The future of Jose Mourinho’s position at Chelsea hangs in the balance today dependent on whether the Blues can overcome their 1-0 aggregate at Anfield. Win on aggregate and Jose is a hero. Lose on aggregate and don’t be surprised if Abramovich and Kenyon again start looking for a replacement.
One of the main factors is Jose Mourinho’s decision to drop Andrei Shevchenko. It appears it wasn’t a groin injury after all.
Mourinho, though, has every right to drop Shevchenko if his form has been poor. Kalou is a worthy replacement. But if Chelsea doesn’t overcome Liverpool tonight, you can almost guarantee that Mourinho will become the scapegoat and Abramovich, at least privately, will probably blame it on Mourinho’s decision to exclude Shevchenko.
The web site Russian Spy, meanwhile, is reporting that Shevchenko’s career at Chelsea may be over with the striker saying he doesn’t fit in. Shevchenko’s reaction to being dropped for the Liverpool match could be the last straw for Mourinho, and it’ll be interesting to see if Shevchenko dons a Chelsea shirt again.
No matter what happens, let’s hope the match is entertaining. For Liverpool, they have a huge chance to overcome the 0-1 deficit. The key is to stop Chelsea from scoring otherwise Liverpool will have to score three to go through. However, I don’t see Chelsea being unable to score, which puts the advantage definitely in Chelsea’s court.
Expect to hear a raucous Anfield crowd on your television sets today wherever you are in the world. I can’t wait.
