Mourinho’s pursuit of Wayne Rooney was an early sign that he was not happy with his striking options, but with so few top quality strikers available on the market during the summer for the right price, this meant that Mourinho was unable to strengthen his weakest department, hindering his ultimate goal of a new style of play.
The result of having so few striking options was evident against Manchester United, in which Mourinho decided to play most of the match with no recognised striker on the pitch, pushing Andre Schurrle furthest forward. This can only be seen as a lack of confidence in his strikers and a belief that a 0-0 draw would be the best result possible from the match with the lack of options at his disposal.
How Mourinho solves this issue will come from him as a manager more than any tactical changes that he can make, with his tactial and man management skills being tested more than any other role he has previously had.
In a recent interview, new signing Samuel Eto’o said of Mourinho, ‘He is more than a coach for me. He is a man who talks the language of truth. It is really important to have someone who tells the truth’.
Mourinho is going to have to live up the belief that Eto’o has in him, as he will need to keep all his players on his side throughout the season, having already encountered the wrath of the Chelsea fans over the absence of Juan Mata. With his only other possible style of play relying on, the now loaned, Romelu Lukaku, Mourinho has to hope that this new style of play will pay off handsomely, otherwise, he will find it a whole different story during his second time in charge.
The next few matches will be crucial to Chelsea’s season even at such an early stage, but with his side having their poorest start to a season, since Roman Abramovich took over, they will be hoping that they will turn around their poor form before they drop anymore points, with the ‘Happy One’ keeping everyone on side.
Mourinho, however, argued that nothing has been lost yet, and everything is still there to gain.
‘We have lost nothing. You like to compare things but we didn’t finish third in the Champions League, we did not get relegated to the Europa League and we did not finish third in the Premier League’.
And after yesterday’s 2-0 victory against Fulham, Mourinho may just be right.
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