Parker has no need to feel blue, says Jose

JOSE MOURINHO yesterday urged Scott Parker to be patient and promised the unsettled England international he would soon be given his chance to shine in Chelsea’s midfield.

Mourinh was talking ahead of tomorrow’s Premiership clash against Liverpool. Parker is reportedly considering his future at Stamford Bridge after making just one appearance this season, coming on as a late substitute during the Barclays Premiership opener against Manchester United.

Since then the 23-year-old - who joined from Charlton for £10million in January - has been frozen out of Mourinho’s plans thanks to the abundance of fit midfield talent available to the Chelsea boss.

Alexei Smertin has jumped ahead in the queue after being recalled from his loan spell at Portsmouth while Frank Lampard, Geremi, Claude Makelele, Joe Cole and Tiago are also preferred options.

This has led to reports stating Parker is considering a return to The Valley when the transfer window re-opens in January, but Mourinho has told the PFA young player of the year to await developments over the next three months. “I have a lot of midfield players and they are all ready to play. But I can only use two or three of them and then put one more on the bench,” he said.

“Someone has to miss out and at the moment Scott Parker has not been involved in the line-up or as sub. I can understand that and in fact I’m happy that Scott is not pleased with the situation. If he is not being used many times and is happy with that then it means he has no motivation or ambition. But he is professional, working fantastically well every day and his chance will arrive.

Parker was left out of Chelsea’s squad for Wednesday night’s 3-1 victory over Porto - an evening which was marred when an individual from the Portuguese club’s travelling supporters spat at Mourinho.

It was harsh treatment of a man who guided unfancied Porto to UEFA Cup and Champions League success over the past two seasons.

But Mourinho made it clear once again yesterday he did not want his former club being punished for the incident.

“Portugal is my country and Porto is my old club - I know the supporters and the mentality of the people. Porto have been to various countries over the last two years and the reputation of their fans is fantastic,” he said.

“Porto played two finals in two consecutive years and everything was perfect at every ground. So it’s not fair to see the image of the supporters, fans and country marred by the attitude of two or three people.

“I have written a letter to UEFA explaining my feelings. I said the good reaction of most people towards me was more important than one or two people spitting at me. I wouldn’t like to see Porto punished because of a few people.”

Meanwhile Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has pleaded with fans to wait until the end of the season before they judge him.

As the Spanish coach prepares his inconsistent side for a tough trip to Chelsea he knows that his tactics - particularly his defensive systems which worked so well at Valencia - are being closely scrutinised.

But Benitez, who took over from Gerard Houllier in the summer, insists that in time things will come right.

His side has lost four of his ten games so far, while his zonal-marking tactics at set pieces have been fiercely criticised.

But he says: “When you talk about statistics, you need time. Perhaps at the end of the season they will say different things.

“I am sure that if you see TV and watch other matches you will see a lot of goals scored from set pieces, corners and free kicks against teams who mark man to man.

“Let us wait until the end of the season and then we will have a better set of statistics on the subject than we have at the moment to compare man-to-man and zonal marking.

“We have a lot more games to play and only then can we discuss how we have done.”

Benitez seems intent on doing things his way, and word from the club’s youth academy is that all Liverpool’s junior sides are being coached now to zonal mark rather than the man-to-man system.

But Benitez’s ideas were exposed again in the 1-0 Champions League defeat against Olympiacos on Tuesday just as they had been by Manchester United a fortnight ago.

He insists: “I was disappointed because the result was not good in Greece, but at the end there is the next game to prepare for to try to gets things right.

“I want to think more about the positive things we have been doing in our home matches and the rest of my work is to think how to change the things we are doing badly in away matches.”