Graphic: tactical analysis: Anelka takes centre stage

As he walked around the edge of the pitch half an hour after the final whistle, flanked by Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive, and Brian Horrigan, the club’s good-humoured head of security, Guus Hiddink politely rejected requests for an interview on the grounds that “Ray Wilkins was the manager today”. True to a point, but as the Chelsea juggernaut spluttered back into life against Watford with a late hat-trick from Nicolas Anelka, Hiddink was very much the back-seat driver.

Hiddink’s supposedly temporary reign has already started in earnest. Despite pledging to leave this FA Cup fifth-round tie to Wilkins, the assistant first-team coach, he could not help himself, getting involved in training last Friday, giving a team-talk before kick-off and introducing several tactical innovations that brought immediate results.

Further changes will be necessary if Chelsea are to return to their recent heights, though instilling some basic organisation represented a decent start. The brown suede jacket he sported on a freezing night at Vicarage Road may have been last seen on the American cop shows of the 1970s — and how Chelsea need a good cop right now — but it is unrealistic to expect Hiddink to transport his side back to that era by getting them playing total football overnight.

“He’s basically said that we’ve got good players and a very strong squad, but he’s just going to give us a bit of structure,” said Michael Mancienne, the 21-year-old defender who was given a debut at right back in an another important departure from the Luiz Felipe Scolari era. “Instead of our wing backs pushing too high up like we have been doing in the past few games, he wants one of them to cover back when the play is around the other side. He reinforced a few things and had a lot of tactical input before the game.

“It was good to finally make my debut to be honest. I think Scolari was under pressure to win games and wanted to put his best team out all the time.”

With Chelsea’s big-spending days over, players such Mancienne, and Miroslav Stoch, 19, could gain more opportunities next season, but the most significant change Hiddink is likely to make concerns the pairing of Anelka with Didier Drogba.

Scolari started them in only one of his 37 matches in charge, but both will surely play in Saturday’s match away to Aston Villa.

Although Anelka started wide on the right, the France forward swapped positions with the hard-working Drogba throughout. However, it was only when they were paired together after Tamas Priskin, the Hungarian substitute, had given Watford the lead in the 69th minute that they really came to life. Anelka responded with a 16-minute hat-trick, scoring goals with a volley, header and shot between defenders from the edge of the area.

“It was good because a lot of people said we couldn’t play together, but we never really tried to play together,” Anelka said. “Today in 20 minutes we scored three goals. It’s not about me, but playing with Didier up front changed the game. That’s why we scored the goals and won the game.”

While Scolari was wedded to a 4-1-4-1 formation, Hiddink is more flexible and is likely to use two strikers more regularly. The Dutchman will be relieved to be able to take John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho to Villa Park after their understudies, Alex and Branislav Ivanovic, produced uncertain performances. He will also be concerned at the form of Petr Cech. The goalkeeper made one fine save from Jobi McAnuff, but was otherwise jittery.

While the final scoreline was harsh on Watford, Brendan Rodgers, their manager, could take pride in a performance that augurs well for their relegation battle.