Guus Hiddink must start at foundations to make Stamford Bridge safe again

Chelsea 3 Sunderland 1: Guus Hiddink will begin work at Chelsea’s plush Surrey training ground this morning with one of the biggest clubs in world football and an equally huge task in turning around their fortunes.

Hiddink was at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to watch the Blues begin a second post-Jose Mourinho era with an ideal result, beating Sunderland 3-1 to stay out of the relegation zone.

The Dutchman, returning for a second stint as interim manager, sat with Roman Abramovich in the owner’s expensive eyrie high in the west stand, alongside Didier Drogba.

The former striker is expected to return to the club for a third spell, this time as coach, although his contract with Montreal Impact in the MLS may delay that appointment.

Hiddink and Drogba then chatted with Chelsea’s players during their warm-down and in the dressing room, preparing them for a new era in the club’s turbulent recent history. The most recent chapter has been a downward spiral from champs to chumps in the space of a few months, which has baffled insiders and neutrals alike, and cost Mourinho his job. Various reasons have been offered for Chelsea’s worst start to a season in living memory: a lack of desire from the players, deteriorating relationships between Mourinho and some of his star names, off-the-field distractions, or simply poor tactics.

Mourinho, mindful that Manchester United may come calling soon, has made it clear that he rejects all accusations of poor management, and is angry that Michael Emenalo, the club’s technical director, has talked about a ‘palpable discord’ between the coach and his players.

Chelsea’s supporters still overwhelmingly support Mourinho and chanted his name before, during and after Saturday’s dismantling of Sunderland. Many also booed when the names of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa were read out before kick-off, and again when they were substituted late in the game. Those two, who arrived at the beginning of last season to help transform Chelsea from contenders to champions, have been seen as a big part of the problem this season, either from loss of form, confidence or desire. The same could have been said of Oscar, another whose name was booed before kick-off but who received a rousing reception when he was replaced in the closing stages after a man-of-the-match performance, proving what he can do when given free rein.

Oscar was not the only player to raise his game. Fabregas looked reinvigorated, Pedro played with confidence for the first time since his arrival and Nemanja Matic looked more like his old self. And while all of this will have given some comfort to Abramovich that Chelsea could yet challenge for a Champions League place, sitting only 11 points outside the top four with 21 games to go, he cannot expect Hiddink to work miracles.

Victory on Saturday looked comfortable enough and was assured once Chelsea racked up an unassailable three-goal cushion within 49 minutes, as Oscar’s penalty added to early goals from Branislav Ivanovic and Pedro.

But against a Sunderland side sorely lacking confidence and cohesion, Chelsea also showed in the final half-hour why they are at the wrong end of the table. For a 15-minute spell after taking a 3-0 lead, they lost the plot, and Sunderland could easily have done more damage than Fabio Borini’s 52nd minute goal. Jermain Defoe, Patrick Van Arnholt and Borini all squandered chances to inflict further misery on a defence that was all over the place, and a more ruthless and less toothless side than Sunderland would surely have scored more.

It demonstrated a basic structural flaw in the side that will test even the best managers, as Mourinho discovered to his cost, and Hiddink must now be appreciate. One of most expensively-assembled teams in the history of football needs urgent reinforcements in defence, midfield and attack if they are to get back to being a side capable of winning honours. Mourinho identified the need for a top-class central defender, a left-back who can attack as well as he defends and a world-class striker to support or replace the snarling Costa, who has managed only four goals this season, and only 10 goals in 39 appearances since New Year’s Day.

In the summer, Abramovich failed to deliver the players Mourinho wanted, most notably John Stones, and with Everton resolute in their desire to keep the England centre-back, Chelsea may have to look elsewhere.

A further problem is that any world-class player with a string of suitors may be reluctant to sign for a club whose management will be changed again in the summer.

So Chelsea’s future is far from certain, and their present is still perilous, as stand-in manager Steve Holland admitted afterwards. “It was a very important result for the club, because if we had lost, we would have dropped into the bottom three. Our priority has to be to rescue what we can of our season. I don’t know how high we can go. In the first half you could see some signs of what the players are capable of when the confidence comes back.

“But I think you also saw signs in the second half of a fragility that’s still there, a vulnerable period for 10-15 minutes where you could see the opposition getting another goal.”

Holland and fellow coach Eddie Newton will be retained by Hiddink as a link to the past and a bridge with the players, who have to take responsibility for Chelsea’s predicament, as captain John Terry concedes. “As players we have to look at our performances and take responsibility for where Chelsea sit in the table right now. The manager going doesn’t change that. This is a massive club and we are determined to get ourselves back to where we should be.”

That is Chelsea’s – and Hiddink’s challenge. Can the same group of players who had lost nine of their previous 16 league games step up and consistently produce performances and results like the first 50 minutes on Saturday, or will they continue to play Jekyll and Hyde? Only time will tell – and with Abramovich having made 11 managerial changes in his ten-year tenure, time is always tight at Stamford Bridge.

CHELSEA 4-2-3-1:

Courtois 6; Ivanovic 6, Zouma 5, Terry 6, Azpilicueta 6; Matic 7, Fabregas 7; Willian 6, Oscar 8, Pedro 7; Costa 5.

Subs:

Mikel for Fabregas 70, Remy for Costa 75, Ramires for Oscar 82.

Subs not used:

Begovic, Baba, Traore, Cahill.

SUNDERLAND 3-5-1-1:

Pantilimon 6; Coates 4, O’Shea 6, Kaboul 5; Jones 5, Rodwell 5, M’Vila 6, Toivenen 5, Van Arnholt 5; Watmore 6; Defoe 5.

Subs:

Johnson for Coates 23, Borini for Toivenen 46, Graham for Watmore 78.

Subs not used:

Mannone, Gomez, Yedlin, Fletcher.

Referee:

R East.