This week's Gary Neville replacement in the Sky Sports Monday Night Football studio was none other than Frank Lampard, Chelsea legend, Manchester City legend, one-time Mourinho zealot. But not even Chelsea's all-time leading goalscorer could quite completely believe what he was witnessing on the pitch and in the interview nook as Chelsea lost for the 9th time this Premier League season already.
"He's tried being strong with them, quite a lot of times earlier in the season. He's tried to be positive, saying after Tottenham that it was their best performance of the season."
"I'm not sure what he's saying there. He's not happy with them and I don't think he sees a way out. I think it was quite crucial when he asked whether they over-performed last year or are they just bad players? He wasn't quite sure. He's questioning them about how they can turn this around."
Obviously, Lampard isn't on the inside anymore and he can only go on his own personal experiences. He sees an angry Mourinho, but one who's also unsure of just what (else) he can do to get the player performing to last season's levels once again.
"I don't know whether he's lost them (the players) but something has to change right now, whether it's the attitude or the performance."
Carragher adds his voice to Lampard's in that an even bigger conundrum faces Chelsea at this point. Any other year, Mourinho's would have been sacked three times over by now. But he hasn't been, because it's not any other year and he's not any other manager. We had this ideal and idea of stability and long-term success with the best manager we've ever had. What's to be gained by firing him now? Probably nothing. Might as well wait until the end of the season.
Would be nicer if we got at least mid-table though...