Jose Mourinho is defiant. According to him, Chelsea played well in their defeat by Porto.
“It was a good performance with two big mistakes,” he said after the 2-1 loss. “Sometimes you make them and are not punished. We were punished.”
The suggestion seems to be that two brainfarts cost the Londoners a draw or perhaps even a win against his old club.
But the Champions League game on Tuesday night was hardly an anomaly in Chelsea’s poor start to the season.
A club that is so used to flying out of the blocks in the first few months of their campaign are looking decidedly beatable thus far.
The fear is that the champions – and Mourinho – have lost their cloak of invincibility, and that teams who usually seek to limit damage are now smelling blood and having a go.
The hard stats don’t look great. Chelsea languish in 14th place in the domestic table. They have conceded 14 goals in the Premier League – only bottom side Sunderland have let in more.
Not only that, but here are two more facts to pile the pressure onto Jose and his men.
They have already lost more games than in the whole of last season…
Not a great start to the season for José Mourinho's side… #UCL #CFC pic.twitter.com/gJX8yoQvER
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 29, 2015
And their current form is worse than when Mourinho was sacked from his first spell at Stamford Bridge…
Out of interest, Chelsea had 11 points from a possible 18 when Jose Mourinho was last sacked by them. He's on 8 points from 21 this season.
— Scott Patterson (@R_o_M) September 29, 2015
Things had better pick up soon – otherwise the Special One is in big trouble.
