Guus Hiddink targets top four spot for Chelsea

Guus Hiddink has two targets as Chelsea’s interim manager.

Jose Mourinho

The first is to help the club complete a remarkable transformation and return to the Premier League’s top four.

The second is to help Diego Costa rediscover the form that made him the most feared striker in the division last season.

Hiddink knows he cannot achieve the first aim without succeeding in the second. But Costa’s moods have proven almost impossible to predict in recent months.

A tally of four goals this season is a woeful return for a player of Costa’s ability, but his is a season which has been pock-marked more by tantrums and arguments with Jose Mourinho, the club’s former manager, than than by moments when he has threatened the opposition goal.

Previously disinterested and keen to stay as far away from the penalty area as possible, coaxing Costa out of his slump will rank as one of Hiddink’s finest achievements.

It is possible, though. The fit of pique at Tottenham, when Costa threw a bib at Mourinho, struck a chord with Hiddink. And the Dutchman knows that if he can get through to the Spaniard then his own job will be much easier.

“He’s an emotional guy, and there was something with a bib I read,” said Hiddink, whose side host Watford today. “When I went back to my home, a long time ago, I was subbed even as captain. I wasn’t used to that. I knew from that day, because it’s fixed in my brain even though it was just after World War II.

“I was captain of my team and the manager substituted me at half-time. I thought I’d performed, but I threw off my armband and threw it at him. ‘You make a new captain.’

“It was also an emotional reaction born of frustration. It was a sign of frustration. Sportsmen are allowed to show a bit of emotion, but they must know five or 10 seconds later that they’re wrong.

“I think he can focus on what he is able to do. I cannot guarantee there won’t be an outburst from him or others, but they have to focus on what they’re good at.”

Hiddink has seen Costa up close in the last few days, too. Doubtless he has heard the stories, the whispers over attitude, which began when Costa returned for pre-season training overweight.

But it fits with the Dutchman’s outlook that he hasn’t asked for information. He has expressly not found out any background on his players, preferring instead to make up his own mind rather than listen to second or third-hand information.

So, for the moment, his opinion is based on his own eyes and what he has seen on television.

“I’ve worked with him a few days, and in the past I’ve seen him on television a few times.

“What I experienced in the last few days, and with the last game he played [against Sunderland], he was in control.

“He was focused more on what he is hired for here, which is to help to score or assist and not going into other things. I think he was well controlled when I experienced him now in the last days.”

But if Hiddink can get Costa firing, if he can flick a switch Mourinho was unable to locate, what then? Well, perhaps the top four. Despite their abysmal start to the season, Chelsea are just 11 points off Tottenham in fourth.

Jose Mourinho

And Hiddink’s plan is simple: restore the confidence and victories will follow. By challenging his players to make the top four, he hopes to set in motion a run that would be the equivalent of winning the title.

“Generally, I set targets: the targets are still, because mathematically it’s possible, is to get in fourth position,” adds Hiddink.

“Then the Champions League. Then the FA Cup. Two, three targets still to go. On top of that, or as a foundation of that, they must show now what they’re capable of.”

So, get Costa firing and then get to the Champions League places. One is necessary for the other. Hiddink thinks he can do both.