These days Jose Mourinho tends to begin life at a new club like a faulty Formula One car, exploding off the grid before the engine conks out and black smoke starts billowing from beneath.
Mourinho’s Manchester United won their first three Premier League games in 2016/17 and still ended the season in sixth.
And who could forget Tottenham Hotspur were top of the table heading into the festive fixtures in December 2020, five months before the Portuguese was sacked following a collapse of epic proportions?
So when Mourinho embarked on his trademark sprint down the touchline after Roma’s dramatic 2-1 victory over Sassuolo recently – his 1,000th win as a manager receiving a fitting celebration – it was tempting to wonder how long the good times would last at the Stadio Olimpico.
Not long, it seems.
A 3-2 derby defeat at Lazio yesterday means the Giallorossi have lost two of their past three games, slipping to fourth in the table. It would be unfair to proclaim the honeymoon is over but, suddenly, a happy marriage is looking far from rosy.
And it was a player who sparked one of the most miserable defeats of Mourinho’s managerial tenure in 2018 who came back to haunt Jose at the Stadio Olimpico yesterday.
Felipe Anderson comes alive in Serie A following West Ham flop
Since returning to Lazio after an ill-fated spell as West Ham’s £34 million record signing, Felipe Anderson looks a man reborn. The Brazilian is rejuvenated back in familiar surroundings under Maurizio Sarri, who has given him the freedom and confidence to embrace those jogo bonito instincts.
Anderson set up one goal against Roma, a glorious floated cross powered home by Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, before tapping in himself following fine approach play from Ciro Immobile.
West Ham terminated Anderson’s £80,000-a-week contract in the summer. Now, with West Ham flying, Lazio soaring and Anderson basking in the glow of a famous derby victory, it seems things have worked out perfectly for everyone involved.
Everyone apart from Mourinho, that is.
Here’s what some fans on Twitter had to say about Anderson’s performance:
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