Jose Mourinho now creating more problems than he's solving at Chelsea

There’s little doubt that with enough time, a manager as talented as Jose Mourinho could rebuild Chelsea. In fact, that was the job that he was here to do. The surprise is that he has found it so hard to carry out the job this season.

Struggling managers deserve a certain amount of time and patience, but there is a point at which a poor run makes a situation intractable. Cheslea are not at that point - yet - but there must now be a temptation for Roman Abramovich to see if there is an alternative to more months of struggle.

At Manchester United two seasons ago, it was not simply David Moyes’ weaknesses that meant he had to be sacked. His dithering and inability to lead senior players were a huge weakness, but from the very start he was on the back foot - he wasn’t actually given a first team player until deadline day, and even then it was Marouane Fellaini. It was a combination of factors that meant that by February it was clear that he was no longer the man to turn around the situation.

Similarly, it could be for a mixture of problems that Chelsea cut their losses.

The Blues are playing more like they did in their post-winter slump than their successful early-season blitz on the league last year. Then, they were the strongest and most energetic side. Though Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas teamed up brilliantly early on, they also had Eden Hazard, Oscar and Willian to assist and score. With the exception of Willian - who has improved, and looked so much better partly in contrast to the rubbish around him - none of the other players have been anywhere near as good.

Costa came back from the summer, by his own admission, unfit. Oscar looks like a man who has already decided that Juventus is the best option for him, and Eden Hazard has only recently appeared interested in seeing if he could win another medal. Cesc Fabregas looks like a man who has been playing first-team football for 11 years without a break, and Nemanja Matic has followed suit from those around him.

There may be various reasons for all of these slumps, but not one of them has yet been brought out of it by Mourinho. They are being asked to do roughly the same job as they were last season, and few seem inspired by it.

And that's the other possibility: that having played as asked by Mourinho for so long, they might fancy trying something different. None of the players seem like mercenaries (and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with being that) but equally they don’t appear to be in love with the club they are at.

That is now a rare trait with players, and is not a dig at Chelsea in particular, but being short on players who really care about the club makes harder times more difficult to endure. Going back to United, for example, players such as Shinji Kagawa, Nemanja Vidic and Javier Hernandez clearly weren’t interested in digging deep for the club.

And then there is the case of Eva Carneiro, who has started legal proceedings against the club and Mourinho himself. Unless there is a hidden story that she was hugely unpopular with the players, it is unlikely that such a carry-on would have impressed any of his players and may even have made the Chelsea team wonder how safe they were under Mourinho’s protection. That he followed it up with outspoken criticism of underperforming players, and subbed Matic after being introduced from the bench himself, would have reinforced such a belief.

Another problem is John Terry, a man who holds himself in the highest regard. His form this season has been rotten, and despite his assertion that such a thing could not happen, there is the rumour that a player would rather lose than win under Mourinho. There are whispers that Terry has already decided to leave for MLS at the end of the season, and with things close to unsalvageable, there could not be less motivation for him to drag the side along as he has done in the past. With Branislav Ivanovic’s deterioration apparently accelerated rather than solved by a summer off, Mourinho has been forced into shuffling his defence without the excellent Thibaut Courtois as the last line of defence.

The final worry is that Mourinho has not got the players he wanted beyond Radamel Falcao, who has also been dreadful. He appeared reluctant to introduce Baba Rahman, who looked very green against Stoke. Papy Djilobodji and Michael Hector are not trusted or not at the club, so Mourinho has only had Kurt Zouma as a serious alternative for two positions. Pedro, an excellent player and signing, is nevertheless not enough to spark his side into life amongst the difficulties. It was said that Mourinho wanted another midfielder, and now it is clear to see why. He was failed on that front too.

None of these problems, in isolation, is particularly serious; even two of them wouldn’t be a terrible problem. Added together, however, they have been too much to take. That's not to say that perhaps in time Mourinho could put each of them right. But right now it seems like Mourinho’s attitude and the atmosphere at the club is generating more problems than it is solving. It could be that Abramovich decides that the quickest way to make a positive change is to give a new manager a chance.