Chelsea's woes summed up by Drogba air shot

David Mellor
14 Jan 2009

May the force be with Chelsea at Southend tonight because on Sunday's evidence the FA Cup looks the only piece of silverware they have the remotest chance of winning this season.

The significance of the defeat at Manchester United in a historic context cannot be overlooked because Old Trafford was a ground where Chelsea traditionally did well, even when they were a struggling, ill-funded outfit.

In the previous 33 years Chelsea had lost just six league matches there, and only one - in 1992/93 - by a 3-0 margin. Since only a linesman's error stopped it being 4-0, you could argue this was their worst league performance at the Theatre of Dreams in four decades.

And Chelsea weren't robbed, they were thrashed - out-thought and out-fought in every department. United, an imposing combination of young and old, looked fitter and better organised by an embarrassing distance.

No one in the Chelsea team emerged with much credit. Frank Lampard, usually the business, was marginalised and even John Terry was seriously at fault for United's first. Chelsea's inability to defend set pieces, which I commented on last week, was cruelly exposed by United scoring twice from the corner flag within 30 seconds, though the first was wrongly disallowed.

In the Makelele slot, John Obi Mikel looked a novice, while Deco and Ballack both looked unfit and uncompetitive. Ryan Giggs performed as if he were a decade younger than either of them.

But Chelsea's appalling afternoon was best summed up by Didier Drogba (right), who excelled at only one aspect of his game - arguing with the referee. His second-half air shot when well placed summed up his day and a wildly misdirected header later on screamed out yet again how out of sorts he is. It's shameful that with more than £40million worth of strikers on the pitch, Chelsea did not have a single decent shot on goal.

I suppose the worst part for this self-appointed cheerleader for Luiz Felipe Scolari is how shapeless Chelsea were, almost as if his tactical planning went no further than telling the players to go out and do the best they could. Is Ray Wilkins up to replacing Steve Clarke? It's a question that has to be asked.

Before the match Scolari as good as suggested the title race was over if Chelsea lost. Of course, with 17 games to go, that's rubbish. But the gap in class was shocking and, with no signings likely this month, to all intents and purposes, unbridgeable.

No doubt, the bookies will take more money on Scolari getting sacked. A more interesting bet is whether he will outlast Roman Abramovich, who was absent again. I've always suspected he would disappear as quickly as he arrived and my guess is only one thing prevents it happening now.

All of Abramovich's largesse has gone into the club in the form of loans, which any new owner would be expected to repay. A year ago that was perfectly possible but this year it's unlikely such a high roller could be found without the Russian having to accept the kind of discount that would wound his pride as well as his pocket.

A far cry from the days when some people thought Abramovich's millions would buy Chelsea everything. It's increasingly apparent he's  actually bought them next to nothing that will endure and will leave no legacy beyond a couple of increasingly distant league titles, welcome though they are, and a nice new training ground.

Police have better things to do than protect KP from the paps

What on earth did the Metropolitan Police think they were doing offering four armed policemen as a dishonour guard to Kevin Pietersen on his arrival at Heathrow last week?

These plods are armed with sub-machine guns for one reason, and one reason only — to defend our busiest airport against terrorist attack.

To use them to protect Pietersen, standing beside his car to prevent photographers taking proper photographs, was yet another crass abuse of power by a force that seem to have completely lost their way.

As it happens, I have started to feel a tiny bit of sympathy for Pietersen in the past few days, as senior figures at Lord's queue up to assassinate his character from behind their hands in off-the-record comments to journalists like “I've never encountered an ego quite like it in cricket. He wanted to run the show”. 

This sounds to me like the old school blazer brigade resenting a mere player getting above himself and being impudent enough to have opinions on matters they think best left to his elders and betters.

The problem for Pietersen is that by his own actions he made it too easy for his bosses to get rid of him as captain but that doesn't mean their reaction to him is right or in the best interests of English cricket.

Tevez furore shames League

How fit for purpose is the Premier League as a regulator? The Carlos Tevez affair suggests, not at all.

The original Tevez decision, made by the Premier League in April 2007, was seriously flawed because a fine of £5.5million was imposed on West Ham rather than docking points.

An independent hearing under Football Association rules last September found that Sheffield United, who were relegated because of Tevez's goals, were entitled to substantial compensation.

Evidence emerged that West Ham had asserted that the third party agreement whereby Tevez, in breach of the rules, was owned by his agents, MSI, had been revoked when it hadn't. The supposed termination of the agreement, say the Premier League, was the reason West Ham were not docked points that would surely have relegated them instead of Sheffield United.

But MSI's lawyer, Graham Shear, told the panel he had been offered “oral cuddles” by West Ham's then chief executive Scott Duxbury that the agreement actually remained in place. Only now has this scandal led to a renewed inquiry, this time a joint one between English football's main governing bodies.

With the Premier League having failed to clear this up properly, it is now a case of the FA being needed to hold their hand.

Parkinson the cheap option

Charlton fans are said to be bewildered by the board's decision to give useless Phil Parkinson the manager's job when last night's FA Cup victory was his first win in 11 starts. They shouldn't be. The answer is obvious — money. The board are not prepared to put in the cash to get anyone better and seem to be resigned to going down.

If I was one of the twenty odd thousand home fans who watched Charlton lose yet again to lowly Nottingham Forest on Saturday, I'd be very angry indeed.