Jose Mourinho: In defence of the Chelsea manager, who should not be sacked no matter the result against Liverpool

COMMENT: Chelsea hierarchy would be making a mistake to sack the Portuguese for a second time

Jose Mourinho is under a huge amount of pressure this week after the defeat at West Ham left Chelsea 15th in the Premier League after 10 matches.

His continued antics off the field have only made things worse for Chelsea's best ever manager and he is now second favourite manager to be next sacked by a Premier League club.

It has been suggested that a negative result against rivals Liverpool next week will force the Chelsea hierarchy into sacking Mourinho for the second time.

That would be a poor choice.

The other candidates are lacking

This is the biggest and most obvious place to start for the Chelsea board, who have to seriously consider the lack of options ready to replace Mourinho if they do pull the trigger next weekend.

Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone are the two favourites, among the press, the Chelsea hierarchy and the fanbase, to replace the Portuguese. Neither of those will be available until the end of the season, if at all, so it would be a major, perhaps fatal, gamble to get rid of a proven manager for an interim coach and wait for one of those two to become available. Guardiola and Simeone are exciting choices on the surface but there are flaws in the plan that are being ignored - first and foremost there is absolutely no guarantee either will come next summer.

Bayern Munich desperately want to keep Guardiola in Germany and will continue to push him to sign an extension to his deal as long as his future remains undecided. Manchester City boast two close confidants of Guardiola's (Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano) in their war room have long been linked with him. They would also likely be able to offer the former Barcelona manager more money, even if he is reported to prefer London to Manchester. Arsene Wenger, 66, can't go on forever at Arsenal and the manner in which the Gunners run their club - relative calm, affording time to a manager - may prove more attractive to Guardiola than the chaos that has reigned during Roman Abramovich's time at Stamford Bridge.

Simeone has done a truly superb job with Atletico Madrid, topping the Real Madrid-Barcelona axis in 2013-14 to win a first La Liga title for the club in 18 years, as well as reaching the Champions League final that season. Last season Atletico finished third, getting to the quarter-finals in both the Champions League and Copa Del Rey, and after a summer of upheaval - where more than £200million of players came and went from the side - Atletico are again holding strong in third place, challenging the big two.

But while Simeone has been rightly praised for bloodying the nose of the Spanish elite, there has also been criticism at his defensive and sometimes boring style of play. Like Mourinho, the former Argentina midfielder often plays with all 10 men behind the ball, relying on the lightning quick counter-attack of Antoine Griezmann, Jackson Martinez, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and Koke. His 4-4-2 formation employs two deep-lying midfielders, Gabi and Tiago usually, and like Mourinho, if Simeone were to become Chelsea boss there would surely be negative press over his boring style of play if results were to go against him.

Both Guardiola and Simeone represent a sound medium-term strategy, they are excellent managers, but pursuing either in the summer appears extremely risky - sacking Mourinho now leaves Chelsea with a need to fill immediately, and the options are sorely lacking.

Brendan Rodgers and Carlo Ancelotti are the two most high-profile managers who have been linked with the job in the immediate term. Rodgers' recent sacking at Liverpool should put the Blues off pursuing him as a serious option, with an appointment likely leading to the kind of negative fan reaction that greeted Rafa Benitez when he came to Stamford Bridge. Carlo Ancelotti would actually be an impressive choice - he was well liked around the club and by fans and played exhilarating football. But would the Italian really want to return to work for a board who shamefully fired him in the tunnel of Goodison Park less than a year after winning the club's first and only Double?

Other names being mentioned are either entrenched in decent jobs (Ronald Koeman, Laurent Blanc) or do not inspire. At all.

John Terry has no managerial experience. Fabio Capello couldn't get Russia to the Euros. Guus Hiddink did a brilliant job with Chelsea previously but was clueless as the Netherlands failed to reach Euro 2016. Former players like Gus Poyet might be an initial hit with the fans but over the rest of the season he doesn't have the skills required of a Chelsea manager.

The most glaringly obvious defence of Mourinho is that there are no better options than him available right now.

His track record should afford him time

Despite the poor results and tantrums, Mourinho deserves the time and the chance to turn it around at a club that he helped put on the map. It was only five months ago that Chelsea won the Premier League title.

Sacking a world class manager like Mourinho because of a bad two months seems ludicrous and probably wouldn't be an issue at any other Premier League club. Certainly, Mourinho's antics - the Carneiro row, constant bickering with the FA and Wenger, public criticism of his players and allegedly 'shoving' a teenager - hasn't helped, but Mourinho and his players haven't become useless overnight.

Chelsea winning the Premier League last season (Getty Images)

What he has done for Chelsea in two spells should have offered the Portuguese more grace with things going wrong. He was prematurely sacked in his first tenure and the Blues cycled through seven managers, to varying degrees of success, before going back to him. Chelsea have been English champions five times - Mourinho was in charge for three of them. He's the best manager the Blues have ever had, by quite a distance.

It's a cynical view but the sound bites, quotes and barbs that come from Mourinho's mouth have also helped Chelsea become a super power of the world game in a way that has so far eluded Manchester City - a club with a similar rags to riches story but who have far less traction among neutral fans, media and emerging markets, despite the money spent, trophies and stellar names at the club.

Mourinho certainly needs to change his approach and cut out the moaning, blame culture and siege mentality that is clearly having a negative effect on his players. He has to prove he can manage through adversity, perhaps for the first time in his career.

Sir Alex Ferguson had a bleak three-year spell at Manchester United when he failed to win the Premier League, failed to get to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and had fans and the media calling for his head. He won just one FA Cup in that time. But Ferguson turned it around and went on to win another five Premier League titles and the Champions League, retiring as one of the greatest managers world football has ever seen.

At the very least, Mourinho deserves until the end of the season to prove that he can turn it around at Stamford Bridge.

Players need to take responsibility

Mourinho's surly mood this season has definitely had an effect on his players, who are not playing with the joy and freedom with which they started last season. They've actually been poor for almost the whole of 2015.

There have been numerous reports that Mourinho has lost the dressing room, with players unhappy at his tactics, grumpy persona and public humiliation of senior players.

We don't know the full ins and outs of what goes on at Chelsea or what the players truly think, but they have to take some personal responsibility for their terrible performances this season.

Nemanja Matic is shown a red card at West Ham (EPA)

Nemanja Matic, just as he had found a little bit of form, was inexcusably sent off for two stupid, unnecessary bookings at Upton Park. He is a 27-year-old with two league titles in two countries, international caps and almost 300 senior matches; Mourinho, surely, can't take the blame for that kind of bone-headed incident.

John Terry's decline has been overstated but he has definitely been worse than last season, a mixture of tiredness and the players in front of him failing to offer adequate protection. Eden Hazard has gone from the best player in the Premier League to a lame duck, not only because teams are better prepared for his style but also because he doesn't appear to be giving the same effort as he did last season - resting on his laurels, perhaps, and Mourinho was right to drop him for the Aston Villa game.

Before his injury Branislav Ivanovic had transformed from the best right-back in the Premier League to the worst. Diego Costa admitted he returned from his summer break overweight and unfit and it's clearly taking time to get the striker back sharp goal scoring form.

In fact, across the entire squad only one player, Willian, can say that he has been markedly better than he was last season.

Yes, Mourinho has to take the blame for failing to properly motivate his players, but those same professionals - paid hundreds of thousands of pounds a week to play for the club - have not been doing their job.

Bad luck and poor decisions

Every team gets their fair share of things go against them but Chelsea have seemingly had more than most. Against West Ham there was a very marginal offside against Cesc Fabregas and the closest goal-line decision one is ever likely to see. In the second half Chelsea outplayed the Hammers who sat deep before tiring and falling to a late goal.

Against Dynamo Kiev Fabregas should have had a penalty and the Blues hit the woodwork twice. Falcao may have had a penalty against Southampton - it was the correct decision not to award one but they have been given in the past. In the Porto defeat there was a clear handball that should have given Chelsea a penalty.

Decisions have also gone for the Blues, obviously. Diego Costa didn't get sent off in the Arsenal game when he should have - but the striker then missed three games with a retrospective ban anyway, so was punished. You don't get retrospective penalties.

Crowing about refereeing never goes down well and Mourinho has done it far too much this season. Some of it has been justified.

The fans have his support

Check fan forums, social media or listen to opinions in the pub and at the grounds - the majority of Chelsea fans want Mourinho to stay, sacking him would prove another unpopular move for a board that has hardly ever taken fans' opinion into account when making major decisions.

There is a section of Chelsea support who idolise Mourinho and believe the man can do no wrong, no matter what he says or does. That's not the right attitude to have, he has to make some drastic changes to his approach, but sacking a popular manager who has given so much to the club would lead to dissent at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have a weak, unbalanced squad - January is looming

Like Brendan Rodgers, Jose Mourinho has been let down by his own 'transfer committee' of technical director Michael Emanalo and chief executive Marina Granovskaia during the summer. Emanalo is tasked with finding and developing young talent and Granovskaia, often referred to as Roman Abramovich's right hand is in charge of negotiating deals. Mourinho, seemingly, has more influence in transfers than Rodgers did at Liverpool but it's clear that he still has to work with Emanalo and Granovskaia.

Strong performances from key players papered over an issue that was brewing last season, in that Chelsea have a weak squad and lack options. They do not have a plan B when things go wrong and don't have many players who can come off the bench and make match-winning contributions.

Pedro has taken time to adjust to English football

Experienced senior pros such as Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole and Petr Cech have all left in the last two seasons; their influence in the dressing room was just as important as on the field.

The likes of Terry, Hazard and Ivanovic have been so poor this season because Mourinho couldn't afford to rest any of them last term. The reserves failed to progress in the FA Cup, famously losing to Bradford City at Stamford Bridge, and it left Mourinho without extra chances to rest his big names and give those reserves a bit more match sharpness.

Despite Mourinho's vociferous opposition, Petr Cech was sold to rivals Arsenal in a move that bears increasing similarity to the one that brought Manchester United the title in 2012-13 when Robin van Persie to Manchester United; the Blues significantly strengthened Arsenal at their weakest position. Cech was desperate to stay in London and his contribution to the club meant he was rightly allowed to pick his destination, but from a purely footballing perspective it was a major error.

An unhappy Filipe Luis, Brazil's starting left-back and part of the finest defence in Europe at Atletico Madrid in 2014, was replaced with Baba Rahman, a raw 21-year-old who has only started in one Premier League game and whom Mourinho clearly does not trust.

Pedro was brought in two weeks after the start of the season and has so far had trouble adjusting to the pace and physicality of the Premier League. Short of options in defence, unheralded Papy Djilobodji was brought in to cover Terry, Cahill and Kurt Zouma - he has played one minute of football against Walsall and rarely even makes the substitutes' bench despite being fully fit.

With Chelsea down to 10 men at West Ham and in desperate need of a win, Mourinho turned to John Obi Mikel at half-time, highlighting the lack of options in central midfield. Ramires and Oscar continue to operate with great inconsistency and Radamel Falcao looks finished.

Also on the bench on Sunday was 20-year-old Bertrand Traore and 19-year-old Ruben Loftus-Cheek - it's a long complaint that Mourinho does not give a chance to young players (he should definitely do it more) but chasing a game with a man down at West Ham is probably not the time.

In a couple of months the transfer window re-opens. Give Mourinho money to add sufficient reinforcements to a stagnant, unbalanced squad and see if he can't drag Chelsea back to where they should be.

There's no European crisis just yet

Chelsea are third in Group G after three games but, crucially, have played their two toughest games already - away at Kiev and Porto - and can welcome both of those sides to Stamford Bridge. It's hardly panic stations just yet.

With three games remaining, two wins would make a total of 10 points which should be enough to secure qualification into the knockout stage, even if that means that finish second in the draw and potentially face a tougher opponent in the last-16.

As long as they are in the knockout stages Chelsea will have a chance.

What he must do

Having said all that Mourinho must make some rather drastic changes to his modus operandi. The first of which is to stop the blame game, get over however he has been wronged by the FA/the board this season and get down to serious business. He has to stop being so negative in public, it is clearly effecting the mood of the players. He has to get the first-team back onside and performing at the level at which they were last season - when Pedro and Loic Remy return from injury, he shouldn't be afraid of resting one or two of the under-performing stars.

Kurt Zouma is not a right-back and despite Baba Rahman's limitations and weakness as a defender, Chelsea looked better balanced against, an albeit awful, Aston Villa team. Give him and a couple of the other fringe players, Traore and Loftus-Cheek, another chance in the Capital One Cup against Stoke and if they perform, throw them in against Liverpool. During his first press conference after his return to Chelsea, Mourinho said he was no longer the 'Special One', but the 'Happy One' - the Chelsea fans and players need to see that.

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The title race has probably just about already been run this season and a top four place seems a long way off. But Chelsea have the players to get back there.

Jose Mourinho should be given the chance to prove he is the man to do it. If he can't, by all means reconsider his position in the summer, but sacking him now would be a grave mistake.