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Is Mourinho suffering from third-season syndrome at Chelsea?

By on August 16, 2015

The second weekend of Premier League fixtures had a lot to live up to after the inevitable headlines that the opening weekend stormed up, but twenty-five goals in nine games and an early title clash made for scintillating viewing. Both Manchester clubs fared well, taking them first and third in the table, while reigning champions Chelsea find themselves at the wrong end of the table after a 3-0 drubbing. With Liverpool still to play Bournemouth on Monday to complete match-week two, Richard Lewis reviews four memorable moments from the past weekend of football:

Is Jose Mourinho suffering from third-season syndrome at Chelsea?

What was Jose Mourinho saying about Chelsea’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City — that it was a “fake result?” Mourinho most certainly needs to go to see a doctor to get his head checked if he doesn’t see that his side was outpaced and outwitted by City at the Etihad stadium. But wait, he demoted his previous first-choice team doctor, or so the critics will hark.

Indeed, Chelsea were lucky not to lose by a bigger deficit, mainly due to Asmir Begovic’s fantastic full debut in goal for the Blues. Sergio Aguero was put in on goal hardly after ten seconds into the game and it was a sign of things to come. Aguero tormented Chelsea’s back-line all day and at halftime Mourinho dragged of center-back John Terry — a first for Chelsea’s captain under the Portuguese boss. But it only got worse in the second half as Sky Blues captain Vincent Kompany and Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho knocked in two more goals for Manchester City. There is making a statement, and then there the dominance City have asserted early on in the title race. Already, Manuel Pellegrini’s men sit top of the league.

Perhaps Mourinho’s public slating of team doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn backfired and distracted his players, while others will point to the fact City looked strong in their Premier League opener against West Brom last Monday and are a different animal this season. Kompany has scored two goals in two games from defence, while his partnership with twenty-four-year-old Eliaquim Mangala seems to have improved dramatically and no longer to City look defensively vulnerable. Aguero looks as potent as ever upfront, after winning the Golden Boot last campaign, while the likes of David Silva and Yaya Toure have found their form again. Add the signing of Raheem Sterling and the safe gloves of Joe Hart and Manuel Pellegrini’s men look ready to take on anyone. If City can embarrass perhaps their biggest title rivals, even a run in the Champions League is in their reach — as long as City play like they did today.

Both teams have the option of investing more money into their respective squads as the summer draws to a close, especially given Mourinho has so far been reluctant to dip into the market. Yet now, his side already have a five point hill to climb to the top of the table. There is a long way to go in the season but could the third season syndrome be coming on again for Mourinho? Is he having trouble motivating his squad after a title-winning season?  Not once in his career has he continuously managed a team for more than three seasons.  He may need a doctor to cure that recurring issue.

W[h]atmore can Advocaat do to halt Sunderland’s slide?

Another game, another diabolical defeat for Sunderland. It may be only early days of the season but it shouldn’t be so somber, so soon for Dick Advocaat’s men. It is hard to say who would have slept worse on Saturday night: Advocaat or someone who ate cheese and watched horror movies before bed. Sunderland’s 3-1 home defeat to newly promoted Norwich City implies the latter.

A 4-2 away loss to Leicester City on the opening weekend was bad enough, but now Sunderland might have even begun blowing points they had pencilled in coming into the season. The Black Cats’ lackluster defense let slip three goals to the Canaries and new signings Sebastian Coates and Younes Kaboul looked like they were still on summer holiday, making John O’Shea and Wes Brown look like world class players. Sunderland sit bottom of the table and hadn’t previously lost both of their opening league fixtures since promotion to the Premier League in 2007.

 

W[h]atmore can the Dutchman do with the club? One of the few positives in his defeat to Alex Neil’s side was the performance of young striker Duncan Watmore. The 21-year-old came on as a second-half substitute and scored a late consolation strike, after Norwich had put the game to bed with goals from Russell Martin, Steven Whittaker and Nathan Redmond. A nimble finisher, Watmore injected a sense of pace and urgency into Sunderland’s play.
While Sunderland didn’t look brilliant last season, they managed to stay up at the end of the campaign. Neither did they look good during preseason and will look to sign multiple more players to compliment young Watmore and coattail on his form by the closing bell of the transfer window. Otherwise, Advocaat may quickly come to regret his decision not to retire over the summer.

It’s easy being Green for Everton!

Many people struggle to go green, but Everton’s squad blend right into the pitch with their new third kit. Up front, the muscular figure of Romelu Lukaku looked like the hulk, and Everton’s performance over the weekend certainly left Southampton feeling green with envy. It may not be easy being green (as Kermit would say) when losing, but luckily for Roberto Martinez’s men they stomped to a 3-0 at St Mary’s.

Lukaku banished the demons of his 2014/2015 campaign and showed glimpses of why Everton paid £28 million for his permanent services with two goals and an all-around powerful performance. Ross Barkley also added a second goal to his tally for the season to round off the drubbing. They may wear their third away kit more often if they play like this and former United States legend and Everton loanee Landon Donovan commented on Twitter: ”[I] don’t care what color kit they wear as long as they keep winning!”

The match was partly overshadowed by a protest plane which flew over Goodison Park, but Roberto Martinez and the club’s performance sparked a message of unity and strength among the squad. Then again, I suppose a football supporter must hold their breath and count to ten when they see their club announce the signing of Tom Cleverley (ah, he actually impressed at Aston Villa though, didn’t he?).

Stoke’s old boys shine amidst new star signings

With all of Stoke City’s signings of Barcelona and Bayern Munich players, it was certainly a treat for visiting fans to see an Irishman, (one would never guess with his name) in Stephen Ireland to come off the bench and star in Stoke’s 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. Ireland was plucked off the bench by Mark Hughes, whom the midfielder also worked with at Manchester City, and once again proved himself to Hughes with an assist and spark of life required to come back from 2-0 down at White Hart Lane to grab a precious point. 

New £12 million signing Xherdan Shaqiri was ineligible to make his debut, having a suspension carried over from his time with Inter Milan, but another new boy Joselu made a positive impact on the pitch.
While all these big-name arrivals join the Britannia this summer, it is necessary to maintain a core of British and Irish players, like Ireland and Charlie Adam, to fulfill UEFA’s homegrown quota and help their new guns integrate to life in England quicker. The Potters, unbelievably, now have as many UEFA Champions League winners in their squad as do Manchester United. 

Although they’ll look for Bojan Krkic and Shaqiri to join their squad and side add an extra spark, they’ve proven to have a functioning Plan B in their tight opening two fixtures against Tottenham and Liverpool.

Homepage photo credit: Stiendy (talk), via Wikipedia Commons

About Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis can relate almost anything to football and quite often does! You may have seen Richard's previous ideas and work in the BBC Match of the Day Magazine, from 2011 to present. He is a Manchester United and England fan, but has gone to see Leyton Orient play with his O's season ticket in the 2013/14 campaign. Aside from football, Richard has written articles on Doctor Who and studies English Language and Linguistics at the University of Westminster. Aspiring sports journalist.