Chelsea put 'Jose' in his place

[bennythedip2]

Jose Mourinho's Stamford Bridge return started badly and only got worse as the most successful manager in Chelsea's history saw his Manchester United side succumb to a humiliating 4-0 defeat.


Two memorable spells at the west London club's helm brought with them eight trophies and no little controversy, with the Portuguese twice sacked by Blues owner Roman Abramovich.

Mourinho returned to the club that unceremoniously, and understandably, called time on his second stint in December, but any hope of haunting his former paymasters was swiftly extinguished as Pedro's 30-second strike kicked off what would prove a nightmare afternoon for United.

"You're not special any more," chanted some of the Chelsea fans that had worshipped him as the pre-match goodwill was quickly forgotten, with Pedro landing an early sucker-punch after lax defending allowed him to score against the club he rejected in favour of Mourinho's Blues.

Gary Cahill reacted quickly to lash home from a 21st-minute corner to compound matters for United, who were understandably aggrieved by an ugly David Luiz challenge on Marouane Fellaini.

The Belgian did not return for the second half and Eric Bailly limped off soon after, with matters worsening when Eden Hazard - so poor as Mourinho's side stuttered last season - fired home a superb third to the delight of Antonio Conte.

N'Golo Kante opened his Chelsea account with a fine solo goal to increase the embarrassment as a Mourinho side conceded four for just the second time in a Premier League match.

This was always likely to put United's six-match unbeaten run in jeopardy but few could have foreseen this humbling and certainly the way it started.

Spectators were left rubbing their eyes in disbelief when Marcos Alonso's hopeful ball befuddled Chris Smalling and Daley Blind, with Pedro racing past David de Gea to slot home after 30 seconds.

But Chelsea were looking the biggest threat and Hazard twisted impressively to get away a fizzing shot just wide from a corner that followed a sturdy Bailly challenge on Diego Costa - one the striker felt should have resulted in a penalty.

Frustration would turn to elation in the 21st minute, after Blind conceded a corner under pressure from Kante. Hazard swung in the set-piece that flicked onto the unsighted Ander Herrera, with the ball sitting up kindly for Cahill to rifle home.

Costa could soon have added his name to the scoresheet had he reacted better to a lovely Hazard ball.

Thibaut Courtois kept out a speculative long-range shot from Herrera and Jesse Lingard's follow-up on a rare United foray forwards with the home side on top.

Bailly's timely intervention stopped Costa from ending the half in the same way Chelsea had begun it, but the main talking point of the closing stages of the first period was a lunge from Luiz on Fellaini.

The Belgium midfielder received treatment after being caught on his knee and did not re-emerge for the second half, with former Chelsea favourite Juan Mata brought on.

Costa saw an effort ruled out for offside as the home side continued in the ascendancy, with Hazard perplexed by the decision not to reprimand Bailly for taking him down. It was the defender's last involvement as he soon limped off.

Marcos Rojo came into a reshuffled back line that conceded a third after Lingard saw an effort batted away at the other end.

Nemanja Matic slipped the ball through to Hazard, with the fleet-footed attacking midfielder cutting back to hit a low strike past De Gea.

But the humiliation did not stop there. Statuesque defending was capitalised on by Kante, who burst all too easily between Smalling and Paul Pogba to direct past a furious De Gea.

The fourth goal brought with it chants of Mourinho's name from the home fans, along with more appreciation for Matthew Harding as the club remembered the popular Chelsea vice-chairman 20 years after his death.

An impressive din continued for the remainder of the match, rising when Courtois stopped Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the turn and Rojo from distance.

There was to be no consolation for United and Mourinho had an angry-looking exchange with Conte at the final whistle.

[bennythedip2]

Antonio Conte was unapologetic after Jose Mourinho appeared to take exception to the Chelsea head coach asking for more from the Stamford Bridge faithful in Sunday's 4-0 Premier League win over Manchester United.


Mourinho, twice sacked by Chelsea after three times winning the Premier League title, was embarrassed on his return in opposition as United imploded.

The United boss spoke at length to Conte at the final whistle, with suggestions the Portuguese had been annoyed that the Italian had encouraged the home support to cheer on the Blues when they were already 4-0 up.

Reports in Italian media said Mourinho told Conte:
"You don't celebrate like that at 4-0, you can do it at 1-0, otherwise it's humiliating for us."


And the self-proclaimed Special One insisted the conversation should be private, despite choosing to conduct it in front of 41,000 people and the Stamford Bridge press box.

"I speak to Conte, I don't speak to you (the media)," Mourinho said.

"It was me and Antonio and stays with me and him. Unless he wants to share."

Conte declined to do so.

"I've been a player too and I know how to behave," Conte told Sky Italia.

"I always show great respect for everyone, including Manchester United.

"There was no incident, it was just a normal thing to do. I wasn't mocking anyone, I wouldn't do that."

The Chelsea head coach added in his post-match press conference: "Today it was right to call our fans in a moment (when) I was listening (to) only the supporters of Manchester United, at 4-0.

"The players, after a 4-0 win, deserved a great clap. It's very normal.

"If we want to cut the emotion we can go home and change our job."

The Chelsea fans once derided by Mourinho, who had described playing at Stamford Bridge like playing in an empty stadium, responded.

And Conte hopes Chelsea take confidence from a third successive win and third straight clean sheet following defeats of Hull and Leicester.

"They deserve this type of performance, this type of win," he added.

"When you work very hard, it's important to win. When you win you trust in your work."

Pedro scored within 30 seconds to give Mourinho's former employers the lead before Gary Cahill smashed in a second with Eden Hazard and N'Golo Kante sealing a resounding win in the second half.

Now Mourinho wants his side to focus on returning to winning ways in their upcoming matches following a tough run of fixtures.

He told Sky Sports: "In the first minute, you analyse the goal and you can see what happened - we made incredible defensive mistakes, individual defensive mistakes and you pay for that.

"In terms of points, it's zero points - if you lose 1-0 or 4-0 you lose three points. We are six points from the top of the league and now we have to win matches.

"We had a week where we have played two (title) candidates in Liverpool and Chelsea and now the other teams from the top five have to play among themselves, they have to draw and lose the points each.

"We need to win our matches now, which is not easy but we play Burnley, we play Swansea and West Ham and we need to win matches to close the gap."

On his reception at Stamford Bridge, he said: "I was not expecting anything different and the crowd behaved in the normal way so... nothing wrong."

He refused to elaborate on what he said to Chelsea boss Antonio Conte after the full-time whistle in what appeared to be a heated exchange between the two.

Conte believes the emphatic win is crucial for his Chelsea side as they look to continue their surge to a title tilt at the end of the season.

He told Sky Sports: "It is very important because after two defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool, to two great teams, it was important for us.

"The players deserve this because I see everyday the commitment in the training sessions. We started very well, very strong and that is what I asked for before the game.

"I think we are improving - we must continue to work, we know we have a long way to go but I am satisfied for them and they deserved this type of game.

"I believed David Luiz played a fantastic game and I do not know if he deserved a red card or yellow, he is a honest player but I did not see the incident."

On lifting the crowd towards the end of the match, Conte said: "I was listening to the support of Manchester United who kept supporting their team.

"After a win like this I asked my fans to come together for the players for that performance. I think this is normal."

[Tony2005]

In the end the return of Jose was four nothing ......