in his debut season at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho has persevered with them, though, with only Matic being dropped at times.
All the while, new signing Baba Rahman has been a peripheral figure despite his impressive debut against Maccabi Tel-Aviv. The same can be said for Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Kenedy.
Chelsea don't have a squad with the same depth as Manchester City, Arsenal or even Manchester United. But Mourinho does have some rising stars who, right now, look like better alternatives to some of his struggling generals.
Rahman, Loftus-Cheek and Kenedy shouldn't be seen as long-term solutions just yet—they must show they can handle the pressure of expectation—but they've shown in their few performances that they are capable of giving Chelsea something different.
Loftus-Cheek has bossed the midfield in his two appearances this term, while Kenedy has lit up the left wing whenever he has featured.
These are players who can help turn the tide at Stamford Bridge, but Mourinho has been reluctant to deploy them.
Persevering with a 4-2-3-1 formation
Chelsea have been overrun in midfield this season, and the problem concerns Fabregas.
Teams have targeted the Spaniard for two reasons: because he is Chelsea's creative hub, with everything running through him, and because he is defensively weak.
Fabregas has been stifled in possession, and when Chelsea have been on the back foot, teams have exposed those defensive shortcomings by doubling up and going through him.
If Fabregas is to continue in this deep role, he needs some help; Mourinho needs to put an extra body in central midfield.
That would mean a switch of formation, with a 4-3-3 looking sensible.
It was that formation that produced the best football of Mourinho's first spell in charge at Chelsea, deploying Damien Duff and Arjen Robben on the wings and feeding Didier Drogba as the lone striker.
With Eden Hazard, Pedro and Diego Costa, Mourinho has the personnel to do it once more, too.
That would mean that any of Oscar, Ruben Loftus-Cheek or even Willian could complete the central midfield area to bolster the numbers and make Chelsea a more solid proposition.
Continuing with the "Campaign against Chelsea" approach
There's too much negativity surrounding Chelsea right now, which doesn't help the club in the slightest.
It's been brought on by the poor results on the pitch, yet Mourinho's actions off it only amplify the situation.
In his post-match press conferences, Mourinho continues to slam referees and opposition players. He needs to stop, to change the conversation and create something more positive.
It doesn't help when he is forced to answer questions surrounding his future at Stamford Bridge or potential refereeing controversies, but he needs to rise above it.
Journalists ask the questions that they hope will give them the big headlines. And in that world, a Mourinho headline is always the best currency.
When Chelsea are winning and are top of the league and everything is serene, Mourinho can get away with it. The negativity, the so-called "Campaign against Chelsea," is the side story.
When things are as they are right now, though, it is the story, and it shouldn't be.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes
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