Chelsea 2 Blackburn Rovers 0: Match report

17 May 2009 19:54
'You can stick your Ancelotti up your…' they sang, in rather a surreal piece of advice to the Russian billionaire about the man he has lined up to succeed Guus Hiddink when he steps down in two weeks time. But then it was quite a surreal afternoon. Hiddink was afforded a guard of honour by the Chelsea players and proceeded to cha-cha down it with 85-year-old Roy Bentley in tow and also did a theatrical bow to the crowd after they chanted 'we want you to stay' to him while they also urged Abramovich to 'sign him up'. But then Abramovich already has and it is to that job, as Russia's coach, that Hiddink must return. He will do so with some regret, and he is becoming more and more open about that, after a spell in charge of Chelsea that has re-energised the club and brought in a feel-good factor that goes beyond just winning. 'He brought us something we lacked,' said man of the match Nicolas Anelka. 'I have many second thoughts, sometimes third thoughts,' Hiddink said when asked whether he had thought again. 'You cannot avoid them. You don't have a button to turn of your feelings, but that's how it is.' So the message is: I wish I could stay but I can't. And Abramovich knows that also. 'I have given my commitment (to Russia) and I have to fulfil that. But that doesn't mean that it's not difficult to leave this atmosphere,' Hiddink said. It sounded like the end of some memorable if inevitably doomed temporary love affair even if Hiddink added, with customary wickedness, that this time last year he didn't imagine being Chelsea manager – so who knows what might be around the corner? His parting advice will be simple. This Chelsea squad is good but, beyond a first-choice of 13 and 14 players there is a lack of strength in depth. Investment is neededbut, for now, and maybe forever, it will not be Hiddink's direct responsibility. Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, in programme notes, said the club hoped to announce a successor 'sooner rather than later'. Ancelotti remains first choice and his post-match comments, after Milan's defeat to Udinese on Saturday, revealed for the first time a chink in his blanket defence of insisting he intended to stay at the San Siro. Next weekend, he said, his future would be determined. Inevitably it meant this match was all a bit of a sideshow – although it developed into an entertaining one with Paul Robinson denying Chelsea a far greater margin of victory even if he was beaten, early on, by Florent Malouda with a powerful header after the winger took advantage of Keith Andrews's obvious lack of comfort at right-back. Robinson was beaten again, in the second-half, by Anelka with a low shot after he was teed up by Didier Drogba. But Robinson pulled off a series of stops – denying Anelka on several occasions, Malouda and Ashley Cole while Frank Lampard's side-footed shot struck the angle of post and cross-bar. Not that, for a while, Blackburn didn't threaten. Ryan Nelsen and Christopher Samba both fluffed headers while the latter showed what he was – a makeshift striker – when volleying woefully wide from Tugay's clever chip. Blackburn also lost both central defenders to injury and the end of the contest couldn't come quickly enough for them, safe from relegation, or their manager Sam Allardyce who dashed through his post-match press conference with the air of man heading on holiday and thankful that he's now at Ewood Park rather than St James's.

Source: Telegraph