"Sometimes you win because you are tremendous and other times you win because you are the best. But you can be the best without being tremendous." — José Mourinho, August 16th, 2013. José Mourinho made a stinging observation of Manchester City's Premier League title win in 2012 and Manchester United's the following year on the eve of the first competitive match of his second spell as Chelsea boss, but do his comments also apply for this season?
“I felt the champions were the champions as a consequence of many things, not just because they were phenomenal, because in my opinion they weren’t phenomenal,” Mourinho also said then. Chelsea have at times been tremendous, phenomenal and also ordinary, yet few rivals exposed the flaws as the Blues won their first title in five years and fourth in 11 campaigns.
Mourinho even acknowledged as much as Chelsea closed in on his third Premier League title, saying the Blues had become “more strategic, less artistic” in recent months.
Quadruple
With the mastermind Mourinho meticulous as ever, Chelsea were unbeaten for the first 22 games of the campaign, prompting talk of an undefeated season and a quadruple by some commentators.
Mourinho dismissed the suggestions and defeat at Newcastle in December was followed by a loss at Tottenham on New Year’s Day — avenged in the Capital One Cup final — which exposed flaws no other opposition had.
In some sense, their European exit at the hands of Paris Saint Germain, like their FA Cup one at home to Bradford, may have helped Chelsea.
Mourinho's quest for a third Champions League title with a third club was no longer on the agenda, all the focus could be on domestic duty.
From the 5-0 win at Swansea in January, Chelsea’s seven wins in an unbeaten 11-game run were by a solitary goal.
Every game
Mourinho has fielded 22 players and three have started every game: captain John Terry, right back
Branislav Ivanovic
and PFA Player of the Year
Eden Hazard
.
Mourinho will surely wish to strengthen again this summer, in anticipation of a title charge from rejuvenated United and in expectation that City will be rebuilding.
Chelsea's recent transfer business has been excellent, with last summer's additions of Diego Costa and Cesc Fàbregas key to the season's success. Costa has spent parts of the campaign nursing his fragile hamstrings, yet still scored 19 Premier League goals. Fàbregas has found the more physical contests challenging, but his artistry is wonderful and he has 17 assists.
Hazard, meanwhile, is now alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as one of the three best players in the world, according to Mourinho.
Consistency is the difference in the Belgium playmaker, who has been the standout performer for Chelsea. Like Hazard, they have been consistently the best this season, but Mourinho knows there is room for improvement. That is a worrying proposition for the rest of the Premier League.
