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Jose Mourinho’s job has been brought under a lot of speculation from the press since the defeat, but Chelsea released a press statement stating that the club believes in the manager and the squad on its official website.
Mourinho was certainly not in a good mood following Chelsea’s 1-3 home loss to Southampton. The defending champions have now lost 4 matches out of 8 in the premier league; they lost just 3 matches the last season. Nemanja Matic was singled out by Mourinho in a post-match interview where he said that the Serbian midfielder is “more in trouble”. Matic was substituted by Mourinho 27 minutes after he was brought on as a half-time sub.
Chelsea was leading the match through a Willian free-kick before Steve Davis scored for Southampton. Matic was brought on for Ramires, who arguably had a good match, but Mourinho pointed out that he (Ramires) was on a yellow card and the refereeing was not up to the mark.
Matic can’t pass a ball: Mourinho
Within 27 minutes, the visitors had scored twice and Matic suffered the ultimate humiliation of being a substitute who was subbed without any injury concerns. Though, Mourinho pointed out that he was not trying to humiliate the player.
Nemanja Matic was heralded as somewhat of a revolutionary figure in the Blues’ midfield when he re-signed from Benfica in January 2014. He was Chelsea’s work-horse, an unsung hero who shut down attacks even before they began. He sniffed out the danger and subdued it then and there. He has not been doing that this season.
Matic is putting in tackles but not succeeding in them; he has won balls but has not been good with the possession. According to Squawka, Matic had a 78.79% successful tackle rate last season as compared to 69.23% per 90 minutes this season. He committed 1.35 fouls per 90 minutes last season, but he is going at a rate of 2.63 fouls this season, he has won fewer duels when compared to last season as well.
Mourinho pointed out exactly what was wrong with Matic as he told the reporter, “... he can’t pass a ball, even in defensive situations he is clumsy. He had a situation in the box, easy to clean, but he created such a difficult situation for us. Then when we concede a goal and I need to make a change. I want to play another striker, I have to take a player from the midfield. I kept Oscar because he is the one that creates more.”
“I kept [Cesc] Fabregas because he is the one – maybe because of his formation in a difficult place to play which is Barcelona – who copes better with the pressure. Even not playing well, his emotional stability is high. So I decided to take off Matic but I like the player very much, I have a fantastic relationship with the boy. Humiliating him? For sure, I was not,” Mourinho said.
