Chelsea suffered another loss at home on Saturday in the early kick off against Liverpool, and things are beginning to look very precarious for manager Jose Mourinho.
Speaking to Off The Ball in the wake of the 3-1 loss, Martin Lipton of The Sunstated that there were several factors at play, but that something was "seriously awry" in the Chelsea dressing room now.
He stated that the manager was dealing with a situation back home in Portugal with his father, which he hasn't made a big deal of, but nonetheless has been understandably playing on Mourinho's mind, but the main problem is that the squad at his disposal is running on empty.
An exhausting campaign to win the Premier League title last year has left many of the players looking tired, while Lipton claims that they lost two big, important characters in the dressing room with the departures of Cech and Drogba in the summer, who were not replaced in the transfer market.
"Confidence is a very thin veneer in a football club," Lipton added, and stated that there was a real lack of it now at Stamford Bridge.
When it comes to Mourinho's demeanour, Lipton highlighted that the players would be affected by looking at their manager losing control on the sideline as he did today when referee Mark Clattenburg warned Licerpool's Brazilian midfielder Lucas instead of issuing a second yellow card: "It can't always be the referee, not in every game".
Lipton added that the next 36 hours are pivotal for the Portuguese, and that "if he's manager on Monday morning, he's manager on Wednesday evening" for their crucial Champions League tie.
However, when asked if he'd keep him on board, he replied "I think it's very hard to. Unless you guarantee [...] that whoever came in would give an immediate boost, I would keep him until next Saturday at Stoke".
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