Even a disastrous start to Chelsea's Premier League title defence can't tarnish Jose Mourinho's reputation as a manager, according to former rival and Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.The Old Trafford legend has come out in support of Mourinho amid a swell of criticism this season, stating Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich would be "foolish" to sack the Portuguese, per theTelegraph's Matt Law:He (Abramovich) has sacked so many coaches in the last 10 years that I am sure he has learned by it. He has to trust and have confidence Jose can turn around. There is no point in sacking one of the best coaches of all time, hes won the European Cup twice, hes won the League in each country hes managed in, hes won the big trophies. It would be foolish to take that step to sack him. That would be bad management. Its poor leadership, that.The Scot is no stranger to comeback tales of his own, and the Red Devils sometimes made lacklustre starts to campaigns under Ferguson before gathering momentum as the season went on.Admittedly, Chelsea's current plight is worse than anything he ever experienced, with the Blues just two points off the relegation zone after 15 games. But even after a 1-0 defeat at home to Bournemouth on Saturday, Ferguson insisted things are improving at Stamford Bridge:Ive been watching Jose and Ive spoken to him a couple of times. Its the first time hes been confronted with non-success. If you look at his whole career its been nothing but a rise all the time, so for the first time in his life hes had to deal with bad publicity, adversity, and thats a challenge but there are signs he is getting back to a balanced level even though they lost on Saturday.It's been a season of firsts for Mourinho, but not in the manner he'd have desired. However, there's no evidence to suggest sacking the former Real Madrid, Inter and Porto chief would improve results, especially with few viable replacements at hand.OptaJoe put into context just how dismaying the west Londoners' form has been thus far, losing eight Premier League games and managing just four wins:The prospects look slim for Chelsea, and it seems safe to suggest a successful defence of their league crown is long gone, while the chances of even gaining entry to Europe next term are shortening.Unfortunately from a manager's perspective, they're often first in the firing line when things go awry, but beIN Sports reporter Tancredi Palmeri recently suggested a player mutiny may be to blame for poor form:It's true the players are to be held accountable, especially considering this is largely the same squad that stormed to last season's Premier League crown before crumbling so emphatically this campaign.Far from the heights of his previous Premier League or Champions League victories, this season has now become a far different and unexpected test of Mourinho's credentials, arguably the biggest of his career to date.To turn the Stamford Bridge ship around, he'll have to muster something miraculous, but based on past exploits, Ferguson feels assured Mourinho is the man to achieve it.
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