Independent:
Champions sink to new depths with seventh league defeat
Stoke City 1 Chelsea 0
Simon Hart
With or without Jose Mourinho, things continue to go from bad to worse for Chelsea. After all the intrigue about where the banned manager would watch this game, all that mattered yesterday evening was that on the Britannia Stadium pitch his team fell to their third straight League defeat.
Marko Arnautovic inflicted the champions’ seventh loss in 12 Premier League matches with a spectacular acrobatic effort. After that there was no way back for the champions as they succumbed to a second setback at Stoke in the space of a couple of weeks.
Chelsea did not play all that badly but could not find a way through an impressively defiant Stoke defence, coming no closer than a Pedro drive against the post, and they ended the day fifth from bottom. Where this remarkable slide ends remains to be seen but fresh questions will be asked of the absent Mourinho, who has already presided over seven league defeats in a season for the first time in his managerial career.
Before kick-off as the military brass band played Delilah, the Chelsea supporters sang Mourinho’s name. They did so again in the opening moments. There was no Mourinho, of course – apart from the life-size cardboard version paraded by the away fans in the Marston’s Pedigree Stand – but the champions still had Diego Costa on the pitch to fill the role of pantomime villain.
He ticked that box early on when seeming to flick a heel at Ryan Shawcross. Costa had suffered bruised ribs when Chelsea lost on this same ground in a Capital One Cup penalty shoot-out 11 days earlier and the Spain striker later recoiled in pain after taking a bang there in a challenge from Shawcross. It was a messy start, not helped by a lengthy pause after Pedro’s boot connected with Erik Pieters’ bloodied nose, but eventually things settled down and – much as in the sides’ Cup meeting – Chelsea had the better of the first half.
They had kicked off sitting fifth from bottom but had Nemanja Matic back after suspension and Eden Hazard and Pedro also restored to the starting XI, and they played the more purposeful football.
Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland tipped over a 20-yard Ramires strike while Kurt Zouma and Costa both failed to connect with dangerous balls across goal. Willian was a central figure in trying to make things happen and though it was not easy against a Stoke defence given extra protection by the tireless Glenn Whelan and Charlie Adam, Chelsea did open them up five minutes before the break.
Costa ran at the Stoke defenders before feeding Pedro, who responded with a lovely flick back to the Spain striker, who shot hard and low, but Butland stuck out a foot and made a fine save.
For much of the first period Stoke’s creative players were a peripheral presence. Xherdan Shaqiri was asking questions of an uncomfortable-looking Baba Rahman but the only decent chance for the home side came when Bojan fed Glen Johnson who created room in the box for a low shot well saved by Asmir Begovic.
Eight minutes after the restart, though, it was Stoke who made the breakthrough through the hitherto anonymous Arnautovic.
Pedro’s theatrical response to a Johnson challenge raised the temperature inside the Britannia and it now climbed higher. Shaqiri sent Johnson breaking down the right and although Zouma stopped Walters capitalising on the cross, the ball fell to Arnautovic who struck with a brilliant scissors kick at the back post.
Chelsea had suffered for their defensive fragility once more and tempers began to fray. Willian and Arnautovic exchanged angry words and were spoken to be referee Anthony Taylor, while Shawcross was booked for putting an arm into the face of Costa.
With a noisy home crowd behind them, Stoke had their tails up and Arnautovic threatened a second goal when flicking over a cross by Shaqiri.
At the other end, Pedro curled a left-foot shot against the foot of a post after Willian’s square ball found him in space on the edge of the box.
Yet that came in a moment of inspiration rather than a sustained spell of Chelsea pressure. The response from the Chelsea bench – or Mourinho from afar – was to introduce Cesc Fabregas for Rahman and soon after Loïc Rémy replaced Ramires.
Finally they looked like breaking Stoke down. Fabregas teed up Hazard for a shot which deflected a whisker wide. Then Costa played in Rémy, who jumped over Butland but, off balance, failed to hit the target.
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Observer:
Stoke City’s Marko Arnautovic piles heat on Chelsea’s José Mourinho
Stoke 1 - 0
Daniel Taylor at Britannia Stadium
Even, ignoring for one moment, the fact José Mourinho had become the Missing One, this was another day when it felt as though he might be straying dangerously close to his absence from the Chelsea bench becoming permanent. It was their third successive league defeat, for the first time in the Roman Abramovich era, and though the owner will never divulge his thoughts publicly it must be startling for everyone connected with the club that we are only in Bonfire Night week and Mourinho has already forsaken his record of having never lost seven times in a single season.
To trace the last time Chelsea lost three in a row would mean going back to Gianluca Vialli’s tenure in October 1999 and if Abramovich is looking for signs that his manager has it under control it cannot help that Mourinho was prohibited from entering the stadium. In total, they have lost 10 times in all competitions. It was not the worst performance of Chelsea’s season by any measure and they gave everything during their late search for an equaliser, but they have lost their knack of recovering from going behind and Marko Arnautovic’s goal, eight minutes into the second half, was decisive.
Something has changed and it leaves Chelsea two places above the relegation zone, with problems all over the pitch and a genuine crisis enveloping the club. “That’s why you’re going down,” the Stoke fans sang, and the indignities continue to stack up for the team who were parading the championship trophy six months ago.
This defeat ended with a steward making a complaint of assault against Diego Costa for allegedly treading on his toe when he went to collect the ball. The television pictures looked innocuous and on this occasion Costa probably deserves the benefit of the doubt. Chelsea have much bigger concerns and, wherever he was watching it, Mourinho must have found it a chastening experience.
It wasn’t easy to keep count of the number of times the television cameras flashed to the leather padded seat he should have been occupying. There was a cardboard cutout in the away end and various Mourinho masks in other parts of the ground. Outside a chair had been placed on the grassy bank, with a note: “Reserved, Jose Mourinho.” As for the man himself, he was in a hotel somewhere, trying to avoid the photographers who had tailed the team bus on the way to the ground. Perhaps Mourinho should have sat in the stand wearing a Mourinho mask and hoped nobody noticed. Either way, it was unsatisfactory in all sorts of ways and not something Chelsea will want to repeat any time soon.
They were also facing a Stoke side that might pass the ball better than the old model but still have a strong competitive edge. Ryan Shawcross did not give an inch in his mano-a-mano with Costa and Erik Pieters played most of the match with a broken nose, requiring a change of blood-stained shirt, after taking an accidental kick from Pedro. Bojan Krkic took a bang in the first half which seemed to reduce his output and it was Xherdan Shaqiri who caught the eye. Shaqiri’s diminutive stature, low centre of gravity, improvisational dribbling skills and clipped left-footed passes are reminiscent of Georgi Kinkladze. He just works an awful lot harder and that made him a dangerous opponent.
Mark Hughes’s team were pinned back in the last quarter of an hour when, if nothing else, Chelsea did show some of the old fight. The home side rode their luck during that onslaught and no doubt Mourinho’s impression of Premier League referees was not enhanced by the moment late on when the substitute Loïc Rémy ran through on goal only to lose his balance as he tried to evade the oncoming Jack Butland. A cynical view would be that Rémy ought to have gone to ground to win a penalty. The striker preferred the more honest approach but an argument could still be made – and almost certainly would have been if Mourinho was present – that the goalkeeper caused the fall without getting to the ball.
Stoke attacked at times in a way that made it feel strange they had begun the day with only nine goals from their previous 11 league matches, the least impressive figures in the top division. Equally, Chelsea did have spells of the game when they looked a little more like the team that turned last season’s league into a procession.
Cesc Fàbregas is having a spell out of the league side and, though Chelsea could desperately do with him regaining his form, there was a reasonable look to the team’s midfield. Willian’s energy and directness created space for Eden Hazard and Pedro in the wide positions and the two sides matched other in a first half featuring some fine goalkeeping. Butland tipped a dripping volley from Ramires over the crossbar as well as keeping out Costa’s low drive and at the other end Asmir Begovic, facing his old club, saved well from Glen Johnson after an early foray from the right-back.
Johnson’s ability to drive forward was also a prominent feature in Arnautovic’s goal. Shaqiri’s pass was beautifully weighted for the former Chelsea player to surge beyond Baba Rahman and turn the ball into the penalty area. Jonathan Walters, whose new two-and-a-half-year contract was confirmed before the match, had his back to goal but as he tussled with Kurt Zouma the ball popped out to Arnautovic. Leaning back, the Austrian adjusted his body shape and, six yards out, scored with a swinging volley. Chelsea had no way back and Mourinho, wherever he was, will know the potential consequences.
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Telegraph:
Stoke 1 Chelsea 0
Marko Arnautovic's acrobatic winner sends Jose Mourinho closer to the abyss
Sam Wallace By Sam Wallace, Chief Football Writer, at Britannia Stadium
In the darkest moments for Chelsea on Saturday it was possible to imagine Jose Mourinho pacing the nearby hotel room from which he watched this game, cursing his misfortune and nursing a three-star Alan Partridge-style anguish at the current state of his career.
Exiled from the dugout on a Football Association ban, the team that could scarcely win a game with him on the touchline cannot win without him either. This was Chelsea’s seventh league defeat of an extraordinary season that has seen them drop to 16th in the table behind Norwich City and a mere two places above the relegation zone. Alone with his mini-bar and his trouser-press, Mourinho must have wondered when his luck will change.
Not since October 1999 have Chelsea lost three consecutive league games, and that was long before Roman Abramovich swept in to change the club forever. Against Stoke, this was far from a disastrous performance for Chelsea but it was a disastrous result with defeat inflicted by a Marko Arnautovic goal in the early stages of the second half.
In attack, Diego Costa was truly dismal and there were suggestions of a complaint of assault against him from a matchday steward. Loic Remy came on late in the game and hurdled a reckless challenge from the otherwise excellent Jack Butland when the French striker might otherwise have accepted the contact and gone down for the penalty. He took the sporting option but you do not have to guess what Mourinho would rather him done.
It hardly needs saying that Abramovich has sacked managers for much less severe slumps in form than this and, whatever his feelings, Mourinho’s future has to be under consideration. The statement released by the club offering him their “full support” in October after the defeat to Southampton still stands but the stipulation that results improve has simply not been met.
The support for Mourinho among the match-going fans has been emphatic: they sang his name over and over again at Stoke but the Chelsea fans have not always got what they want from their club’s Russian owner. There were plenty of Mourinho masks in the away end as well as a Mourinho cardboard cut-out but there was just Steve Holland, Silvino Louro and Rui Faria in the dugout.
Bereft of their leader, the Chelsea staff had the hangdog aura of a cub scout troupe who had lost their akela, although it meant that at least the fourth official could relax a bit. There was no-one to leap out of his seat when Glenn Whelan chopped down Eden Hazard late in the first half. Mourinho has struggled of late to get his team to gather the momentum to win games and in the first half they were on top but did not take their chances.
Mourinho was in Stoke, or the vicinity of the stadium at least, and had spent the previous night with the squad at their hotel in the Midlands. He had picked the team and set the tactics but as yet another nightmare unfolded it was Holland and Faria who were left to make the changes.
There were chances aplenty in the first half: a backheel from Pedro Rodriguez into the path of Costa, whose shot was well-saved by Butland. The effectiveness of the Chelsea striker is dwindling badly and when he faces Ryan Shawcross, you get the impression that the Stoke captain enjoys the contest more than Costa does.
Butland also tipped over a dipping half-volley from Ramires. Hazard and Willian had exchanged passes on 14 minutes and opened another chance for Ramires. Pedro’s fine ball to Hazard had opened the possibility of a cross from the left that was just short of Costa’s lunge. The quality in Chelsea’s team, even against a Stoke side including Xherdan Shaqiri and Bojan Krkic, was starting to tell and yet they could not break their opponents down.
The only first half chance for Stoke fell to right-back Glen Johnson who collected Bojan’s ball into the area, turned and forced a good save from Asmir Begovic. Otherwise it was a struggle for Mark Hughes’ team to create anything with Willian orchestrating the Chelsea midfield. Erik Pieters struggled on with a bloody nose, broken by Pedro’s boot.
It is the way things have been at Chelsea at times in recent weeks that periods of dominance in games have passed without goals, and the few chances that have gone the way of their opposition have been taken ruthlessly. So it proved again at Stoke when, with seven minutes of the second half gone the home side finally opened Chelsea up.
It was a fine ball from Shaqiri that allowed Johnson a run down the right wing and he placed a good cross into the area. Jonathan Walters challenged for the ball but it bounced free to Arnautovic who improvised brilliantly to get airborne and strike a volley past Begovic from close range. There had been no more than two previous clear sights of the Chelsea goal but Stoke had taken their chance.
In the moments leading to the goal the first signs of bad temper had crept into the match. Costa had gone down when Shawcross put a boot in front of him on 52 minutes and while there was a certain drama about the fall of the Chelsea striker, replays showed that there was probably contact, foot-to-foot.
In terms of goal threat, Costa was offering Chelsea very little but they had no option other than to persist with him. On the bench, Faria and Holland had used all their substitutes by the 75th minute, switching to a back three and front-loading the team with Cesc Fabregas, Oscar and Remy from the substitutes’ bench.
In those frantic closing stages, Remy had the best chance when he was played in by Costa, beat Butland and jumped over the goalkeeper when he could have gone down. But having stayed on his feet, he failed to double back for the shot and another game slipped away from Mourinho and his battered side.
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Mail:
Stoke City 1-0 Chelsea:
Blues suffer SEVENTH Premier League defeat as Marko Arnautovic heaps pressure on Jose Mourinho
The season from hell goes on for Chelsea. As the international break looms — the traditional sacking window for owners — manager Jose Mourinho must wait to see whether Roman Abramovich considers him fit to continue.
Never before in Abramovich’s era has a Chelsea team lost three successive Premier League matches. Never before in his career has Mourinho lost seven league games.
He was not there on Saturday of course, banned from the stadium for his rant at referee Jon Moss two weeks ago. But his presence was everywhere, from the Mourinho masks to the loud support from Chelsea’s travelling fans.
As was his sense of the world, or referees, conspiring against him. In the 84th minute, the game slipping away, Chelsea launched a slick attack, with Oscar feeding Diego Costa, who played in Loic Remy. Jack Butland came flying out of his goal and Remy hurdled the keeper, lost his balance and could not turn the ball in. Had he simply fallen over Butland, who in his haste had missed the ball, the penalty would have been inevitable.
Yet he did not and, there being no Mourinho here, the reaction from the Chelsea bench, where Steve Holland, Rui Faria and Silvino Louro were in charge, with an iPad for instructions, was of bemusement rather than apoplexy.
‘Credit to Remy,’ said Stoke manager Mark Hughes. ‘He could have looked for a penalty. Time and time again you see Premier League players flailing, legs behind them just to get contact. He didn’t do that, he hurdled Jack and was looking to score a goal — as all strikers should. Obviously he could have been a bit more cynical and looked for the penalty and who knows, at that stage it probably would have been given.’
Yet referee Anthony Taylor could have given the penalty anyway. Nowhere in the rules does it say that you are required to perform gymnastics to avoid a large mass heading for your body rather than the ball. For once, Chelsea were right to feel aggrieved, though the stadium ban spared us another Mourinho rant and probably saved him from another FA charge.
Strange to relate, Chelsea played rather well, going forward at least. They always looked vulnerable at the back, so Marko Arnautovic’s superbly executed volley in the 52nd minute was well deserved.
Yet Chelsea had regained some of the finesse, none more so than Eden Hazard. The 2014-15 Player of the Year has been in hiding for much of this season, but on Saturday that man emerged again.
Dropped in midweek, anonymous against Liverpool last Saturday, but here he sparkled, in the first half especially. For long periods he ran this game, his range of passing superb.
It was like watching a re-run of last season; the shimmies, the confidence on the ball, the directness of his runs and the desperate lunges to stop him, one of which earned a yellow card for Philipp Wollscheid.
There was also a delightful move in the 81st minute, which saw Willian pass to Costa, who back-heeled to John Terry, who did the same to Cesc Fabregas, who found Hazard who shot over. It would have been a worthy contender for goal of the season had the Belgian finished. And Pedro stuck the post in the 67th minute with a lovely curling strike.
Yet the bald facts remain: Chelsea are fifth bottom, having lost seven league games.
Stoke were formidable opponents. Early on, both sides traded blows like rampaging boxers. Ramires forced an excellent save from Butland, while Costa twice slid in, just missing crosses.
Glen Johnson pushed Asmir Begovic into action and Xherdan Shaqiri and Jon Walters went close, In fact, Arnautovic and Shaqiri were excellent all afternoon and poor Baba Rahman had to be removed in the 70th minute, so torrid had his afternoon been.
‘A good day in the office,’ was how Hughes described it. ‘We knew we were up against a very, very good Chelsea side,’ he said. ‘You know they’re going to ask questions of you, so you have to stick in it. But we were always a threat on the break and there were big performances by everybody.’
Defensively, the biggest was from Ryan Shawcross, whose feud with Costa started in the opening exchanges, when the striker aimed a kick at him and descended into farce when the Spanish international rolled up his nose in schoolboy fashion to indicate the Stoke captain smelt.
And it culminated in a yellow card for Shawcross as he thrust the flat of his arm at Costa’s face.
Yet for all Chelsea’s ingenuity, Shawcross and Wollscheid held firm, while Johnson was excellent going forward, none more so than in the 54th minute, when he raced past the unfortunate Rahman and swung in his cross. Walters and Kurt Zouma battled for the ball, which bounced kindly for Arnautovic but, still, his volley to finish was both spectacular and clinical.
The Britannia roared but Chelsea did not capitulate. When Fabregas and Oscar came on they reverted to a back three and came mighty close to restoring some pride, not least in that Pedro strike and the Remy chance.
Yet at the end, Chelsea are losers again and their title defence is a shambles. Few managers, however special, survive that.
STOKE CITY XI: Butland 6.5; Johnson 7, Shawcross 6.5, Wollscheid 6.5, Pieters7; Adam 6.5 (Afellay 79), Whelan 6.5; Shaqiri 8 (Diouf 82), Bojan 6 (Cameron 71 6), Arnautovic 7; Walters 7
Subs not used: Ireland, Wilson, Crouch, Haugaard
Scorers: Arnautovic 53
Booked: Whelan, Shawcross, Johnson
Manager: Mark Hughes 7
CHELSEA XI: Begovic 6; Azpilicueta 6, Zouma 6, Terry 5, Rahman 4.5 (Oscar 70 6); Ramires 5.5 (Remy 77), Matic 5; Pedro 5.5 (Fabregas 70 6), Willian 6, Hazard 6.5; Diego Costa 6
Subs not used: Mikel, Kenedy, Cahill, Amelia
Booked: Rahman
Manager: Steve Holland 5.5
Referee: Anthony Taylor 6
Man of the match: Xherdan Shaqiri
Attendance: 27,550
Mirror:
Stoke 1-0 Chelsea: 5 things we learned as Blues lose again after Marko Arnautovic's stunning winner
BY JOHN CROSS
Jose Mourinho was absent at the Britannia after accepting his one-game stadium ban but it was the same old story for the struggling champions
Chelsea's dismal season continued as they were beaten 1-0 at Stoke.
The Blues lost for the SEVENTH time already this term after Marko Arnautovic's stunning finish at the Britannia.
Jose Mourinho was absent after being handed a one-game stadium ban but it was the same old story as the champions failed to get anything out of the game.
The pressure continues on the Chelsea boss ahead of the international break with more doubts over his future.
Here are five things we learned.
Mourinho's absence still doesn't help
Want to know what would happen if Chelsea got rid of Mourinho? They'd carry on losing.
And if you needed proof then this was it. Chelsea are not playing well and the FA’s stadium ban imposed on the Special One kept him away and proved if you remove him then it will change nothing.
The Chelsea fans had cardboard cutouts and Jose masks. It was all quite amusing. It also showed how much they still love him.
When Stoke scored, you can bet Jose flung the TV out of the hotel room window. This has been amusing - but made no difference to Chelsea’s rotten form and luck.
Football does have respect after all
I love the way football pays its respects on Remembrance weekend.
Poppies on the shirts, every stadium either observes a minute’s silence or we have a band to honour the dead.
It happens each year and it’s fantastic that young generations the amazing sacrifice and courage.
Football does have respect after all.
Butland is a worthy successor to Begovic
When Begovic left the Britannia for Chelsea, I thought that was a huge blow because he’s such a top keeper and a key part of Stoke’s squad.
Begovic has been one of the few players who has performed well and consistently this season.
But Butland has also stepped up a level this season and become one of Stoke’s best players. In fact, he’s arguably been their best player. He made some top saves again. He’s now surely Joe Hart’s England deputy.
Either way, these two keepers are among the best in the league.
Hazard hasn't given up
Dropped, struggling for form, accused of not playing for Jose Mourinho. Just your average week for the Belgium forward.
But this was so much better from Hazard. He looked sharper, in the mood and tried everything.
There can be no doubt on this evidence that he’s playing for Mourinho.
He was bright, dribbled well and went desperately close on a few occasions. Really put in a shift.
He’s in there fighting.
Hughes has found a better balance
We all know what Stoke are about: grit, hard work and determination. At times this season, they’ve lost some of that spirit because of the influx of new signings.
Bojan heralded the new dawn last season. Shaqiri and Allefay among others followed this summer.
But, by their very high standards, Stoke haven’t been very, er, Stoke this season.
However, they’re finding a better balance now between new flair and old traditions.
Adam and Whelan put in the hard graft. Shaw cross battle. Walters runs. Arnautovic and Shaqiri provide the magic.
The combination and balance looks better. Just watch Stoke go.
Player ratings
Stoke
Butland 7 - Terrific saves. The Stoke keeper having a superb season.
Johnson 7 - Has been an excellent signing. Went close against former club.
Shawcross 7 - Had a ding-dong battle with Costa. It wasn’t pretty.
Wollschield 6 - Looks fairly solid. Did a good job.
Pieters 6 - Left with a bloody nose after kick in the face by Pedro.
Whelan 6 - Booked. Fully committed but Stoke lacked quality in possession.
Adam 6 - Strong, hard working display. No long range goals this time.
Shaqiri 7 - The hips didn’t lie but his dummies still worked.
Bojan 6 - Had a quiet game by his standards. Just the idd dribble. Subbed.
Arnautovic 7 - Wonderful scissor kick to put Stoke ahead. Skilful player.
Walters 6 - Can’t fault his work rate even if more talented players on the bench.
Subs
Cameron , for Bojan, 71 mins, 6
Afellay , for Adam, 78 mins
Diouf , Shaqiri, 81 mins
Chelsea
Begovic 7 - Made a terrific early save from Johnson. Did well against old club.
Azpilicueta 7 - Right or left flank it doesn’t matter. Solid. Excellent full back.
Zouma 6 - Looks much better at centre back. Good interceptions.
Terry 6 - Not sure if I’m qualified to give him a rating or pass judgement.
Baba 5 - Booked. Suspect defensively. Definitely not Mourinho’s cup of tea.
Ramires 6 - Went close with wonderful dipping shot. Worked tirelessly.
Matic 7 - Powerful and strong in possession. Didn’t hurt Stoke, though.
Willian 7 - The alliance between hard work and flair very endearing.
Pedro 7 - Hit the post with a brilliant curling shot. Story of his Chelsea career.
Hazard 7 - MOTM . Excellent. Much sharper, hard working and dangerous.
Costa 6 - Looked leaner, quicker and was in the mood for a scrap.
Subs
Oscar , for Baba, 71 mins, 6
Fabregas , for Pedro, 71 mins, 6
Remy , for Ramires, 77 mins
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Express:
Stoke 1 - Chelsea 0: Mourinho faces sack as Arnautovic sends Blues down to another defeat
JOSE MOURINHO'S reign could come to a miserable end in his Potteries heartbreak hotel this evening.
By JOHN RICHARDSON
Mourinho could only watch from afar as his crumbling Chelsea created an unwanted record in the Roman Abramovich era – one which is likely to claim a high profile casualty.
Never before has the club lost three straight league games since the Russian moved into SW 6.
This time last season Mourinho’s men were running away with the Premier League title but now they are amongst the relegation down and outs.
Again it was Stoke who delivered a cutting blow just as they had last month in the League Cup when Chelsea were knocked out on penalties.
A magnificent strike from Marko Arnautovic knocked the stuffing out of Chelsea who unlike their manager at least turned up and created plenty of chances.
But when the gods are stacked against you there is no respite and Chelsea’s players trooped off the pitch wondering what is in store.
The international break has become a killing field for under fire managers – and now Mourinho must be feeling the hangman’s noose around him.
Just two wins in their last 10 games tells the sorry tale – one which you suspect Abramovich won’t put up with any longer.
It’s the worst defence of a Premier League title – one which has descended into crisis.
There had been no sign of ‘The Hidden One’ but plenty of impersonators in Chelsea blue as the Stamford Bridge faithful descended on the Potteries in their Mourinho masks.
It’s now firmly written into football folklore that the last time Chelsea’s manager was saddled with a stadium ban he was smuggled into the dressing room in a laundry basket.
With cameras positioned on road junctions just outside the Britannia Stadium waiting for the Chelsea team coach it was like a high profile enactment of the children’s game ‘Where’s Wally’.
Maybe the way Chelsea have been playing recently Mourinho has turned into a right wally – something which is giving grave concern to billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.
But with Mourinho domiciled just a few miles away in his hotel room Chelsea began with spirit and gusto – attributes which have been missing in recent weeks.
If it hadn’t have been for the reflexes of Stoke’s in form keeper Jack Butland – officially the Premier League’s busiest stopper – Chelsea would have been ahead by half time.
England’s number two tipped over a fierce Ramires volley before making a better save from Diego Costa who had ghosted into the area following a clever flick from Pedro.
The biggest danger to Chelsea’s early superiority had been through a Glen Johnson effort which brought out the best from former Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic.
But it all turned nasty for Mourinho and Chelsea when Stoke snatched the lead with a spectacular goal from their maverick forward Arnautovic.
The Austrian speared an acrobatic volley when Jonathan Walters failed to control a cross from Johnson, the ball flicking onto Arnautovic who did the rest.
Cue concern in the Chelsea technical area with coaches Steve Holland and Rui Costa in heated discussions and room service cancelled in Hotel Mourinho.
There were rumours that Mourinho had delivered his half-time team talk through Skype.
Now he was helpless, alone and unable to dictate tactics – the one match stadium ban inflicted by the FA was really biting.
Mourinho had never lost seven league games in a season before. This was now the equivalent of staring into the abyss for the proud Portuguese.
He was now looking for a similar response from his players that arrived in midweek against Dynamo Kiev when Chelsea were pegged back to 1-1.
Pedro almost provided it with a snap shot which thudded off the post after being set up by Willian.It proved to be his last piece of action as Chelsea gambled with a double substitution, Cesc Fabregas and Oscar entering the fray.
You suspected this could have been the last throw of a crumbling Mourinho empire with Chelsea now amazingly sucked into the relegation zone.
They went so close with Hazard only denied by Johnson deflecting a shot just wide and substitute Loic Remy being blocked in the box by Butland.
There were claims for a penalty –the cries no doubt being heard from a hotel room just a few miles down the road.
Whether they are the death throes of a charismatic manager we will soon find out.
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Star:
Stoke 1 Chelsea 0: The Blues go AWOL and join absent manager Jose Mourinho
JOSE Mourinho played hide and seek – and his Chelsea side went AWOL too in their SEVENTH Premier League defeat of the season.
By Steve Millar
Marko Arnautovic found the space to hammer home the winner and leave Mourinho on the brink of the bullet with owner Roman Abramovich surely now at sacking point.
Never has there been a worse start to a defence of a Premier League title – and the once Special One could finally be paying the price for a management campaign full of mayhem.
The action at the Britannia was as enthralling as events on the outside as thousands of Mourinho spotters lined the streets to check if the stadium-banned boss would push the FA to the limit by hitching a ride on the team bus.
It arrived 90 minutes before kick-off with a heavy police escort as cameras pointed at darkened windows desperate to check out the on-board travellers.
It was thought Mourinho was spotted two seats back from the front and all eyes were focused on who departed the luxury cruiser after it came to a halt in a specially screened area by the players’ entrance.
But when the Chelsea superstars exited, the only one left on board was a chef in an apron.
There were also hilarious suggestions that he was hiding behind one of the Mourinho masks in the crowd but that summed up a bizarre day.
An evening kick-off where Chelsea’s squad had received their final match briefings from Mourinho in their nearby team hotel.
That was followed by a half-time chat via skype after the club’s officials were given Stoke’s wifi code to get the virtual manager online.
Mourinho, with a life-size cardboard cut-out mingling in the away end, was as switched on as his players who dominated a one-sided first half after Xherdan Shaqiri was off target with an acrobatic effort.
Chelsea were full-blooded in attacking moves with Stoke defender Erik Pieters amazingly carrying on despite a whack on his nose from a flying Pedro boot.
Ramires’ snap shot went wide of the target before former Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic pulled off a great one-handed save from Glen Johnson.
Jack Butland was also in superb form when he palmed over a 25-yard screamer from Ramires before another major highlight of a thrilling half.
Shaqiri’s shimmy on the right ended with a delightful cross for Jon Walters, who came close to celebrating his new contract with a header inches away from an opening goal.
Chelsea flooded back and Diego Costa latched on to a back-heel from Pedro to fire for the bottom corner only to be denied by Butland’s boot.
Mourinho, with his red dugout seat empty, would have been impressed in the warmth of his luxury lodgings.
Yet against the odds, Stoke went ahead in the 53rd minute.
Johnson found room on the right, pulled back for Walters whose flick teed up Arnautovic for a belting acrobatic volley into the bottom corner.
Pedro smacked the upright in the 67th minute but Stoke kept their nerve as Chelsea threw everything at their red and white striped back line.
Eden Hazard flashed a shot wide and sub Loic Remy went tumbling under a challenge from Butland but was honest enough to stay on his feet instead of screaming for a penalty. And that was that as Stoke held out like so many before them this season.
Stoke boss Mark Hughes said: “We have all been in that situation, you just have to keep winning so the focus goes elsewhere.
“I have had similar situations and sometimes you go under.
“Mourinho has enormous credit at Chelsea, he has delivered trophies and surely people should cut him a little bit of slack.”
STOKE: Butland 7; Johnson 8, Shawcross 7, Wollscheid 6, Pieters 6; Whelan 6, Adam 6 (Afellay 78th); Shaqiri 7 (Diouf 81st), Bojan 6 (Cameron (71st) 6), Arnautovic 7;
Walters 7
CHELSEA: Begovic 7; Azpilicueta 6, Zouma 6, Terry 6, Rahman 6 (Oscar (70th) 6); Ramires 7 (Remy 77th), Matic 6; Pedro 7 (Fabregas (70th) 6), Willian 7, Hazard 6; Costa 6
STAR MAN: Glen Johnson
Ref: A Taylor
