Tonight:
4°c
Panic as Hiddink's Blues fail their first stress test
Tom Collomosse23 Mar 2009
After a season of so many twists and turns for their club, Chelsea supporters might look back on 21 March as the day their hopes of winning the Premier League were finally ended.
Coach Guus Hiddink and his players had made much of their ability to pounce on any stumble from Manchester United. Yet when the opportunity arrived, they blew it, and remain four points behind Sir Alex Ferguson's team, who have a game in hand.
On the face of it, the gap is not too wide for Chelsea to bridge. But the psychological effect of their failure against Tottenham at White Hart Lane cannot be underestimated. With this game kicking off 30 minutes late because a minibus parked outside the ground had led to a bomb scare, Chelsea learned of United's result with half an hour of their game still left, and their attacks became more and more frantic.
Hiddink (right) was supposed to be the man to restore the self-belief and will-power which characterised Chelsea's back-to-back title victories under Jose Mourinho in 2005 and 2006.
While it would be harsh to dismiss the Dutchman's credentials - he has, after all, led the Blues to six wins from his first eight matches in charge - his Chelsea side appear to have retained the worrying habit of failing to perform in the big domestic matches.
Luiz Felipe Scolari was sacked after failing to beat any of the other 'Big Four' during his six months in charge, and Chelsea's display at Spurs was reminiscent of some of their poorer performances under the Brazilian. Until the later stages of the game, they lacked bite in attack, they were outplayed in midfield, and they looked vulnerable in defence when Spurs pushed them.
True, Hiddink's team could have secured a draw in stoppage time when Alex hit the crossbar, and Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes excelled throughout. But it is impossible to imagine that the Mourinho-era Blues team would have come up short.
Hiddink admitted: "Manchester United can afford to lose one game and still be in the driving seat, but Liverpool and Chelsea are chasing, and they cannot afford to drop a single point.
"There are moments when the players know they must strike, and if you are chasing, you cannot afford to do what we did.
"This was a lack of concentration and a lack of commitment in some areas in the first 10 minutes of the second half, and we let them score too easily."
The Dutchman was certainly correct about the goal. When Aaron Lennon cut the ball back from the right, nobody had tracked Luka Modric's incursion from the left, and the Croatian was under no pressure as he fired low past Petr Cech five minutes into the second half.
The result briefly propelled Spurs into the top half of the Premier League for the first time this season, and they are now only three points adrift of seventh place, which will almost certainly be good enough to secure a place in next season's revamped Europa League.
Goalkeeper Gomes was also outstanding for the home side, producing a display which few who saw his error-strewn early games for Spurs would have believed possible.
Boss Harry Redknapp admitted: "I would be a liar if I said: 'I always knew he would play like that'. I was getting worried, there's no doubt about that. But it was amazing that, wherever we went in Europe, people would say how good he was.
"One coach at (his former club) PSV Eindhoven told us not to worry, because Gomes was a world-class goalkeeper, and we also spoke to someone during our UEFA Cup tie against Shakhtar Donetsk who told us the same thing.
"He is a top athlete, as he shows by the way he pulls crosses out of the air."
Reader views (3)
Kypros, I agree with you. I watched the match twice (I had it recorded on DVR) and the midfield was the problem. Ballack was (the key word is "was") a great player but at 32 years is on the decline and should leave the club. Since his ankle injury, he has not been the same and Mikel should have played in his place.
- Tony Ball, Dallas, TX, 23/03/2009 23:43
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Well its ashame Chelsea, can't accept defeat.. What they missed was scoring and Jon Obi Mikel, wasn't the difference... Chelsea, need a clear out of over aged players, they lacked pace....
Ballack and Lampard can't play in the same team
- Adrian, london, 23/03/2009 17:42
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John Obi Mikel was badly missed at Tottenham. He has made his trade intercepting the sort of cut-back crosses that led to the Spurs goal and generally breaks down opposing attacks o the edge of the box. The reason as to why he did not play has nothing to do with tactics or with injury. Pehaps someone can enlighten me as to why he has been left out in the last few games.
- Kypros Shacolas, Nicosia, Cyprus, 23/03/2009 11:39
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