Oh dear... Jose's been at it again. And as if all the pressure of Chelsea's failing title defence wasn't bad enough, he will now have to face an employment tribunal over his part in the Eva Carniero affair.
The bare bones of the issue are:
Eva Carniero "Constructive Dismissal" Claim
Apart from the legal issues there are a number of "football" issues here.
Firstly: Was Carniero "naive" (as alleged by Maurinho) in doing what she did..? In my opinion, no she wasn't. She didn't see the tactical situation of the match, she saw an (apparently) injured player. As a doctor it was her duty to attend him. At that moment in time, Eden Hazard wasn't a "player" in her eyes, he was her
patient .
By calling her "naive", Maurinho tacitly admits that Hazard wasn't really hurt.... that he was feigning injury in order to get the game stopped in a situation where Chelsea were disadvantaged. Chelsea were down to ten players, he (Hazard) was out of position and West Ham had the ball, going forward. There was a distinct possibility that Chelsea may concede another goal. In this situation, Hazard (as it turned out) feigned injury in order to influence the referee to stop the game and thus alleviate the threat to Chelsea's goal. It was quite clear that Hazard wasn't really hurt but acted instinctively. He succeeded in getting the game stopped and Jose had no problem with that.
Unfortunately for Chelsea, FA rules state that any player treated by a doctor on the field must leave the pitch after immediate treatment and not come back until he is recuperated. Caniero coming on to treat Hazard meant that Chelsea would be reduced to nine fit on-field players... a disadvantage of 11 to 9. This is what infuriated Maurinho. He saw the match situation going from bad to worse and rather than blame Hazard for feigning injury (we call it "cheating", Jose) he vented his anger on a woman who simply did her job and treated her patient.
Jose is the emperor with no clothes in this situation. By his own tacit admission he is condoning Hazard's cheating. His comments were broadcast on Sky Sports and BBC Match of the Day. It's no secret in football that he never liked Eva Caniero and would rather have had a male doctor on the bench. There is a suspicion around that Carniero was a token female appointment by the club anyway. Was Jose, in his comments, taking a swipe at her because she was a woman in a "man's" game..? That question is speculation, make of it what you will.
Eva Carniero did her job. She did it conscientiously and with good medical practice aforethought. The British Medical Association and Women in Football are behind her in this case. She was hounded out of her job by a bitter, vindictive man who vented his anger at losing the match on her in the belief that his status as a top football manager gives him the right to publicly humiliate and degrade anybody he doesn't like whenever things don't go his way.
I hope she wins her case.