It was the odd flash of mischievous humour which betrayed José Mourinho’s sense that, after this most wretched of title defences, Chelsea have finally turned a corner. There was his “no way, I’m tired of them” quip when asked whether he might enjoy a celebratory night out with his coaching staff before the festive season, and the suggestion his players were all under the thumb at home, ensuring none would ever have had the gall to stay out until 6am after their end-of-year bonding session in central London in midweek.
If those comments were off the cuff, he spent a little longer mulling over the potential identity of the former player he would like to see replace Gary Neville as a pundit – a dirty word at Stamford Bridge for much of this campaign – at Sky Sports. There was a muttered expletive, a shake of the head and admission he was properly stumped, then a response. “It’s not easy, huh? Wait. Dennis Wise.” The lack of an expert in the television studio with a Chelsea affiliation has been a common complaint, though the manager will hope the on-screen analysts have no real reason to be critical from now on. The champions are seeking to maintain a much-needed upturn.
Theirs has been a restorative fortnight since the international window. If the victories over Norwich City and a feeble Maccabi Tel Aviv did not automatically scream revival, then there was more encouragement gained from arguably their most impressive display to date, at Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday. Eden Hazard was sprightly and menacing. The defence, even without John Terry and Thibaut Courtois, mustered a similar air of authority to that of last season. Nemanja Matic was imposing despite sustaining a double fracture, of nose and cheek, which means he must sport a mask for the foreseeable future. Throw in the contributions of Oscar, Willian and Pedro Rodríguez and this team were suddenly more recognisable.
It was only a point, of course, played out to the brooding dissatisfaction of Diego Costa from the sidelines. But, in the context of so much that preceded it, Mourinho had cause for optimism. Chelsea did win three successive games in September – against the dubious might of Maccabi, Walsall and an Arsenal side reduced to nine men – but this is their first proper spell of discernible form. “We weren’t playing very, very well in those games, and the Arsenal performance was isolated,” said the manager. “This time, after playing well at Stoke even in defeat, we’ve had solid performances and good results back to back.
“Three clean sheets, and good clean sheets too, not lucky ones: good discipline, communication, reading of the game. At Spurs we could have played a couple more hours and not conceded because we were so much in control against one of the best teams in the Premier League. We can build from that. If we can get a result against Bournemouth it’ll be four good matches in a row. And it’s been a long time since we managed that.”
The sense of relief was clear, and the urgent desire to maintain the improvement just as obvious. Mourinho’s motivational game of carrot and stick has gone full circle, in terms of granting his players their night out and in attempting to maintain Hazard’s revival. The Belgian has been indulged, publicly criticised, selected in his favoured playmaker role after a training ground heart-to-heart and dropped, all in the past two months. Now, having seen the player of the year excel as a makeshift centre-forward at White Hart Lane, it is carrot time again. This week the coaching staff provided Hazard with a hard copy dossier detailing his performance data from the draw at Spurs. “That was unusual, to provide written feedback,” said Mourinho. “It had everything in it: my own assessment; my vision for him; numbers, figures, stats, graphics on every aspect of his game.
“He knows how good he was, but his performance was so impressive that he needs that extra feedback to know his efforts were recognised by myself. Hopefully he can build on it now. With that attitude and dynamic, playing with the ball and attacking opponents, he can be a No9 or a No10, a No7 or a No11. The good is coming. The Premier League is crucial for us, and every point is important given our start because we want to finish top four. Then there is the Champions League, too, where we want to progress. He knows how much we need him.”
An eagerness to lean on Hazard is understandable but Mourinho and Chelsea need Costa just as keenly. This team’s approach remains built around the Spain international as their forward focal point, despite a return of seven goals since January and some desperately sluggish and bad-tempered performances of late. Perhaps the demotion to the substitutes’ bench at Tottenham will have provided a gee-up. If the bib tossing is anything to go by, it infuriated him. Maybe Bournemouth, saddled with the joint-worst defence in the division, will suffer the backlash.
What is clear is that, up to now at least, Costa has been treated rather differently to many of his club-mates. There has been more leeway granted and, to a certain extent, he has been indulged. That is partly down to a lack of an obvious alternative in his position. Radamel Falcao is still injured and has offered no indications that he can excel in this team, and Loïc Rémy is a very different kind of centre-forward. But, up until Sunday, Costa’s indifferent form had been played out in front of the watching world whenever he was available, with each selection an opportunity to click into gear.
There had been no internal sanction, either, when he returned for pre-season training overweight. “He didn’t need to admit that publicly, you only had to look at the pictures,” said Mourinho. “No, no disciplining him. We don’t work that way. We tried to recover from the mistake and establish programmes to get him back into physical condition. He did that with [the fitness coach] Carlos Lalin in the gym and was working in terms of controlling his food, also, with relation to weight. He was pushing himself really hard and now, physically, he is back where he should be.” There were training sessions, too, with the former IBF, British, Commonwealth and European middleweight champion Darren Barker. Now the management are working on the striker’s state of mind.
They have observed improvement in terms of his integration into the group this year, pointing to the fact he mixes with the players more readily these days where, last year, Mourinho said, “he belonged to a small group of Brazilian and Spanish guys”. “He always trains very well,” said Mourinho. “It’s out on the pitch where he’s not being so sharp. He’s not being decisive or having the same influence in consecutive matches as last season.”
Is he considered a special case? “I would say a bit, but not much. Just a bit in a few details. But, in the end, the rules are the rules. Commitments are commitments. He’s the same as everyone. On Friday we meet to go to the hotel at 7.30pm. He cannot report at 7.45pm just because he’s Diego. He has to be the same.” He will gather for the pre-match team meeting on Saturday hoping to hear confirmation of a speedy recall to the starting XI as the champions seek to build on their most promising form of the campaign. Chelsea’s game of catch-up is under way.