JOSE Mourinho has received criticism from all angles following his treatment of Chelsea’s club doctor and head physiotherapist – and rightly so.

With Chelsea down to 10 men and holding on for a point in their opening Premier League game at home to Swansea on Saturday, Eden Hazard went down after a mistimed tackle.

Doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn were beckoned on to the pitch by referee Michael Oliver and duly sprinted on, a move that immediately incensed Mourinho, with pictures showing him screaming and shouting at the pair as they ran past him.

The reason for his anger is somewhat understandable. If a player receives treatment for an injury, he must then leave the field. With Chelsea already down to 10 men, Hazard going off would leave them with eight outfield players at a critical point in the game.

His frustration is understandable, but his post-match criticism of his medical team, who he branded as naive, and their subsequent demotion from the bench, is more questionable.

Mourinho claims that he knew that Hazard was not injured, just tired, but having been called on by the referee, Carneiro and Fearn were duty-bound to enter the field of play. It’s their job, or it was until earlier this week, and the manager doesn’t have a leg to stand on as far as I am concerned.

Hazard has also come in for a fair amount of criticism for allowing Oliver to invite the medical team on. However, having watched a video of the incident, the Belgian appears to take a knock to a rather sensitive area.

As any man knows, if you take a hit there, the tactical nuances of football are not going to be foremost in your mind. I doubt it even registered that Oliver was asking if he wanted attention and while he wasn’t badly injured, I don’t think he stayed down simply because he was ‘tired’.

Where Mourinho does have some cause for complaint is with the rules. Ashley Williams, the Swansea player who makes the challenge, is booked, but because he hurt Hazard, Chelsea end up a man light. It doesn’t seem fair.

Of course, the rule was introduced to combat exactly the sort of scenario that Mourinho gave in his explanation. If Hazard had gone down just to get a breather, it would have eaten into the clock and helped his side hold on for a draw.

While it’s not perfect, it’s a rule that works pretty well. Players only really stay down and get treatment if they are actually hurt. If the rule wasn’t in place, I’d expect to see physios on the pitch far more often as players look to take a break or kill the clock.

Of course, there are exceptions, and Saturday may well be one, but that doesn’t excuse Mourinho’s sustained assault on two people who were mearly doing their jobs.

Personally, I think there must be more to it than first meets the eye. I’m sure he was annoyed, but in normal circumstances, I don’t think Mourinho would react like that.

Maybe there is something going on behind the scenes and Mourinho was looking for an excuse to change his medical team.

The fact that Carneiro took to social media to thank people for their support after the game was a little strange as well. It’s a move that probably sealed her fate as it appeared she was criticising Mourinho, but it points to an underlying issue.

Maybe it’s a personality thing. Carneiro has got a lot of attention over the last couple of years, most of it unwanted, and everyone knows Jose likes to be the centre of attention.

The other thing to bear in mind is the focus of the news as a result. While his side didn’t lose, the game against Swansea was pretty disastrous for Mourinho.

His side didn’t win and having allowed Petr Cech to leave, his first choice goalkeeper got sent off. Nobody is talking about that though and the focus is very much off his players going into a big game against Manchester City this weekend.

I would not be at all surprised to see both Carneiro and Fearn back on the bench before long, with this whole episode consigned to history.