It will have been the feeling of helplessness that ate away most at José Mourinho. For all the optimistic talk of extensive pre-match planning, of detailed instructions being drummed into his coaching staff, the Chelsea manager will have loathed being out of the picture as he sat glaring at the television screen, in a room back at the team’s spa hotel – where he gave his team talk – while his players succumbed yet again. The minibar will have been scant consolation. After all, he was absent and the ailing champions are supposed to be in this mess together.
