Is Jose’s time at Chelsea up?

The first time that Jose Mourinho left Chelsea, in September 2007, it shocked the football world.

It seemed, at the time, that his departure was the only thing that could stop Chelsea dominating at home and in Europe for years to come, such was the strength of his squad.

But, this time around, things are markedly different.

It’s unusual to see Chelsea in such disarray. And it’s almost inconceivable that they are in such chaos with Jose Mourinho at the helm.

He’s easily one of the top 5 coaches in world football and the persistent defeats have been hard to believe.

One or two bad results would be expected by any club.

But Chelsea have now lost 5 out of their opening 10 Premier League games this season – more than they lost in the whole of the last campaign (3) – and the worst part is they seem as far away as ever from a solution.

FA suspensions, the public dressing down of his physio Eva Carneiro and rumours of dressing room unrest all seem to have contributed to performances.

Indeed it’s hard to believe that this is a happy Chelsea camp. Something has gone wrong behind the scenes and this is not a Jose Mourinho Chelsea as we know it.

We shall see on Tuesday evening whether his squad is still fighting for him when Mourinho takes his side to Stoke for a tricky Capital One Cup fixture.

We would imagine that if his side gets beaten here and doesn’t produce the goods against Liverpool at the weekend then Mourinho may have tested his owner’s patience once too often.

The next week in the life of Jose Mourinho promises to be one of the more eventful and few would bet on where he will be at the end of it.