Eva Carneiro Banned From Chelsea FC Bench, Adds To Bizarre Season Start
Chelsea FC doctor Eva Carneiro has been banned from the bench, adding to the club’s bizarre start to the season
Sky Sports, through their infamous Sky Sources, have claimed that Jose Mourinho has banished Eva Carneiro from Chelsea FC’s bench for the weekend’s game against Manchester City and beyond.
After Chelsea’s disappointing 2-2 draw with Swansea City last Saturday, the boss seemed to lose his shirt as time ran out. Eden Hazard went down after a challenge and remained on the floor, prompting the first team doctor Carneiro, and club physio Jon Fearn to rush onto the field to administer treatment.
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However, Mourinho started waving his hands around and gesticulating like a mad man, evidently incensed by the actions of his medical staff. He explained himself in his post-match press conference.
"I wasn’t happy 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 sure that a player has a serious problem. I was sure that Eden didn’t have a serious problem. He had a knock and was very tired.My medical department left me with eight fit outfield players in a counter attack after a set piece and we were worried we didn’t have enough players left. – via The Telegraph"
To be fair to Mourinho, this is a valid point. Premier League rules dictate that any player receiving treatment on the field must leave the pitch subsequently until the referee waves him back on. After the Blues had already been reduced to 10 men after Thibaut Courtois’ red card, the actions of Carneiro and Fearn meant that Chelsea were overly exposed to a very dangerous Swans team. Hazard evidently was not seriously hurt and thus more game sense should have prevailed.
Nevertheless, there has been a lot of criticism directed at Jose’s public dressing down of his medical staff, and criticism that is justified in this writer’s eyes. Chelsea were poor on Saturday and Mourinho was visibly frustrated with his team’s performance. However, to openly berate his backroom staff like he did is certainly not a professional way to handle affairs, whether he is right or not.
Jose often tries to deflect attention away from his players when they come under fire, but this still is weak justification for his behaviour. Nonetheless, it appears that Carneiro’s role within the squad has now been changed, despite retaining her first team doctor title.
"Carneiro will continue in her role as first-team doctor but she will only work at the club’s training ground in Cobham, Surrey. – Sky Sports"
With this, there are rumours that Carneiro won’t accept this modified role and may end her time at Stamford Bridge. She was promoted to the first team job in 2011 by Andre Villas-Boas, but is thought to be considering her future following Saturday’s incident.
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This is just another aspect to what has been a pretty odd season so far for the Blues. They reconvened for training later than most other Premier League teams, before embarking on a three-match tour of the United States in which they lost one and drew two fixtures.
Diego Costa’s hamstring issues flared up again in the last tour game, and he subsequently sat out the FA Community Shield and Fiorentina friendly, both of which were losses.
After all this, The Special One couldn’t conjure up some of his special magic and the Blues only managed a point against Swansea. Now Carneiro is potentially on her way out of Stamford Bridge.
This will be a shame as she is one of few female faces in the Premier League, but yet it may be more empowering if she were to stand up for herself and leave. Again, while Mourinho’s reasons for being annoyed are valid, this was a matter that could have certainly been dealt with behind closed doors as opposed to in front of the world’s media.
Should Carneiro depart, I would like to think that she won’t be unemployed for too long.
Next: Willian's Time At Stamford Bridge Has Come