On this day in 2014, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho & the rest of the Chelsea squad lost their first-ever Premier League game at Stamford Bridge. The defeat came at the hands of bottom-placed Sunderland, who snatched a 2-1 win against the title-chasing Chelsea side. The result marked the end of Mourinho's unbeaten record of 77 league games at Stamford Bridge, consisting of 61 wins and 16 draws in two separate spells as Chelsea's manager.
Despite the defeat, Mourinho praised his players for their efforts, acknowledging the resilience of the Sunderland team. However, the Portuguese manager couldn't resist taking a dig at the referee, Mike Dean, who had turned down several Chelsea penalty appeals but awarded one to Sunderland. "Third point, I want to congratulate again Mike Dean. I think his performance was unbelievable and I think when referees have unbelievable performances I think it's fair that as managers we give them praise. So, fantastic performance. He came here with one objective. To make a fantastic performance. And he did that.” The sarcastic attitude was met with humour, the same can't be said about the officials, and as a result was fined £10,000.
Mourinho's sarcastic comments drew criticism from some quarters, with many pundits accusing him of sour grapes. However, others saw it as an attempt to shift the attention away from his team's poor performance and onto the referee's decisions. Jose Mourinho has developed a 'Marmite' response from fans, some people love him and some people hate him.
