Today`s Capital Cup match at Stoke threatens to be the left jab before the fatal right cross of Liverpool on Saturday.
Let`s face it, today`s game could go either way; anything less than a win makes Saturday the proverbial powder-keg.
In the event of failure in Stoke, even a draw against draw-specialist Jürgen Klopp`s reds is likely to infuse the Chelsea board with the powerful mental condition known as New-Man-itis, the overwhelming belief that changing the manager cures all ills.
It`s a dangerous condition because the belief it engenders is completely illusory.
More often than not, a change of manager brings a short-term uptick followed by the same old same old – regardless of the new manager`s pedigree.
And failure of a new manager is, by the way, more or less guaranteed when the players believe – even slightly – that they got the previous manager fired.
For this kind of idea of player power to be allowed to plant itself in players` minds is suicide.
You only have to look at the well-publicized players` revolts in The Netherlands national team when Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard played or France in recent World Cups to know that player power never ever ends well.
In fact, it inevitably ends with years in the wilderness.
These are the thoughts that will be occupying Roman Abramovich and his board/advisors as the pressure grows on José Mourinho.
It`s one thing losing tens of millions of pounds in severance at a time when every little helps toward paying for a major stadium re-development.
It’s quite another trying to fill even the current stadium with an average team.
Just imagine the task facing any new man coming in to steady the ship in the face of a dressing-room of already entitled reigning champions who now feel super-entitled and empowered having seen off one manager who dared try and ask too much of them.
Who is going to come in, ask for and get even more effort from a group many of whom seem to have decided they deserve a year off?
Because any manager claiming that he is going to pull that off is a bare-faced liar.
It`s now pretty clear this is the worst of all possible dressing-rooms: a divided one.
José Mourinho still has a core of loyal players – Cahill, Ivanovic, Begovic, Zouma, Ramires, Willian, Costa.
You`d like to think that John Terry is loyal too after everything they have been through together.
And Cesc Fabregas – the true source of José`s downfall: how could he not be loyal when Mourinho has picked him constantly in the face of contributions so minimal and play so abysmal that Arsenal wags on social media are congratulating ‘Agent Fabregas`?
It`s impossible to speak for other players, but suffice to say nothing but categorical, firm support of the current manager stands a chance of re-uniting this group in adversity.
But then José Mourinho needs to find qualities seemingly outside his skill-set.
He needs to stand up in front of his players, hold his hands up and accept his part of the blame.
Whether it was a misguided pre-season where he attempted to go softer at the very start so as to avoid the team fatigue of last season`s second half, whether it was his failure to get the players he wanted, or even if it was his failure in dealing with backroom staff who were part of team and should have been treated with the same respect – the important thing is for José to acknowledge his own failures if he wants any chance of the players allowing him to address theirs.
Next, the manager must make the players understand the extent to which so poor a season is devaluing the successes of last season and, indeed, their entire careers.
Do they want to join the Blackburn Rovers team of 2012 as the among the worst ever defending champions, or the Leeds United of 1992/3 – or even the 1930s Man City that went straight from champions to relegation?
Finally, he needs to promise the players that, come the end of the season, they can vote him in or out and that he will stand by their decision.
This kind of reset, 100% backed and empowered by ownership is the only thing (plus some judicious business in the January window) with a chance of salvaging this season – whatever that now means.
Changing managers in this position and with this atmosphere carries the same kind of odds for success as winning a lottery.
But a lottery where NOT winning almost certainly means a journey into the wilderness at the worst possible time.
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