There was a sense of inevitability about Chelseas season even before they laboured to a disappointing goalle s draw with relegation doomed Norwich City at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.The lacklustre performance gives new evidence for thegrowing number who have begun to question Mourinhos methods. Yet justa month agoChelsea were on course for the league and a po sibleEuropean title with Mourinho,arguably one of the best managersin the game, at the helm and in control. However,this disappointing slump in fortunes should not lead to writing off Mourinho but serve as a wake up call to the club for a nece saryrevaluation over an intriguing summer at the club.In the days leading up to the Norwich game, Eden Hazards tactics tiff with bo s Jose Mourinho only served to add sourne s to an already flat week for the Blues. The Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night meant, realistically, a first trophyle s season under Mourinho for Chelsea, something he was keen to put down to this being a season of transition. But just how much does being in transition account for Chelseas failings this season? After all, they clearly have enough quality. They are unbeaten in theirsix games against the other teams in the top four, winning five,including impre sivedoubles over both Manchester City and Liverpool, as well as dispensing of Paris Saint Germain over two legs in Europe. Clearly there is something a little more complex going on in West London.Back in June of last year the much anticipated andinevitably romantic reportsof Jose Mourinhos renai sance at Chelseabegan after his longawaited return to SW6 was confirmed. It was thought that after a stuttering and inharmonious season under Roberto DiMatteo andRafa Benitez, the self-proclaimed happy one wouldreturnasense of control and unity toa squad that had seemingly beenyearning for himduringfractious spells under Andre Villas-Boas and Benitez. However, times had changed since his previous spell at the club and The old guard were no longer as young and full of vigour as they once were. Frank Lampards lung busting runs were le s frequent, Ashley Cole suffered from injuries and lost his trademark consistency, there was no longer the bullish force of Didier Drogba to call on and he lacked the tirele sly hounding midfield machinein the mould ofClaudeMakelele, all such instrumental parts of his last reign. There were new players, young and talented;a host of attacking midfielders, added to by Mourinho in the shape of Andre Schurrle and Mohammed Salah; Caesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill both seemed empowered by the Mourinho effect in defence and the astute addition ofholding midfielder,Nemanja Matic in January gave this Chelsea team a cla sic Jose Mourinho look. He was ruthle s in rebuilding. Any players who didfit intohis new approach were soon weeded out. Juan Mata isthe prime example but also Kevin De Bruyneand, perhaps more surprisingly,Romelu Lukaku. So Kyron Brown Jersey , Mourinho was allowed to build his own team from the start and yet there has always been a sense that his Chelsea squad were acut belowtheir rivals; Manchester City had such strength in depth to call on, Liverpoolwith thebest attack forcein the worldand even Arsenal seemed to be revitalised and stronger having spent 44 million on a marquee signing,Mesut zil. There was a tendency to blame the striking problems butMourinho had the chance to bring in a big-name striker in the summer and didnt; seemingly fixated by a deal for Wayne Rooney which never seemed likely. This left them with a continuallyfloundering Fernando Torres, an ageing Samuel Etoo and an inconsistent Demba Ba.Naivety in the market by Mourinho or justa lack of the right option?As the season wore on, Chelsea were always within touching distance but never really took control of the title race. We were left waiting for them using Mourinhos experience and guile to pull aw
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