Chelsea uninspiring

Scolari’s men seem neither secure in defence nor incisive in attack at home. They have now won just three of their nine League fixtures at Stamford Bridge, dropping 14 points. By Kevin McCarra.

The Premier League has become a picturesque landscape of fallen fortresses. The ramparts of Stamford Bridge no longer look impregnable. An equaliser here was until recently a down payment on near-certain victory for Chelsea, but Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side soon slipped back into faltering ways after Nicolas Anelka had brought them level. The side has now won just three of their nine League fixtures at home, dropping 14 points.

There is protective cover for this embarrassment since the leaders Liverpool, a point ahead of Chelsea, are getting bogged down at Anfield. The reigning champions Manchester United may not experience this syndrome profoundly, but even they have dropped a couple of points at Old Trafford. It might be valid to speak of a levelling down in the League, but West Ham deserve great praise for rising to match Chelsea.

Having led, they might have lost had the referee Mike Riley detected Lucas Neill’s contact on Frank Lampard, following a pass from the substitute Didier Drogba, in the 88th minute. “There was contact but I don’t think I could have done anything about it,” said the Australian full-back with the sort of explanation normally shunned by an official. It was typical of West Ham’s perseverance, however, that there was further action to take people’s minds off that incident. In stoppage time, the influential Valon Behrami put Carlton Cole through, but Petr Cech reached his lame attempt.

There was an air of reunion about the fixture, with Cole just one of the people returning to his former place of work. There was, naturally, greater attention reserved for the arrival of Gianfranco Zola, coming back to foil Chelsea initiatives rather than inspire them. He has, with alarming speed, accumulated experience of the hazards of management, with doubts already arising over his prospects of keeping the job.

As well as West Ham conducted themselves, there was nothing unduly delicate about the line-up, despite the artistry that was once the essence of the person who selected it. Scott Parker, yet another returnee, was tough and effective. “Had Scotty stayed, he could have broken into our team,” wrote the Chelsea captain John Terry in his programme notes. The defender would have wished those words had not gone on to seem so prescient.

The weekend was troubling for Scolari, who had spent the night in hospital before the match because of kidney stones. “They say it’s more painful than having a baby,” he said, as men are wont to do in this situation. It would undoubtedly be flippant that his team causes him as much suffering, but he is unhappy about his fortunes. “Don’t forget,” he said, “that (I haven’t had) a penalty in this competition. Any other club will have had three, four or five by now. But with my players it’s never a penalty.”

This seemed to be the first sign of paranoia in the Brazilian, but, to his credit, he faulted the display by his players and emphasised that there is labouring ahead on the training ground. To his way of thinking, the attackers had been too static. Scolari suggested that there will be no purchases or sales in January, with the emphasis to be put on improving the displays of those already on the payroll. He might still have got his way, regardless of all that. Rob Green, largely convincing, miscued a punch that would have brought an own goal in the 69th minute, had Parker, on the line, not knocked it onto the crossbar. That could have been a winner for Chelsea, who had levelled slickly after 51 minutes. That equaliser, with its confident one-touch passing, had been redolent of the side’s magisterial away form.

Lampard was at the start of the move and re-entered it, after Mikel John Obi had linked with Drogba to send Anelka through for the leveller. For all that, West Ham had seldom been outclassed. The opener was not a startling development when the readiness to carry the game to Chelsea had been so apparent. After a throw-in, Mark Noble appeared to control with a shoulder and, while opponents screamed for a foul, he set up Craig Bellamy to convert.

Chelsea recovered to a certain extent, but they seem neither secure in defence nor incisive in attack at home. Since the loss to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge they have mustered one win here.

There is something predictable about Scolari’s line-up when it does not enjoy the freedom experienced in away matches, where the onus is on the opposition to take the initiative. That problem might be addressed if Drogba were to be paired with Anelka from kick-off, yet Scolari frets that two outright strikers could be denied possession if Chelsea were thereby undermanned in midfield.

Zola himself had the confidence afterwards to speak not merely of the benefits of meeting clubs who have been taxed by midweek Champions League campaigns but also of “smaller teams who are getting organised and playing more tactically.” West Ham’s showing had given him every right to make that claim.

THE RESULTS

December 14: Chelsea 1 (Anelka 51) drew with West Ham 1 (Bellamy 33). Half-time: 0-1; Portsmouth 0 lost to Newcastle 3 (Owen 52, Martins 77, Guthrie 89). Half-time: 0-0.

December 13: Aston Villa 4 (Agbonlahor 25 & 67, Davies o.g. 40, Young 78) bt Bolton 2 (Elmander 17, Davies 86). Half-time: 2-1; Liverpool 2 (Gerrard 24 & 32) drew with Hull 2 (McShane 12, Carragher o.g. 22). Half-time: 2-2; Manchester City 0 lost to Everton 1 (Cahill 90+2). Half-time: 0-0; Middlesbrough 1 (Aliadiere 29) drew with Arsenal 1 (Adebayor 17). Half-time: 1-1; Stoke 0 drew with Fulham 0; Sunderland 4 (Jones 22 & 24, Reid 40, Cisse pen-47) bt West Brom 0. Half-time: 3-0; Tottenham 0 drew with Manchester United 0; Wigan 3 (Heskey 10, Valencia 12, Cattermole 77) bt Blackburn 0. Half-time: 2-0.

December 8: West Ham 0 lost to Tottenham 2 (King 68, O'Hara 90). Half-time: 0-0.