Special One’s rant fails to mask Chelsea goal struggle

ALL Jose Mourinho’s ranting and raving over a controversially disallowed goal cannot hide the fact that Chelsea must face up to some serious problems if they want to win back their Premier League title.

Chelsea’s goalless draw against Blackburn made news primarily for the goal scored by Salomon Kalou and bizarrely ruled offside by the unfortunately-named linesman Peter Kirkup — a blessing not only for Rovers but also for tabloid headline writers. But the real issue was cleverly papered over by Mourinho after his side failed to score for the second match in a row and fell two points behind leaders Arsenal, who also have a game in hand.

An analysis of Chelsea’s league campaign throws up a worrying number of questions for the Special One because in attempting to alter the team’s style of play, he has created uncertainty.

The return of wingers at Stamford Bridge was meant to usher in a new era of more entertaining football, but the reality has been different. Chelsea hit three goals against Birmingham on the first day of the campaign but they also let in two and their play has been lacking in fluidity.

They had to come from 1-0 down to beat Reading after a miserable first-half display and were extremely fortunate to earn a 1-1 draw at Liverpool thanks to a dubious penalty.

And more recently they scraped a 1-0 victory over Portsmouth, before losing 2-0 at Aston Villa and then drawing with Blackburn.

It means they have failed to score in consecutive games, even if belligerent Mourinho refuses to acknowledge that Kalou’s effort was ruled out.

“No goals in two matches? It is one goal,” he insisted in his own inimitable way before demanding an apology from the offending linesman.

In private you suspect Mourinho will be rather more concerned with why his team has failed to click in seven matches this season.

The absence of Drogba, who has a persistent knee injury and looks unlikely to recover in time to face Rosenborg in the Champions League tomorrow is key, as is the loss of Frank Lampard with a thigh injury, although he is rated 50-50 for Tuesday. But there may be more to it than that.

Chelsea simply don’t look comfortable at the moment and Mourinho’s decision to keep his squad small could well backfire. Certainly there is no-one capable of deputising for Drogba judging by Andriy Shevchenko’s latest display. The Ukraine international was given a rare chance to start on Saturday and once again failed to live up to his reputation or to his price tag.

Shevchenko’s performance wasn’t the only concern for Mourinho, either. Steve Sidwell, a free signing from Reading, started in central midfield and was so ineffective he had to be hauled off at half-time — the second time he has failed to last more than 45 minutes this season.

Central defender Alex, standing in for injured Ricardo Carvalho, looked ponderous and unconvincing and only the attacking flair of Joe Cole and Brazilian right-back Juliano Belletti looked likely to unlock the Blackburn defence. Not that Mourinho was ever likely to admit it, of course.

“I have only good things to say about my players,” he insisted. “Chelsea were the best team and we scored a great goal.”

There is no arguing with Mourinho on either of those points, but he must surely know it wasn’t the performance of a title-winning team, either. Chelsea must find their rhythm soon or there could be more than one Kirkup at Stamford Bridge this season.

Did you know? No team has taken more points than the 21 Blackburn have taken from Stamford Bridge in the Premier League (Arsenal also have 21).

Did you know? Chelsea have gone 66 games since losing at home, an all-time English football record.