In-depth: Defiant Mourinho insists he doesn't need 'assurances'

Mourinho's men came from 1-0 down to send the tie into extra time but Chelsea's miserable season continued unchecked as they failed to find a winner against a Stoke side that played with 10 men for all of the additional period.

Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland pulled off a stunning save to palm away Eden Hazard's penalty and seal a 5-4 shootout win for the Potters, handing Mourinho his eighth defeat in 16 games this season.

The disastrous run of results has already prompted the club's hierarchy to issue a public statement backing the manager, and Mourinho insisted he did not fear for his job.

[MATCH REPORT: Mourinho woes deepen as missed Hazard penalty sends Chelsea out]

"I don't need it (reassurances), I don't need more. My general situation is fantastic," the 52-year-old said after the game.

"I have a day off on Wednesday, fantastic family, I can sleep well every night. And Thursday will be one more day like I have in the last 15 years of my life."

"Do you think the players are not with me or didn't give everything to win the game? It's sad for the players. It's a lack of respect to the players, not to me.

"For me it would be a fantastic situation if the players were against me, (because) I could say we didn't have the results because the players were against me...

"We played very well. What the players did tonight was face some people who have written and spoken (about them) and said: "you are stupid".

"I think what some people write and say is really bad for the players, and because most that do that were players, maybe they think my players are like them when they were players.

"My players don't do that."

Most of the papers claim that the result has added further pressure on Mourinho, already under fire after the Blues' worst start to a season in a generation, and that he now stands "on the brink".

The Mirror goes further, acting as if Mourinho's sacking is already a done deal and instead focusing on the demands of Carlo Ancelotti should he return to the club who fired just a year after winning the double.

Further inside the back pages, Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail writes that, "Mourinho, at his most potent, has been one of the finest coaches in football for close to two decades now. What has happened at Chelsea in recent weeks is entirely unrepresentative of his career... He needs to get away from all that angst for a while, he needs a break. But it cannot happen in football. We all know the break football managers get. It comes accompanied by a large cheque and a P45. Nobody removes a manager temporarily from the firing line — but that is exactly what would happen to Mourinho in another industry now."

But this time things look bad, adds Samuel: "Watch his interviews with the sound down. Shut out the words and study the man. He appears older, drawn, edgy, no longer in control of his emotions. Fabio Capello says Mourinho’s way is exhausting for his players. It burns them out, and quickly. Maybe it has burnt him out at last, too...

There is an answer, Samuel adds, saying that in any other big company Mourinho would simply be given a few months' sabbatical to recharge: "Elite performers in elite industries are not casually jettisoned. A sabbatical might be proposed; or simply a long break with the family. Spend a few months on a Caribbean beach, regroup, recharge, come back refreshed. Good businesses don’t burn bridges with their best talent; and that includes other departments at football clubs."

Interesting points. Elsewhere Matthew Syed in The Times writes that Roman Abramovich is still more of a disgrace than Mourinho: "I don’t wish to diminish the actions of the Portuguese manager — they have been shameful — but let us not compare them with one of the great, unfolding scandals in English football. The money that has bankrolled Chelsea these past 12 years, which has brought multiple trophies while sanitising the image of one of the most dubious individuals ever associated with British sport, was corruptly amassed.

"Don’t take my word for it," adds Syed, spelling out Abramovich's admission during his legal battle with Boris Berezovsky that there was "an agreement to sell media support to the president of Russia in return for privileged access to state-owned assets". "He is portrayed as a lover of Chelsea. One newspaper once described him as 'an astute businessman'. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is a manipulative and ruthless chancer whose money was gained through dubious means, and whose calculated purchase of Chelsea had nothing to do with love of football."

Chelsea fans appear to be overwhelmingly behind Mourinho - and why not? He is the man who took them the final step from expensively-assembled wannabes to league champions.

[MORE TWEETS: Stick with Jose, Roman]

Yesterday, we published a 'BS Detector' article arguing that it makes no sense for Chelsea to sack Mourinho, at least not yet. And we'd stand by that assessment this morning: as Martin Samuel's article spells out, and the fans' tweets suggest, Mourinho is still as good a manager as there is in football. It's a major worry that the Blues have lost their aura - as they showed when failing to find a winner against Stoke, or at the weekend against West Ham. But until there is no question of them getting it back, then Mourinho will stay put.