Jose Mourinho feels betrayed by his players at Chelsea. He did all the hard work, you see, when they won the title, conveniently forgetting the running-about-and-kicking-the-ball-and-scoring-the-goals bit done by those blokes on the pitch. And now they are playing badly, it’s their fault, not his. Credit where it’s due. He can’t be blamed for the biggest reversal of fortune since Max Zuckerberg was born.

So how would you feel right now as a Chelsea player? Motivated to prove him wrong, play your best and move out of the relegation zone? Or poke him in the eye, play like it’s a testimonial, and move out of London? If Mourinho thinks that rubbishing his players will somehow work, it’s a huge gamble. That, or he’s given up too, and might as well take everyone down with him. Brilliant.

And so to the best articles of the week.

TENNIS
Serena Williams was Sports Illustrated’s sportsperson of the year. OK, no big deal? Wrong. Lots of people said it should be a horse, or someone else. Here’s a good defence of the choice of Serena. She’s not that nice, but she IS a personality.

Players have too long a season, we know. So why are they still playing now?

Why Roger Federer’s coaching move could be bad news for Novak Djokovic.

FOOTBALL
Jikes, they’re dull. Where did it all go wrong for Manchester United?

Beckham’s Miami MLS dream starts to take shape.

BOXING
Forget the Fury: the first ever all-Traveller world title fight takes place on Saturday in Manchester between Billy Joe Saunders and Andy Lee.

A-HOLES
The awfulness-in-common of Tyson Fury and Donald Trump.  Then again, Fury is just a boxer. Get over it.

GOLF
Speaking of which. the Open doesn’t like Donald Trump. Nor does Scotland generally.

Tiger Woods is dead. Not literally, but the idea of Woods. Interesting.

MISC
Parkour in Chernobyl: the ultimate adventure or a journey into madness? I’d say madness.

CRICKET
The West Indies as a playing entity may not last much longer.

The SA “blockathon“.

Where have all the good nicknames gone?

BASKETBALL
That’s both fun and a bit annoying: Kobe Bryant is hiding 20 signed pairs of Kobe 11s around the world.

 

AMERICA
The NBA will overtake the NFL, and it’s a BFD.

Girls soccer is even more dangerous than boys wrestling.

NFL
How really bad teams can get into the playoffs.

F1
Bernie Ecclestone complaining about the future of F1 being ruined feels like Donald Trump complaining that political discourse has deteriorated.

 

 

ATHLETICS
Which scandal is bigger, Fifa or IAAF? I’d say Athletics, but who am I to disagree with Seb Coe?

That’s it, see you next Tuesday.