Mourinho conducts the fightback show

JOSE MOURINHO flung his fist through the air. It had been a jittery final few minutes and the Chelsea manager spent them punching his own hand as he cajoled his players through every touch. This was low-key, lowprofile Jose (left). He had promised to change after his touchline ban had forced him to watch the last game — defeat at Stoke — on TV in a nearby hotel. There were no major histrionics from the turbulent Portuguese. He was on his best behaviour as his team ended a run of three defeats in the Barclays Premier League with a scratchy victory against Norwich.

Afterwards, he spoke quietly, dedicating the win to Gary Staker, one of the club’s playerliaison staff who missed the game after the death of his father, noting the effort of his team and claiming a top-four finish was not yet ‘an impossible mission’.

It took 45 minutes for Mourinho to even acknowledge the existence of the fourth official. It must have been a strangely lonely experience for Roger East, suffering this passive aggression until early in the second half, when the Chelsea boss wandered over for a quiet grumble.

He seemed keen to make the point that Norwich manager Alex Neil had been moaning too much. The Chelsea boss had adopted this line of complaint with Jurgen Klopp during the defeat against Liverpool. He was more expressive when it came to his players. More than once he made clear his displeasure with Diego Costa: once for failing to chase in midfield, then for halting a forward run near the penalty spot as Eden Hazard flashed a dangerous ball across an empty goal.

Mourinho yelled and a performed a sidefoot mime, to let his centre-forward know how simple it could have been. The Chelsea manager did not react to Costa’s goal.