Chelsea blues

Not since Middlesbrough rampaged to a 3-0 success at the Riverside back in February 2006 have Chelsea endured such a humiliating loss. There were too many familiar failings here to enrage the manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, writes Dominic Fifield.

Luiz Felipe Scolari’s reign at Chelsea has suffered its most resounding setback to date. If this squad had travelled to Italy sensing progress to the knockout phase was within their grasp, then they returned home beaten, bewildered and with Group A breathing disconcertingly down their necks. This was a painful reality check.

Not since Middlesbrough rampaged to a 3-0 success at the Riverside back in February 2006 have they endured a loss this convincing but, while it was baffling to witness the visitors so overrun by a side that had apparently been broken by a dreadful run of recent defeats, there were too many familiar failings here to enrage Scolari. Just as against Liverpool in the Premier League last month, when the Brazilian tasted defeat for the first time, his team failed mystifyingly to ally possession with penetration. They will play Bordeaux next on November 26, a match that appears critical without their suspended playmaker, Deco. Chelsea must be aware that they cannot afford to be this wasteful again.

Scolari might have sensed debacle in the air. For 33 minutes his team out-passed their hosts on a turf rendered sodden by a four-hour deluge which had briefly threatened the fixture itself. Florent Malouda tormented Cicinho, while Deco and Frank Lampard were untouchable in central midfield. Roma gasped as they chased the ball hopelessly. Yet the visitors boasted no bite in the six-yard box, no physical presence in the air to unsettle nervous defenders, and their monopoly of possession yielded nothing. Doni turned away long-range attempts from midfield but Nicolas Anelka was anonymous and, after the break, Didier Drogba demonstrated just how shorn he remains of match fitness.

Yet it was still hard to accept the farcical nature of Chelsea’s defending. For a team that had not previously conceded in this competition this season — they had not conceded in the second half of any game — they imploded remarkably as soon as they had been bypassed just once. Uncharacteristic vulnerability flared, John Mikel Obi’s composure draining as his sloppy pass surrendered the ball and induced Deco to foul Francesco Totti. With the visitors distracted at the free-kick, Cicinho wriggled free down the right and crossed into a cluttered six-yard box. Even so, the Premier League team should have cleared only for one of their former players, Christian Panucci, to glide in between John Terry and Alex to touch in from close range.

That was Roma’s first real opportunity and it served to pep the hosts after five successive defeats in all competitions, their mood further buoyed when Mirko Vucinic, fed by Matteo Brighi’s lay-off, rasped in a glorious second from just outside the area three minutes into the second period. Chelsea, yet again, had been slow to react to suffocate the threat. Petr Cech was not close to reaching the shot, the ball veering into the corner, though his reactions, too, seemed dulled. It was as if this entire team had been lulled into a false sense of security as they had toyed with fragile opponents in the first period, with an utter inability to rouse themselves when urgency was most required.

The errors were maintained as a sense of desperation welled. Mikel, slack where he has been so impressive, lost the ball to Vucinic again some 10 minutes later and, having tracked the striker as he tore goalwards, failed to stifle his progress. He was sprawled on the turf by the time the Montenegrin finished low beyond an exposed Cech, the Roma manager, Luciano Spalletti, leaping head-first on to the delirious huddle of celebrating players on the touchline as this arena rejoiced. The coach had been on the verge of dismissal. He wheezed his way through the post-match press conference, his throat swollen by his screams of joy on the touchline.

Terry’s consolation, tapped in after Doni had blocked the centre-half’s chest down, came too late to fray the home side’s nerves, with Deco’s dismissal for taking a free-kick before the Spanish official had blown his whistle merely rubbing salt into gaping wounds.

The Portuguese, already booked for the first-half foul on Totti, will be absent in Bordeaux with Scolari hoping for the return of Michael Ballack as a replacement. He will wonder how it came to this.

Chelsea remain on top of this group, and a win in France would secure passage into the knockout phase, but this was an unwelcome shock to their system.

THE RESULTS

November 5: AaB Aalborg 2 (Curth 54, Due 81) drew with Villarreal 2 (Rossi 41, Franco 75). Half-time: 0-1; Arsenal 0 drew with Fenerbahce 0; BATE Borisov 0 lost to Zenit St Petersburg 2 (Pogrebniak 34, Danny 90+4). Half-time: 0-1; Celtic 1 (McDonald 13) drew with Manchester United 1 (Giggs 84). Half-time: 1-0; Dynamo Kiev 1 (Milevskiy 21) lost to FC Porto 2 (Rolando 69, Gonzalez 90+2). Half-time: 1-0; Fiorentina 1 (Mutu 10) drew with Bayern Munich 1 (Borowski 78). Half-time: 1-0; Lyon 2 (Juninho 44, Reveillere 89) bt Steaua Bucharest 0. Half-time: 1-0; Real Madrid 0 lost to Juventus 2 (Del Piero 17 & 67). Half-time: 0-1.

November 4: Anorthosis Famagusta 3 (Bardon 31, Panagi 45+1, Frousos 50) drew with Inter Milan 3 (Balotelli 14, Materazzi 45, Cruz 81). Half-time: 2-2; Barcelona 1 (Messi 62) drew with Basle 1 (Derdiyok 83). Half-time: 0-0; CFR Cluj-Napoca 1 (Dani 10) lost to Bordeaux 2 (Gourcuff 6, Wendell 38). Half-time: 1-2; Liverpool 1 (Gerrard pen-90+5) drew with Atletico Madrid 1 (Maxi 37). Half-time: 0-1; Marseille 3 (Kone 30, Niang 63 & 71) bt PSV Eindhoven 0. Half-time: 1-0; Roma 3 (Panucci 34, Vucinic 48 & 58) bt Chelsea 1 (John Terry 75). Half-time: 1-0; Sporting Lisbon 1 (Derlei 73) bt Shakhtar Donetsk 0. Half-time: 0-0; Werder Bremen 0 lost to Panathinaikos 3 (Mantzios 58, Karagounis 70, Tziolis 83). Half-time: 0-0.