COMMENT: No doubt about it. Jose has a serious case of the agg.
It's been a week of aggravation for the Chelsea manager. He's lost Filipe Luis to Atletico Madrid, seen Everton refuse to cave in over John Stones and to top it all off, copped pelters from the wife of Rafa Benitez!
Is it any wonder Jose Mourinho has been spiky this week?
It just hasn't happened for Jose this summer. Rewind 12 months and he already had Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa through the Cobham gates. Two players who would fulfil expectations of lifting his team to the next level.
This time around, Mourinho has been able to replace Petr Cech with Asmir Begovic and Didier Drogba with Radamel Falcao. Both potential world-beaters, but on current status, pinch hitters at best. Not the players to lift Chelsea to the levels of Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Over the last 18 months, Mourinho has assembled a wonderful, maturing team, with great scope for improvement. And below that, the development structure created in partnership with Michael Emenalo has no equal. But Mourinho's savage response to Maria de Montserrat's playful jibes about 'cleaning up our friend's messes' belies a frustration with how this summer's market has progressed.
Maria's little dig came just days after Reading manager Steve Clarke had made it clear that Jose was angry with Cech's departure to Arsenal. Yes, Begovic was through the door, but strengthening a direct rival with one of his own really burned up the Special One.
On the eve of a Wembley date with Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, Mourinho knows there's clear weaknesses in his team. Luis' sale has left him without cover at left-back. The failure to strike terms over Stones has him a centre-half short. And Mourinho spoke openly last week about the need for his midfielders, Willian, Juan Cuadrado and Oscar to lift their game. The Chelsea manager would like another creative spark in the class of Eden Hazard, but management have failed to find him such a player.
If Chelsea go into the new season as is, Mourinho will be nervous. There's no recognised fullback beyond Cesar Azpilicueta and Branislav Ivanovic. Should one of them break down, it will mean putting square pegs in round holes.
Then at centre-half, as outstanding as John Terry was last season, can he do it again and last the distance this term? Time will eventually catch up to Terry. Can the Blues back four cope with an extended absence?
Kurt Zouma could be anything and would be a natural replacement for the Blues captain. But if you need proof of how nervy Mourinho is about his team structure, you only have to consider how Zouma has been used in preseason. Left-back, right-back, central midfield and centre-half. This hasn't been done to develop his game. It's been out of necessity as Mourinho has been forced to plug gaps.
In attack, Mourinho managed to convince Loic Remy to hold back from putting in a transfer request. But the Frenchman wasn't leaving for Arsenal or Manchester City, it was Crystal Palace and West Ham United his management were speaking with. And the manager has told Victor Moses he is a required player this season. Great for the London lad, a product of Crystal Palace's exceptional youth set-up. But there's a helluva of a difference between playing well for Stoke City and meeting the expectations demanded of a Chelsea player. Can the Nigeria international be a matchwinner at Champions League level?
It's really been about plugging gaps this summer. Treading water. None of the arrivals threaten to take Mourinho's team to that very elite level. Falcao, potentially, could do it. But the Colombian apart, Mourinho, for now, is banking on such improvement to come from within.
But even that approach hasn't been plain sailing, with the manager having to publicly chastise Ruben Loftus-Cheek over his attitude in training and hooking him during a post-season friendly in Sydney. It's been one spot fire after another for the Chelsea manager.
Which leaves Sunday's Community Shield as a big unknown. Chelsea, compared to this time last season, are underdone and below strength. By his own admission, Mourinho's rivals, including Wenger, have outstripped Chelsea's spending this summer to bridge the gap on the defending champs.
The Premier League will be at its competitive best this season. And Mourinho is vexed. He knows his team shouldn't be aiming to muddle their way through the opening weeks of the campaign. But after a summer of whack-a-mole, that's exactly what has his back up this week.
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