The Special One: Sacked

There you have it. The breaking news of today. I must admit, even though it has been one of the most talked about things this season I didn't actually see it coming. Chelsea had decided to sack Jose Mourinho after the beginning to a season that has been one of the worst in their history. The team currently sit 16th in the Premier League, only three points above the relegation zone and have endured a dismal run of nine defeats in 16 games. 

After reading statistics like that, it may come as no surprise that Mourinho has been sacked. However, he did lead his team to the success of his third Premier League trophy only last season, which he won with an 8-point margin over Manchester City in May. His team last year soared to the top of the League and every team feared the date on their fixture list when they read the name 'Chelsea' next to it. So what changed?

I think that is still a question that a lot of people, including the Chelsea fans and the owner, are trying to figure out the answer to. Only a few changes were made to the squad that did so well last year, like the signing of Pedro from Barcelona. Many people asked why they weren't making more changes, but why would they need to? The squad was already strong and had proved that the season before and they would be expected to perform exactly the same way to get the same results, just like any other team that wins the Premier League. 

Jose Mourinho watching his side draw with Tottenham
Image from: skysports.com (http://www.skysports.com/football/news/15116/10102525/jose-mourinho-where-next-now-hes-left-chelsea-a-second-time)

However, football is a game where the results matter. No matter how badly the players are doing, the burden always falls onto the manager's shoulders as they should be the person that can change everything and get the right results again at the end of a bad spell. In some ways, Mourinho did manage to do this. He turned the tables and led his team to a place in the knock-out stages of the Champions League as winners in their group. In the League, this has been a little more than just a bad spell for Chelsea though. 

They never really kicked off their season. It started with a draw and since the opening day, they have only managed to scrape together 4 wins, hence why they are at the bottom of the Premier League table. They're poor run isn't just the lack of wins though, because Chelsea have lost to big rivals Manchester City and Liverpool already this season and have lost to Stoke, West Ham and newly promoted Bournemouth. The final straw for Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, seems to have been the 2-1 loss on Monday to League leaders Leicester City as talks about Mourinho's future followed on from this game. 

So, what's next for Chelsea? They have a game against Sunderland on Saturday afternoon and the news is that the owners have sent Mourinho on his way with a new manager in mind to take over. Who is this man though? Many names will circulate in the next few days, but it will be interesting to see if they bring in another former manager of if they bring in someone completely new to try and put their own spin on the team. Either way, the person that steps up will have a big task ahead of them and it will be interesting to see if they can get Chelsea out of the tight spot they find themselves in at the moment.