Stoke 1-0 ChelseaMarko Arnautovic 53
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.
Chelsea have lost three league games in a row 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 had this kind of run would mean going back to Gianluca Vialli’s time as manager 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.
Chelsea gave everything during their late search for an equaliser but this is not a team that recovers from setbacks these days 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 that was parading the championship trophy only six months ago.
Wherever he was watching it, Mourinho must have found it a difficult 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 behind one stand, with a note: “Reserved, José 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 Diego 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 has been Stoke’s greater source of creativity recently but he took a bang in the first half which seemed to reduce his output and it was Shaqiri who caught the eye. Shaqiri’s 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 difficult opponent for Baba Rahman in Chelsea’s left-back position.
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 side after his blip took the form of a slump 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 during a first half featuring some fine goalkeeping. Jack 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 forward 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 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 squirted out to Arnautovic. Leaning back, the Austrian scored with a swinging volley from six yards out.
The old Chelsea would have taken the goal as an affront and quickly sought to regain some form of control. Yet that was not immediately apparent.
Pedro hit the post with a curling left-foot shot but he and Hazard were flitting in and out of the game. Costa has never looked the same player since returning from his hamstring issues and Stoke attacked with a spirit 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.
From that point onwards, Stoke relied on their stubbornness in defence and tried to break on the counter-attack. It invited pressure and Chelsea came agonisingly close, first with Hazard’s deflected shot and then when the substitute Loïc Rémy ran clear only to lose his balance trying to evade Butland.
It was not the worst performance of Chelsea’s season by any measure and Willian was a reasonable candidate for the game’s man-of-the-match award. Yet Chelsea lost again, and Mourinho, wherever he was, will know the potential consequences.
Guardian
