Hiddink throws in towel as Chelsea roll over

While his peers’ long-term job prospects rest on keeping their squads sweet with a stream of meaningless platitudes, Hiddink can shoot from the lip with impunity.

Either way, he will be walking out of Stamford Bridge and returning to his role as Russia manager for good on May 30.

So when Hiddink effectively wrote Chelsea out of the title race on Saturday evening, his mood piqued by their dismal failure to capitalise on Manchester United’s slip at Fulham, nobody questioned his motives. For once, this was no mind game or psychological ploy to trick his rivals into complacency: Hiddink meant it.

“We said we would not get many chances to close the gap,” he sighed. “United can lose one game and they are still in the driver’s seat but Liverpool and Chelsea cannot afford to drop a single point.

“United are under pressure, of course, but they know that because they lost. Those are the moments when players know that they must strike. If you are chasing you cannot afford to do what we did.”

This was a new side to Hiddink. For the majority of his six-week stint at Stamford Bridge, the 62-year-old has had the cheery, ruddy-cheeked demeanour of a benevolent uncle, his good humour maintained by a run of solid, if unspectacular, results.

But this wretched performance saw the facade split asunder. Hiddink made no effort to hide his annoyance at White Hart Lane: his side’s defending was “sloppy”, their start to the second half betraying a “lack of concentration and commitment” and their decision-making muddled. Even an unfortunate television cameraman felt the lash of Hiddink’s tongue, the manager angrily throwing to the floor a microphone which repeatedly tipped over on the desk in front of him. “I am not a technician,” he snapped.

Hiddink did not devote much time to a post-match inquest. After spending “five minutes” speaking with his side in the dressing room, he was whisked to a London airport to catch a flight to Amsterdam to visit his father, who is in poor health. Yesterday he continued his transcontinental journey with a flight to Moscow, where he will begin preparations for Russia’s World Cup qualification ties with Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein this week.

Hiddink will hope his players spend the international break with his criticisms ringing in their ears, although this is where his job-share arrangement may count against him.

No great damage is done through his absence from Chelsea’s Cobham headquarters — as Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, pointed out “the next two weeks are a waste — all the players are missing” — but if Hiddink should feel no compunction in publicly upbraiding his temporary charges, why should they feel compelled to listen to a man whose departure at the end of the season is pre-ordained?

Chelsea’s professional pride should ensure otherwise, but this was an inexplicably passive, pedestrian performance from a team supposedly striking out for the Premier League title, not to mention trying to save face against bitter rivals.

The west Londoners were even granted a favour by fate: a suspect vehicle in the vicinity of White Hart Lane necessitated a 30-minute delay to kick-off and, by the time Chelsea emerged into the spring sunshine, United were trailing at Craven Cottage. Such a stroke of luck effectively delivered Hiddink’s team-talk for him, but the visitors never seriously threatened to capitalise on their good fortune.

It took them 75 minutes to generate any momentum and, while Heurelho Gomes did make fine saves from John Terry and Alex, Spurs were largely untroubled. “I thought they would be more of a threat than they were,” Redknapp observed, and he wasn’t the only one.

This is not to detract from Spurs’ performance, which was resolute and energetic in equal measure. They had the game in a choke-hold from the first whistle and might have been leading by half-time, only for Petr Cech to produce two smart saves from Robbie Keane.

But the Czech goalkeeper was let down just after half-time when Jose Bosingwa inexplicably decided to try and play his way out of trouble by his own by-line. The move broke down and, after Aaron Lennon cut back to the top of the penalty area, the excellent Luka Modric crunched into the bottom corner.

REFEREE: Mike Dean (Wirral) 7: Dealt well with some minor flare-ups in the second half and kept a lid on the emotions.

MATCH RATING: ** Not as enthralling as some meetings between these rivals but Tottenham were well worth the three points.