Chelsea feed off Mourinho’s fury on another nervy night at Stamford Bridge

Now breathe: Mourinho's Chelsea record much-needed win
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Jack Pitt-Brooke4 November 2015

After three home defeats this season, and amid the most dramatic collapse in the recent history of title defences, no win is to be sniffed at.

During a crisis this bad, anything that slows Chelsea’s descent, or helps them to grab hold of a rung on the bottom of the ladder they are sliding down, is to be embraced.

This may even go down as one of the most important wins in the recent history of Chelsea, or even in the career of Jose Mourinho, if it turns out to be a turning point, one that leads to a victory against Stoke City on Saturday, and then Norwich City and Maccabi Tel-Aviv on the far side of the international break.

And yet, as a 90-minute football performance, or an indication of where this Chelsea team is, in terms of confidence and form, it was not especially impressive. This was a desperately nervous and tense night, in which they needed an own goal, and yet another Willian free-kick, to beat a Dynamo Kiev side who should not be causing them any problems.

It was also a night in which the tension and drama of another controversial refereeing decision threatened to dominate the whole affair, and could have thrown the players off their rhythm.

That moment came in the final seconds of the first half. Diego Costa raced in behind, on to a through ball. He held off the challenge of Yevhen Khacheridi, from his left, before Aleksandar Dragovic came in from his right. Dragovic pulled Costa, who thought about it, then went down. Czech referee Pavel Kralovec thought about it, and told Costa to get up.

Mourinho reacted by stamping his feet, turning around and charging towards Rui Faria and Steve Holland sitting on the bench, his face contorted in a masochistic, manic cackle. For Mourinho, this must have felt like vindication for all of his theories about referees who are, as he said at the cost of £50,000, “afraid to give decisions to Chelsea”.

The capacity crowd, who had been subdued for much of the evening, fed off Mourinho’s sense of grievance, making it their own. They booed the half-time whistle and sung bluntly that Mourinho had been right about the referees all along.

Before the game, John Terry spoke of how Chelsea were “prepared to fight”, and how much better their last three or four performances have been, and yet the reality of this season is that almost every time anything has gone against them in a game, they have wilted. That was the story with the two most damaging defeats, the 3-1 home losses to Southampton on 3 October and Liverpool last Saturday, in which Chelsea simply could not respond to the shock of conceding a goal.

Player Ratings: Chelsea vs Dynamo Kiev

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Those were the games that prompted the two most unusual Mourinho responses – the seven-minute answer after Saints, the “I have nothing to say” interview after Liverpool – and also prompted the most serious questions about what has happened to the steely mentality of this side, and their coach.

This is why the second half, in a stadium of almost silent tension, was so instructive. The players had seen Mourinho’s reaction to the non-penalty, they had felt the nerves in the stands. And they could not find the confidence and conviction to take the game away from modest opposition.

Dynamo’s equaliser – which led to six of the more anxious minutes of even this painful season – felt like it was increasingly likely as the second half went on. It was not that the visitors were playing well, but that Chelsea are currently causing themselves as many problems as any opposition. All it took was for Asmir Begovic to concede a needless corner, which he then failed to punch. Dragovic did the rest at the far post, with thanks to the hip of Denys Garmash.

Eden Hazard came on and turned the momentum back for Chelsea, and Willian dug them out of their hole with one kick of his right boot. It was enough this time, but it might not be every time.

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