Chelsea backs Mourinho, Rodgers sacked
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PREMIER League champion Chelsea has given its full backing to under-fire manager Jose Mourinho following the team’s torrid start to the season.
After Saturday’s surprise 1-3 home defeat by Southampton, the Portuguese said the Londoners would have to sack him because he would not be quitting.
“The club wants to make it clear that Jose continues to have our full support,” read a brief statement on its official website yesterday.
“As Jose has said himself, results have not been good enough and the team’s performances must improve. However, we believe that we have the right manager to turn this season around and that he has the squad with which to do it.”
Chelsea has already lost six games in all competitions this term and has plunged to fifth from bottom in the league, 10 points behind table-topping Manchester City.
Mourinho has faced widespread criticism this term for his public spat with former club doctor Eva Carneiro and for the team’s poor performances.
“I define this as the worst period in my career,” Mourinho said on Friday. “It’s a fantastic experience, even though I don’t want to repeat it again.”
Meanwhile, Mourinho’s counterpart at Liverpool Brendan Rodgers had no such luck. Rodgers was fired on Sunday, paying the price for the club’s 18-month slump since almost ending its long wait for an English league title.
Liverpool’s American owners, Fenway Sports Group, chose the day of the Merseyside derby against fierce rival Everton to announce that Rodgers’ three-year stint at Anfield was over. About three hours after the 1-1 draw at Goodison Park, Rodgers had his contract terminated.
Liverpool said the search for Rodgers’ replacement was underway, with much of the media speculation centering on Juergen Klopp, who is on a break from football after leaving German side Borussia Dortmund at the end of last season.
Also, Alexis Sanchez’s stunning double inspired Arsenal to a 3-0 win over Manchester United. Arsenal scored all three of its goals in the first 20 minutes, with Sanchez taking his personal haul to six goals in three games with a deft backheel flick and a pile-driver from the edge of the area.
It meant United’s return to the top of the league, for the first time in 110 weeks, was a brief one as Manchester City regained first place thanks to its 6-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday.
For Wenger, this was the ideal riposte to critics who questioned his team selection, and his players’ temperament in big games, after a damaging loss to Olympiakos in the Champions League in midweek. His attackers exposed United’s weakness at fullback in a strong start to the game, before Wenger’s tactical tweaks in midfield stifled a resurgence from United in the second half.
“Some of the best football I’ve ever been involved in. It was like the Arsenal of old,” said Arsenal striker Theo Walcott, who dedicated the win to Wenger. “That sends a message to the Premier League that we’re here to be reckoned with.”
Arsenal moved into second place, above United on goal difference, and to within two points of City.
Christian Eriksen scored two equalizers with freekicks for Tottenham in a 2-2 draw at Swansea.
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