JOSE Mourinho is a staunch defender of his players.

He will back them to the hilt and never criticise them in the public, whether in front of the television cameras or in press conferences.

The Portuguese is a master of deflecting the focus away from his team’s own failings, on the relatively few occasions that they arise.

However, that courtesy does not extend to his backroom staff.

His touchline outburst at doctor Eva Carneiro and head physio Jon Fearn in the opening day draw against Swansea was a step too far.

Not that it was meant as a diversionary tactic. For a brief moment, it appeared as if Mourinho snapped in the heat of the moment. But his actions were that of a bully.

We had two people simply doing their job. Eden Hazard was down injured and the pair rushed to his aid.

With Chelsea already down to 10 men, Hazard having to leave the pitch meant Chelsea temporarily had only nine men.

Mourinho was livid at what he felt was a fundamental lack of knowledge from his staff in not realising their actions would force Hazard to the sidelines.

That was unlikely to be in their thinking. Their first duty is to the wellbeing of a player, seriously injured or not.

What were they supposed to do?

Wait for Mourinho’s permission?

Heaven forbid that the Chelsea boss wanted Hazard to stay down, employing the tried and tested tactic of time-wasting with his team on the ropes. Perhaps his plan was inadvertently rumbled.

Either way, Mourinho has shown total contempt for two, until then at least, seemingly trusted colleagues and publically humiliated them.