Source: Eurosport
Hiddink blasts Blues after defeat
Guus Hiddink criticised his Chelsea players for switching off at White Hart Lane and missing a great chance to close the gap in the title race.Luka Modric's 50th-minute winner for Tottenham meant Hiddink's men failed to take advantage of Manchester United losing at Fulham, with the leaders maintaining their four-point advantage despite defeat at Craven Cottage.Chelsea skipper John Terry forced a stunning save from Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes late on and Alex hit the crossbar in stoppage time, leaving Hiddink to reflect on the poor marking that allowed Modric to strike.Aaron Lennon, with England boss Fabio Capello expected in the stands, cut the ball back from the right flank and Modric struck first time from the edge of the area past Petr Cech.It was Hiddink's first defeat since being appointed as Chelsea boss until the end of the season."When you're chasing you have to win your games but to lose the goal as we did in the 10 minutes after half-time, with so many professionals and internationals, is bad for us," Hiddink said."You have to know, when there is a fire in the kitchen, when to flood that fire."A suspect vehicle left near the stadium meant kick-off was delayed by 30 minutes, so Chelsea started the match knowing United were struggling at Fulham.Michael Essien and Nicolas Anelka forced Gomes into saves but the Brazilian was not tested until Terry's effort.Hiddink added: "We lost a huge opportunity, knowing that United were losing, it was a great chance to really change things. But we missed it due to our start, especially in the second half."We talked about that at half-time, we knew they would come at us from the start and we emphasised that but it was very sloppy defending for their goal."The team finally woke up and we took over. We didn't control it but we couldn't and that was disappointing."Hiddink knows all about Gomes as he brought him to PSV Eindhoven from Brazil."Gomes made one world-class save, and that saved the game, but after that it was over. We had pressure but we were reacting to them," Hiddink said.Spurs boss Harry Redknapp hailed the impact of Modric, who struggled at the start of the season but turned his campaign around following the arrival Redknapp in October."He's special and has amazing ability," Redknapp said."He's not a lightweight either - I thought he was a bit of an Eyal Berkovic but he's physically stronger. He can mix it with the big boys and he's a top-class player."Spurs are three points off seventh place, which could earn a place in Europe."That's 18 points from nine games so we're playing as well as anyone," Redknapp said.Redknapp fielded a weakened team when Spurs crashed out of Europe last month - but the Spurs boss feels it is still worth qualifying despite the added matches."It wasn't that I disrespected the UEFA Cup - we were in a relegation battle and the Carling Cup final," he said."I had to prioritise, if we had been in the top half we would have gone for it."We'll go for it again this season so let's push on and try and get seventh. We need to start looking upwards."[LNB]
