Mourinho vs. Carneiro: Smoke and Mirrors?

As you’ve probably heard, there has been quite a kerfuffle surrounding Chelsea team doctor Eva Carneiro these last few days. It all started with the post-game comments following theBlues’ 2-2 draw with Swansea on Sunday when coach Jose Mourinho — apropos of nothing, mind you — declared that he was unhappy with his medical staff, which is overseen by Carneiro, forentering the field of play and attending to midfielder Eden Hazard following a clash with Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Apparently, the Portuguese tactician was upset becauseHazard was not injured enough to leave the field of play, which every player has to do once the medical staff comes onto to the field to administer treatment. At that point in the game, Chelsea wasalready reduced to 10 men following the sending-off of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, and with Hazard off too, Mourinho’s men were temporarily reduced to nine.

“I wasn’thappy with my medical staff because even if you are a medical doctor or secretary on the bench, you have to understand the game. If you go to the pitch to assist a player, then you must be surethat a player has a serious problem,” the Blues coachsaid after the game. “I was sure that Eden didn’t have a serious problem. He had a knock and was very tired.” He continued: “My medical department left me with eight fitoutfield players in a counter attack after a set piece and we were worried we didn’t have enough players left.”

Following the press conference, there was an outpouring of supportfor Carneiro via social media. Later on Sunday, the Chelsea doctor responded in kind withthe following Facebook post: “I would like to thank the general public for their overwhelming support. Really very much appreciated.”

Two days later, reports across England claimed thatCarneiro, who has been with Chelsea since 2009, has been demoted — or, at the very least, she has seen her role greatly reduced. The Telegraph claims that thoughshe will remain doctor of the first team, she will no longer be able to sit on the bench during games, attend practice sessions or be at the team hotel before games. Asked to comment on this news, Chelsea declined, saying it would not comment on an“internal staffing matter.”

Since, Mourinho and Chelsea have been accused of sexism, among other things. In a widely-cited interview with talkSPORT, Peter Brukner, theformer head of Liverpool’s sports medicine department, gives a particularly scathing analysis of Mourinho’s behavior:

“The medical staff deserve a public apology, and I’m verydisappointed the club hasn’t come out and done something to support them — they were just doing their job…He [Mourinho] has a player [Hazard] who has gone down, has remained down and thereferee [Michael Oliver] considered it serious enough to summon the doctor and physio. They went on as they must do, and as a result the player had to come off the field. What do you expect thedoctor to do, just ignore the referee beckoning them on? They were only responding to the referee’s instruction to come and a treat the player, so to criticize the medical staff publicly in the waythat he did was absolutely appalling behavior.”

Meanwhile, the Independent notes that the fact that Oliver waived the medical staff onto the fieldtwice is a powerful piece of evidence on Carneiro’s behalf: “Under the General Medical Council good medical practice guidelines, Carneiro would have been obliged to enter the pitch whenreferee Oliver called her on — regardless of whether Mourinho wanted her to treat the player or not. Ignoring that request would put her in breach of one of the GMC’s first tenets under the‘safety and quality’ responsibilities.”

So, what in the world are Mourinho and Chelsea up to here? Really, it’s impossible to know, but Mourinho-watchers will note that whatthe Portuguese says publicly is all-too-often a sideshow — that is, a means of distracting attention away from the performance of his team. Indeed, Chelsea did not look convincing against Swansea onSunday, and Mourinho knows it, even if he didn’t admit it publicly.

OK, but does that mean that Carneiro should be sacrificed here? Absolutely not. Off The Post doubts very much thatCarneiro is merely a sacrificial offering to the press. Something must have happened that we may never hear about until Carneiro decides to write an autobiography that made Mourinho and/or Chelseawant to get rid of her, something much bigger than what happened on Sunday. The Portuguese was obviously looking for an excuse to get her fired and/or demoted and he chose this occasion.

Unfortunately for him, per the Independent, Carneiro and her staff did nothing wrong at all — in fact, it would have been wrong had she not entered to the field to attend to herplayer.

It could be that Mourinho, who fancies himself a master at massaging the press, might have backed himself into a corner with this one. It will be interesting to see whathappens.