For the first time last night, Jose Mourinho admitted he was a “worried man”. For the fourth Premiership match in succession Chelsea’s once impenetrable defence conceded twice and, as against Reading on Boxing Day, they could manage only two in reply, and are now six points adrift of the leaders, Manchester United. Mourinho said: “Yes, I’m worried. If we were at the top of our form it wouldn’t be a drama, the drama is that we’re not.
“We cannot defend. We concede incredibly easy goals and in attack we have only one player (Didier Drogba) performing.” The Chelsea manager said the solution was not “spending millions” in the January transfer window, but getting “the best goalkeeper in the world” (Peter Cech) and “the best centre-half in the world” (John Terry) fit and back in the team. Terry, who had keyhole surgery on his spine to repair a bulging disc last Thursday, is already back in training and joined in the “warm-down” after the match.
The England defender said: “The specialist had me running in the corridor two hours after the op, and I was swimming yesterday. There’s no discomfort any more, and I hope to be playing again in a week or so.” The captain will miss Chelsea’s match at Aston Villa on Tuesday, and will be rested for the FA Cup tie against Macclesfield on Saturday, but expects to return for the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final against Wycombe on January 10. Cech is weeks away from a comeback.
The scrap between neighbours was a real rollercoaster ride, with Fulham taking an early lead and Chelsea hitting back hard to go 2-1 up, only for Carlos Bocanegra to drive in an 84th minute equaliser. Drogba had headed the champions in front just after the hour, with his 20th goal in all competitions, but his sixth in as many games was not sufficient to secure the points for a team suddenly subject to fits of the vapours at the back. Neither Geremi, at right-back, nor Paulo Ferreira are Premiership class.
Fulham, to their credit, were full of vim and vigour in their ultimate local derby, and deserved the draw which leaves them unbeaten in their last four. They sought to combat the champions by mirroring their system, placing Michael Brown in the Claude Makelele role. Chris Coleman, Fulham’s manager, was well satisfied. “If we could stay in the game, we felt they might get a bit nervous and they did,” he said. Full of good intentions, Chelsea fashioned two chances for Michael Essien, the man of the match, in the first four minutes and Salomon Kalou should have scored when, five yards out, he failed to make contact with Essien’s centre from the right. Andriy Shevchenko would give a king’s ransom, or a week’s wages — whichever is the greater — for such a chance.
After 16 minutes Chelsea paid a heavy price for failing to translate their early superiority into goals when Fulham took the lead. That dodgy Chelsea defence failed to combat Franck Queudrue’s throw-in and Moritz Volz was left unmarked to set himself before shooting across Hilario. It took a last-ditch intervention of the highest order from Bocanegra to prevent Michael Ballack from equalising at point-blank range, but Fulham, encouraged by their advantage, and by Chelsea’s insecurity in the right-back area, played with growing conviction. Wayne Routledge should have done better than blast over the bar when well placed.
Equality was restored in the 35th minute, when Makelele’s cross was headed out by Liam Rosenior only as far as Frank Lampard who, from the 18-yard line, drove the ball low past Niemi’s right hand. Poor Rosenior’s misery was completed by his deflection of the shot, which took it beyond the goalkeeper’s reach.
Fulham threatened to regain the lead when Routledge’s corner picked out Brian McBride, whose header was parried by Hilario. The ball ran loose and the keeper was relieved to see Lampard clear his lines.
In search of greater firepower, Mourinho took off Geremi, who was having a poor game, and sent on Shevchenko and after 61 minutes Chelsea were ahead. Ashley Cole’s cross from the left was directed at Drogba, whose aerial challenge forced Bocanegra to divert the ball straight to Lampard. The England midfielder hooked it back into the middle, for the Ivorian to score with an emphatic downward header.
Fulham were still competitive and Chelsea needed a third goal. Instead the anonymous Kalou shot into the side-netting from a difficult angle on the right when a cross was required. It was his last contribution. Wayne Bridge replaced him with 10 minutes remaining.
Back came Fulham, and Luis Boa Morte, with a strong shot from the left, brought a vital save from Hilario. Then a quickly-taken free kick from Routledge saw Queudrue put over a cross which Essien and Drogba failed to cut out. Ballack cleared only as far as McBride, whose shot was saved, but not held by Hilario, enabling Bocanegra to score from six yards.
Mourinho was scathing in his assessment of his players’ shortcomings. “Maybe we are not as good as we think,” he said. “At the moment, everybody knows Chelsea cannot defend. In the first 15 minutes we had five chances, then the first time Fulham attacked we gave them a goal. The way teams play in this country, you need central defenders who are strong in the air. We need “JT” (Terry) for this.
“Also, in attack, all the others (apart from Drogba) are not playing well enough. Shevchenko is not performing, Kalou is not performing and Shaun Wright-Phillips is not performing. Am I angry and frustrated? Maybe both.” Football’s biggest spender was ambivalent when asked about reinforcements, even though England forward Joe Cole is likely to be out for the rest of the season with a foot injury. He said: “If the club ask for my opinion, I will say yes to new players, but if others want incredible money for ordinary players I will say no to that. I will not pay a fortune for them. If it is like that, we will go with the players we have.”
Micah Richards, of course, is anything but ordinary, and Chelsea need a right-back, as well as a centre-half. A straight swap for Wright-Phillips with Manchester City would probably suit both clubs.
Star Man: Michael Essien (Chelsea)
Player ratings: Chelsea: Hilario 5, Geremi 5 (Shevchenko 57min 5), Ferreira 5, Carvalho 6, A Cole 6, Makelele 6 (Wright-Phillips 86min, 5), Ballack 5, Essien 7, Lampard 6, Drogba 6, Kalou 5 (Bridge 81min, 5)
Fulham: Niemi 6, Rosenior 5, Christanval 6, Bocanegra 6, Queudrue 6, Routledge 6, Volz 7, Brown 6, Radzinski 5, McBride 5, John 5 (Boa Morte 68min, 5)
Scorers: Chelsea: Rosenior og 35, Drogba 62. Fulham: Volz 16, Bocanegra 84
Referee: H Webb
Attendance: 41,926
