After enduring another nightmarish afternoon at the hands of West Ham at the weekend, Chelsea must have been dreading a Tuesday night visit to Stoke.
The Britannia Stadium is never the ideal venue to bounce back after a disappointing result, even if the home side entered the Capital One Cup tie having also lost at the weekend – at home to Watford.
Having controlled the first half, Chelsea fell behind to a terrific strike from Jonathan Walters seven minutes after the break.
Inevitably, the Twitter vultures were soon circling Jose Mourinho.
The goal that ended Mourinho's career? https://t.co/mrZOf4JnoG
— CapgunTom (@CapgunTom) October 27, 2015
A sentiment echoed by the Stoke fans…
Some goal from Jon Walters. Slightly harsh on Chelsea..
"You're getting sacked in the morning" is the predictable Stoke chant for Mourinho
— Kevin Palmer 💙 (@RealKevinPalmer) October 27, 2015
Regardless of what seemed like another defeat, not everyone was happy with the idea of Mourinho getting the sack.
If Mourinho gets sacked that's just absolute bollocks, sorry #CFC
— SAV 🦁 (@DannySaville) October 27, 2015
Others suggested reasons as to why Chelsea were in yet another concerning position.
God is clearly angry at Mourinho.
— “” (@Towbaey) October 27, 2015
But surely Chelsea weren’t going to lose this in full time, were they?
0 – Jose Mourinho has never lost a League Cup tie in 90 minutes, with his only two eliminations coming after extra time. Stunned.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 27, 2015
Of course they weren’t…
Chelsea are back! An injury time equaliser at Stoke. Crisis over…
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) October 27, 2015
Loic Remy’s equaliser was followed by a Phil Bardsley red card. Extra time against ten men would surely see the holders advance.
But after half an hour, the scores remained tied. To penalties it went, and after nine were converted up stepped the reigning PFA Player of the Year to take it to sudden death…
Hazard MISSES!!!! BUTLAND SAVES! THE HOLDERS ARE OUT!!!!!!
— Stoke City FC (@stokecity) October 27, 2015
Hazard's penalty is saved. Stoke progress. #CFCLive
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 27, 2015
And after recently being dropped by Mourinho, the significance of Hazard’s crucial miss wasn’t lost on everyone.
https://twitter.com/carefreedaily/status/659134721851551744
With the pressure already heaped on Jose Mourinho following the disastrous start to Chelsea’s title defence campaign, speculation over how long he’ll be sticking around isn’t going to go away after this result.
A cold Tuesday night defeat at Stoke ending Mourinho’s second stint as Chelsea manager would be poetic.
— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) October 27, 2015
