Stoke-On-Trent (England): Jose Mourinho enters the international break with his future as Chelsea manager under closer scrutiny than ever before following his team’s 1-0 defeat at Stoke City.
The outspoken Portuguese was not even present at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday as he served a one-match stadium ban for his verbal onslaught on match officials during the recent defeat at West Ham United.
But as he watched Chelsea’s attempts to find an equaliser fizzle out on television at the team hotel, he will have known that two weeks of intense speculation and analysis now await him.
It is the first time in 16 years that Chelsea have lost three consecutive league games and billionaire owner Roman Abramovich has never seen such a sequence in his time as owner of the London club.
The three coaches who stood in for Mourinho declined to speak to the media after the game, which left the champions languishing in the 16th place after seven defeats in 12 games.
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