​Post-Mourinho Blues: How Chelsea Fans Reacted to Jose's Sacking

When a team sat 16th in the Premier League goes two goals up after just 13 minutes, you expect jubilation. Not at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. "Where were you when we were shit?" the Matthew Harding Stand bellowed at the players after Pedro struck Chelsea's second. They asked the same question on 50 minutes when Oscar scored the third, happy to be winning again at long last, but angry that it had taken so long and that it was without Jose Mourinho.

Many believe Mourinho was sacked because he lost the support of the dressing room, but who should take responsibility for this: the manager or the players? Most of the fans we spoke to outside Fulham Broadway tube placed the blame squarely with the men on the pitch. Three names in particular kept coming up: Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa and Eden Hazard. "Fabregas has been awful. Hazard's an unbelievable player but he doesn't try and Costa's just unprofessional," said Charlie Chad, whose sentiments were echoed by many others on their way to the ground. Even the visiting Sunderland fans agreed. Alex Ersoz, who also felt Mourinho should have been given more time, said: "Hazard and Costa are most to blame. Against Leicester on Monday, Hazard just wandered off the pitch after he got injured. There are a lot of arseholes at the club."

Inside the ground, the usual pre-match team announcement turned into a popularity contest. Fabregas and Costa were booed, Matic was clapped more quietly than usual and Willian and Terry were given an extra-loud cheer. Hazard escaped judgement because of an injury, otherwise last season's fans' player of the year would probably have been booed as well. In the 22nd minute, Costa went down easily in the box, looking for a penalty; both sets of fans behind the goal rose as one to tell him to get up.

The fans' criticism wasn't unanimous though. Many feel it's their job to support the players no matter what. Amidst the boos when first Fabregas and then Costa were substituted, half the ground rose to their feet for standing ovations and there were a few chants of "Diego" as last year's fans' favourite, the man affectionately nicknamed "the guv'nor", sulked off.

One man outside the ground even dared to criticise the blessed Jose. "That lot in there will be singing his name but he's arrogant," said a middle-aged merchandise seller. He was right in the first respect, at least. The ex-boss' name was sung at the start of the game and after every goal. The "Special One" and "One of Us" banners still hung from the Shed and Matthew Harding stands.

For the Jose loyalists though, one woman stands in the way of straight-forward hero worship. Eva Carneiro was sacked as club doctor after Mourinho objected to her taking to the pitch to treat the injured Hazard against Swansea. Sky Sports pitchside cameras seemed to catch Jose calling her a "hija de puta" which translates as a 'daughter of a whore' or a 'slut like your mother'. "I've got mates at the club and the way he treated that woman wasn't right," the scarf-seller said, a statement even the most fervent Jose-lovers will find it hard to disagree with.

On the forums, the imaginations of the undersexed have gone into overdrive over Eva. One poster pointed out that she was sitting next to Hazard at May's victorious open-top bus tour and implied that they were having an affair. Both are married and the suggestion was ridiculed by most of the forum. "The bus driver never once left his seat either. Make of that what you will," one joked.

Back at the Bridge, Sunderland got a goal back in the 53rd minute and the momentum switched. If they had then taken one of their chances, Chelsea would have been in real danger of throwing away a 3-0 lead. At home. To Sunderland. In past seasons it would have been unthinkable, but on Saturday both sets of fans believed it was a possibility.

Thanks to ThibautCourtois' continued class and Jermain Defoe's geriatric finishing, the game ended in a 3-1 win for Chelsea. As "Blue is the Colour" rang out, the goalkeeper and defenders saluted the fans while the forward players marched straight down the tunnel. Ivanovic threw his shirt into the crowd, showing why, despite his terrible form, the fans have not turned on him. Supporters will always prefer an out-of-form trier to a half-hearted superstar. As one fan said: "If you were trying to make the team lose, you wouldn't play as badly as Ivanovic has been: it would be too obvious."

If you had to summarise the fans' mood on Saturday in one word, 'confusion' would be a good suggestion. Football fans, and Chelsea fans in particular, pride themselves on their loyalty. Loyalty to who though? To the team? To the manager? To the club? Ideally, they are one and the same but on Saturday, Chelsea's fans were forced to choose.

They have been here before of course, when Mourinho left for the first time in 2007 and then when Roberto Di Matteo was replaced with Rafa Benitez in 2012. For a while, with the unpopular Benitez in the dugout, there was a minute of applause every 16th minute, in honour of Di Matteo and his old shirt number. It lasted half a season before gradually dying out. The fans moved on then and they will again. As one man said at the half-time urinals: "The show must go on."

@joeloyo