Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink fielded a side designed not to lose rather than win v Stoke yesterday.
If that.
After all, we know that neither Mikel nor Matic is going to create anything – but picking Oscar too?
Surely even the most ardent fan of the shiftless Brazilian must now know he`s done as a Premier League factor?
Not under Hiddink`s control apparently, were injuries to Costa and Kenedy – the presence of either yesterday may have brought a more positive result.
While young Traore scored a beauty, he might have settled the game in the opening minutes after a wonderfully fluid move ripped Stoke apart.
Sadly Traore was not yet 100% on his game as Azpilicueta`s perfect cross came in and instead of volleying home from close range the kid whiffed.
The Diego Costa on current form would surely have made it 1-0 Blues.
I guess we have to take the manager`s word for Costa`s slight tendon injury, though there`s little doubt that if Hiddink felt the Stoke game was absolutely critical, the Brazilian Spaniard would have played.
This point of view frustrated the Chelsea faithful who believed Chelsea were in with a shout for a top four finish.
Sadly, that idea edges closer toward the realm of fantasy after yesterday.
While Pellegrini made no bones about the importance of Champions League over domestic cups with the largely U21 team he fielded against Chelsea, Hiddink`s strategy, while similar, was a touch neither-here-nor-there.
Ok, you sit Costa and play Traore, but why deny the youngster the ammunition provided by Fabregas?
It`s not as if the veteran playmaker is injury prone or runs himself into the ground.
And why not preserve Courtois` confidence after the Norwich game and play Begovic, the one keeper who knows Stoke City better than any other after 160 games at the in the Potteries?
Finally, surely neither Mikel nor Matic have been either so sound or so spectacular that they deserved to keep out Ruben Loftus Cheek?
Once again the rangy youngster came on as a sub, a position that clearly doesn’t favour him: some players – usually smaller more instantly mobile ones like Pedro – are born subs, not RLC.
True to form the big man didn`t get warm and the game largely passed him by.
Baba Rahman typified this clunky, disjointed Chelsea team with another nervy and unconvincing performance as Stoke snatched a point.
Neutral observers felt Chelsea were lucky to salvage a point in the end, to which I say, when you`ve had as much bad luck as we have this season you`re due one whole lot more than we`ve had yet.
Let`s hope we get some on Wednesday in the rubber match against our old enemy from over the water.
The problem is that most of our team will be going into that game less than brimming over with confidence.
There`s great phrase in business which goes like this: “When you want something done, ask a busy man.”
Yes, Pellegrini got the desired reaction in his Champs League game v Kiev, but the chilled Chilean rested every single key player v Chelsea; and Kiev are no PSG.
In a season where the players didn`t begin giving 100% until the second half, resting them shouldn’t have been high on the list of priorities – particularly when direct qualification for next year`s Champs League was still on the table.
Much as Guus Hiddink is paid to take the blame, we all know that no manager is the be-all and end-all at Stamford Bridge or has the last word over anything.
While another rule is that success has many authors while disaster has none, this disastrous season seems to be the exception: there`s no end to the geniuses – on the pitch, in the technical area, in the boardroom – who must take the blame for it.
Guus Hiddink is the least of them.
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