I'll come out and say it now: I am an unashamed Jose Mourinho supporter. I'm not a Chelsea fan, nor have I ever been an Inter Milan fan, Real Madrid fan, Porto fan, etc. But I follow each club that Mourinho pitches up at with an intense interest. Why? A few reasons I guess. I love his attitude to winning. I admire the fact he sets his teams up to play how he wants and doesn't care what anyone else says. I chuckle at his comments and mind-games, and at his propensity to play jester with the press sometimes. I love the edge he gives the Premier League when he's around - from sniping at rivals to throwing his toys out of the pram when he loses. Some may call his behaviour obscene and unwarranted - I call it entertainment.

However, even I find myself struggling to defend Mourinho after the opening round of the league, and the comments he made about his medical team after Chelsea drew 2-2 to Swansea at Stamford Bridge. Thibaut Courtois was sent off, and when Eden Hazard went down just before the end of the match, the referee signaled for the medical team. They came on to treat Hazard and took him off the pitch, leaving Chelsea with eight outfield players and Mourinho incensed. 

His comments after the game explained his anger: “The problem was that I had 10 men and the moment the medical department puts a foot on the pitch then I have got nine men. So for them to do that they must be sure the player has a real problem and not a little knock and with my experience and the way I read the game I could clearly see it was not a problem. But without any doubt, they went to the pitch and left the team with nine men. Without any doubt, if you are involved in the game then you have to understand the game.”

Since then, Eva Carneiro, the club's assistant medical director and fan favourite, has been demoted from the match-day squad and has been told she cannot attend matches, training sessions, or enter the team's hotel. Considering that the medical team were beckoned on by the referee, poor Carneiro and first team physio Jon Fearn had little choice in entering the field of play to attend to Hazard. Carneiro's message of thanks on her Facebook page to acknowledge the support she has had from fans is said to have angered Mourinho as well, and underlying tensions (Mourinho is said to not be happy with the medical team's work recently) have also played their part in this sorry saga.

Looking at it from an outside point of view, even an unabashed Mourinho supporter such as myself is having problems justifying this outburst. If it is a tactic to deflect tension away from a poor performance, I can't abide by that - the medical team have done nothing wrong in this instance and should not take the brunt of an angry manager. If Mourinho is genuinely angry at his staff's behaviour during the incident, he is wrong, plain and simple, and he should apologise. Finally, if it is an excuse to have a moan at a medical team who he believes are failing him - then man up, Jose, and have the conversation in private. Don't air your dirty washing for the public to see - it certainly isn't fair on hardworking staff who didn't have a bearing on the final result.

Although I appreciate his stubborn nature and the winning mentality it helps to foster, I (and many others) would have a lot more respect for Mourinho if he held his hands up and admitted he got this one wrong. Unfortunately, I can't see that happening. I doubt he cares what other people are thinking anyway.

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