Under-fire Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho needs to show more humility, says ex-Stamford Bridge boss Ruud Gullit
Former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit insists a show of humility would be the first step in under-fire Blues boss Jose Mourinho arresting the tidal of wave of despair engulfing the Stamford Bridge club this season.
Mourinho put speculation over his job security to one side yesterday as he watched Chelsea’s under-21 side defeat their Liverpool counterparts 4-0 at the club’s Cobham training base.
Chelsea languish 16th in the Premier League having already lost seven Premier League matches this season, while Mourinho was serving a one-match stadium for their latest in a series of setbacks – a 1-0 reverse at Stoke City on Saturday.
“In the past, when a Mourinho team won, it was Mourinho who won, and when a Mourinho team lost, it was Mourinho who lost,” said Gullit, who won the FA Cup with Chelsea in 1997. “But all of a sudden this year, it is Mourinho blaming the players. It is Mourinho who wins, but the players who lose. He is criticising the players, whereas before he always protected them.
“If you keep on moaning all the time, if people wait for the moment, then you get things against you. Be humble and say ‘Okay, it’s wrong, and I take all the blame for it’ and then people can get over it.
“He’s the only one that can change it. If he’d said after the last game [at West Ham] ‘I was wrong, I didn’t need to do that, I was emotional. You’re all right, I should have the punishment’. Then everyone would forgive and forget.
“If he makes that humble statement, only that one, then it will change everything. Maybe I am wrong, but that’s my opinion. You can’t only be humble when you win, but not humble when you lose, and I think that’s something he should do.”
Defeat at Stoke was Chelsea’s third successive Premier League loss and, should Mourinho still be in charge for the club’s next fixture with Norwich on 21 November, midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek could be in line for a call-up to first-team duty after scoring twice against Liverpool.