Roman Abramovich continues to back Jose Mourinho at Chelsea

It wasn't the first time owner Roman Abramovich had cut through the commotion to make things abundantly clear what the situation was at Chelsea. Except, on this occasion, there was one significant difference, and it represented a first for the club during the Russian's time in charge.
On Monday, Chelsea released a statement giving manager Jose Mourinho a public vote of confidence, insisting that the club would not be sacking him. It was something that had not been done at Stamford Bridge since December 2000 with Claudio Ranieri, two and a half years before Abramovich bought the club.
In the time since then, the Chelsea owner has often intervened in discussions about a manager's future, but usually with the opposite effect. Sources told ESPN FC that the Chelsea board were happy to keep Carlo Ancelotti in May 2011, for example, until Abramovich decreed that would not be the case. The Italian was promptly sacked.
This time, it was the opposite. The Chelsea board and a few other figures at the club met after the dismal 3-1 defeat to Southampton last weekend to discuss the situation and, although sources told ESPN FC that they were nowhere near the stage where Mourinho's sacking was a proposition, it was Abramovich who outright stated the Portuguese would be staying. End of discussion.
Of course, this is what everything boils down to, and why it's rather unpredictable as to what the future holds for Mourinho. It's not really about results. It's about Abramovich's mindset and whether he will just decide that the situation is irretrievable.
In that regard, the way in which Chelsea's statement of support actually re-opened this discussion was also extremely relevant.
Club sources told ESPN FC that it was Abramovich who authorised the press release backing Mourinho, doing so for his manager's benefit rather than because of all the public speculation. It is claimed by some close to Chelsea that the Russian specifically wanted to ease the Portuguese's mind and that he wanted to give him an explicit backing after Mourinho's incredible seven-minute post-match rant.
Although the Portuguese had only been asked for his assessment of the game, he embarked on a remarkable interview that saw him blame referees, imply another conspiracy against Chelsea, and effectively challenge the club to sack him, before conspicuously proclaiming his own greatness and saying he wouldn't resign.
The way in which Mourinho brought the very idea of getting sacked into the discussion for the first time -- and the no-limits manner in which he was talking about everything else -- reflected the behaviour of a man who thought he had nothing else to lose in the situation.
Although the tone of Mourinho's news conference obviously raised many eyebrows, the manager also raised some fair points and there was truth to some of what he said if you look beyond the manic defensiveness.
In his briefing with newspaper journalists, the Portuguese pointed to how, when he met Abramovich again to discuss the idea of coming back to Chelsea in the spring of 2013, it was explained to him that this time it would be different. This time the club would look to the long term. Build a dynasty. That had been precisely the message when they met on Abramovich's yacht in the Caribbean two and a half years ago.
Fast-forward to last weekend and Mourinho had been asked whether he sensed any change in the owner's attitude after the match. He said no, but then effectively tried to ensure that there wouldn't be any change by reminding everyone -- and specifically the Russian -- of that exchange back in 2013.
"When I was contacted to go back, I was told 'we had so many managers, we know you are the best'," Mourinho said. "It's time for the club to act in a different way, a position of stability, a position of trust."
This is precisely what Abramovich wants to do. Yet the irony is that it is open to question whether that trust will be repaid.
Abramovich wants to give Mourinho the opportunity to improve results, but there is still no evidence that the reasons behind those bad results are being tackled.
Ultimately, the Portuguese is not getting the same response out of his team. The Southampton game completely reflected this; everything that has been going wrong went wrong all at once.
Chelsea had even found some luck when they went ahead through another Willian free kick, only for the side to fail to hold onto a lead again. The defence crumpled, regardless of who was in it and, once they actually went behind, it wasn't just that they weren't creating the chances required to get back into the game, it was that they didn't look like they believed they could create those chances.
That is almost the greatest concern of all. Once they went 3-1 down, Chelsea looked completely beaten. There was no resilience.
Worse, Mourinho didn't know how to instill that resilience. Again, his only recourse was to go for the big pointed gesture, as he brought off Nemanja Matic just 26 minutes after bringing him on. It didn't make a difference, and that has been the case with many of Mourinho's dramatic moves this season. It still looks like a man trying all he knows with none of it having the same effect.

After the game, Mourinho didn't actually say anything to his players, but that is not unusual. He never discusses a match in the dressing room immediately afterwards. What's more, the majority of the squad went off on international duty immediately, meaning there was no time for them to collectively dwell on what is going wrong.
Some close to the squad say there has been ennui about the intensity of Mourinho's management, but there is now a growing concern about qualifying for the Champions League given they have just three points from their two games in Group G. Their pride and reputations are at stake, in that regard.
That could yet bring a positive response from the team, even if Mourinho's methods can't. Abramovich, however, has faith that Mourinho can change things; that he can elicit that response -- at least for the moment. That has been made clear.