Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Stoke 1-1 aet (pens 4-5)



Independent:
More misery for Jose Mourinho as Blues are dumped out of League Cup on penalties

Chelsea 1 Stoke City 1 (aet; Stoke win 5-4 on penalties):
Late Loïc Rémy strike takes game to extra-time, but it's the same old story for the visitors
Ian Herbert Britannia Stadium

There was a time not so long ago when Tony Pulis would resort to scuffing up the centre of the Britannia Stadium pitch in preparation for Jose Mourinho, by getting his players to run on it in long studs on a Friday afternoon. And still Stoke’s players would find Chelsea unplayable. Mourinho’s players would go around the edges to exploit them. They’d lost once to the side in 17 encounters before last night.

It is in that context that the exit from the Capital One Cup should be judged, rather than the mellifluous Mourinho prose, employed in the Britannia Stadium press room after Eden Hazard’s missed penalty had sent his side out and made a hero of the goalkeeper Jack Butland - who, after some ups and downs on his journey through the foothills of football, is beginning to make good on his promise.

The very fact that Mourinho did not blow, but came armed with a winsome smile and his bag of puzzles – suggesting Diego Costa had been hospitalised with a rib injury because he’d “punched himself” – seemed to throw a gloss on the outcome. That, and his side’s excellent first half: a 45 minutes of football as good as any from them all season, written through with confidence, panache and a high attacking line which suggested no fear.

But they could not see it through and the forced smile doesn’t disguise that Mourinho looks ready to blow at any time. There was an awkward moment at the end of the press conference  when Trevor Sinclair, the former England international who was summarising for BBC Radio 5, asked a question and Mourinho, not recognising him, was suspicious. “Who are you?” he asked, though Sinclair’s question had been a dolly about how he “lifted” the players. “Yeh I know,” Mourinho said as Sinclair introduced himself. He proceeded to tell him that because he was “one of the guys who was there” as an ex-player, he might offer some professional instruction to his “colleagues” about how it is more of a crime to play poorly and lose than to “play well and lose” as his side had done.

Those “colleagues” were undoubtedly the Sky Sports pundits for whom Mourinho can currently barely supress his contempt, though his sense of victimhood, where their analysis is concerned, is wholly overblown. Mourinho also conjured a Manuel Pellegrini football philosophy: that the way you play is more important than winning. When what has actually made him a champion, of course, is his cussed resolve to win at all costs, even on a foul, godforsaken Tuesday night in the Potteries when this ground looked like a graveyard for any manager whose job prospects are questioned.

His interpretation of events included emphasis on how – as he told Sinclair - his players “didn’t make mistakes” and had managed to “participate” well. “How many touches?” There was materially less focus on a second half in which they struggled to create, before relying on Loic Remy ‘s 90th minute equaliser to take things into extra time. And how, once there, they had drawn a further blank, despite the dismissal early in extra time of Phil Bardsley - with no complaints - for a second bookable foul.

 That put Chelsea’s players into the lottery of the shoot-out, for which Mark Hughes’ players were mentally and technically very well prepared. Asmir Begovic did not come close to stopping a spot kick before Hazard stepped up for the tenth of the shoot-out and Butland delivered his heroics, raising his hand to dispel Hazard’s kick having seemed to commit himself with a low dive. “He made a couple in the first half when Chelsea were the best team,” said Hughes, so much a subsidiary part of the night’s script that he was in and out of the press room in the time it took him to answer two questions.

Stoke were very much a part of the equation, though. Ryan Shawcross’ contribution on his return from the back trouble which has kept him out all season demonstrated how much he has been missed. The Peter Odemwingie indiscipline which gave Chelsea their redemptive late equaliser was unfortunate because they had looked increasingly confident and untroubled before that.

And then there was the contribution of Jon Walters - the best player of the 90 minutes, running expressively at Mourinho’s back four and employing one of his favoured techniques – spinning around onto the ball from a position with back to goal – to put Stoke ahead. His strike was precise, sending the ball in off the underside of the bar, as Gary Cahill backed off and allowed him the split second to look up and take aim.

That was tough on Chelsea, who deserved to be well head at the interval and the game out of sight, with a strong starting line-up. They thought they had an early advantage when John Terry turned in from Willian, only to be ruled offside: rightly so.  Take your pick of the opportunities Chelsea had created by then. Hazard deconstructed his tag as under-performer-in-chief, spinning away from Charlie Adam in the centre of the pitch and surging up-field before feeding Costa in the inside left channel. The striker pulled the ball across goal from a tight angle and it deflected goalwards off Philipp Wollscheid, with Glenn Whelan making the block on the line.

Mourinho went for broke in the second half, throwing on the midfielder Kenedy for Rahman and going three at the back. But his players’ decision-making and imagination revealed that same struggle to locate the confidence and authority they have misplaced somewhere. Substitute Bertrand Traore’s long range effort, millimetres over was as close as they came.

Progress would have been a bulwark against the sense that everything is unravelling. Instead, an encounter against Jurgen Klopp – the coming man – and Liverpool is only three days away.  ‘I sleep at nights. I feel fantastic,’ Mourinho said, his smile and smooth delivery fooling no-one.

Stoke: Butland, Bardsley, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Muniesa (Wilson 49), Whelan, Adam, Diouf, Afellay (Shaqiri 76), Arnautovic, Walters (Odemwingie 90)

Chelsea: Begovic, Zouma, Cahill, Terry, Rahman (Kenedy 70), Ramires (Traore 80), Mikel, Willian, Oscar, Hazard, Costa (Remy 33)

Man of the match Walters
Match rating 7/10.
Referee K Friend (Leicestershire).
Attendance 24,886.

=====================

Guardian:

Stoke turn screw on José Mourinho with shootout victory over Chelsea
Stoke 1 - 1 Chelsea

Peter Lansley at the Britannia Stadium

It never rains but it pours. A sodden October night in Stoke proved as demoralising for José Mourinho as it sounds as the Capital One Cup holders, having taken this fourth-round tie into extra time thanks to Loïc Rémy’s stoppage-time equaliser, were knocked out of the competition to compound the pressure bearing down on the Chelsea manager.

Jack Butland, who turned down a move to Chelsea in his Birmingham City days, was the hero as he saved the 10th spot-kick from Eden Hazard to cries of “England’s No1” from the ecstatic Stoke fans.
Mourinho’s future remains a matter for conjecture while Chelsea’s fortunes continue to nosedive even though his players, not least Hazard, appeared to play for him with their utmost endeavour.
Rémy, on as a substitute for the injured Diego Costa in the first half, had scored the equaliser. But even with Stoke down to 10 men for the additional 30 minutes after Phil Bardsley’s dismissal for a second caution, they could not make their dominance count, Butland making a crucial save from Kenedy, another substitute, in the 119th minute.

Jonathan Walters had looked as if he was going to be Stoke’s matchwinner after his memorable goal early in the second half but instead the drama was intensified. After six defeats in their previous 14 games this setback, amid all Mourinho’s disciplinary issues, only adds salt to Chelsea’s festering wounds.

Home games against Liverpool, in the Premier League on Saturday, and Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League next Wednesday, will surely decide whether Mourinho’s intention to build a dynasty back at Stamford Bridge still holds water.
Reports that senior Chelsea players consider it a matter of “when rather than if” their manager departs did not affect their play and Mourinho cut a calmer figure on the touchline, waving at the fans who chanted their wholehearted support for him in the first minute and the 90th, and in the post-match press conference.

Frank Lampard, OBE, and Gianfranco Zola added their voices to the luminaries proclaiming that the special one should remain the irreplaceable one.
Alongside the three changes of personnel Mourinho made to the side who, much like himself, had lost their discipline in Saturday’s defeat at West Ham United, Hazard was called in from the flank to play in the No10 position. Oscar replaced Cesc Fàbregas, Mikel John Obi deputised for the suspended Nemanja Matic and Baba Rahman replaced César Azpilicueta.

Chelsea’s attacking players seemed to take turns to go down and before half-time Costa had to be withdrawn, apparently winded after being sandwiched by Ryan Shawcross and Charlie Adam. Stoke may be more refined in their approach these days, and had won four successive games before Saturday’s surprising home defeat by Watford, but they remain unafraid to mix it.
Stoke were indebted to Butland for saves from Costa, a deft flick at the near post in the fifth minute from Willian’s right-wing cross, and Oscar’s clipped shot from the edge of the penalty area. From Costa’s cross the ball ricocheted off Philipp Wollscheid for Glenn Whelan to clear from the line.
Ramires should have done better than to shoot into the side-netting after rounding Butland when running on to Rahman’s through-pass following great build-up play from Hazard.

“The first half, we should be three- or four-nil up,” Mourinho said, “we were playing so well, creating so many chances. So it’s really frustrating to get to half-time 0-0 and then that Stoke score with the first shot of the second half.”
Walters’ ability to hold the ball up is pivotal to much of Stoke’s best play and he had been integral to their best moments in the first half, setting up Marc Muniesa for an overhead kick and spinning on to Mame Diouf’s cross only for Asmir Begovic, who left the Britannia Stadium for £8m in the summer, to save.

Sure enough it was the Ireland centre-forward who gave Stoke the lead seven minutes after the restart. Quite what Chelsea’s central defenders were doing standing off him as he received the ball after a penetrating run from Whelan is unclear, but Walters took full advantage of the freedom by teeing the ball up, turning and hammering in a shot off the underside of the crossbar.
Chelsea dominated possession from thereon and from Willian’s quick free-kick Kurt Zouma shot against the outside of the post. But it looked as if Stoke had survived until Rémy popped up at the back post as Zouma headed on Willian’s corner to score. Stoke, however, refused to wilt. “I’m delighted to go through,” Mark Hughes, the Stoke manager and a former Chelsea player, said. “We showed a lot of courage and determination.”

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Telegraph:

Stoke City 1 Chelsea 1 (Stoke wins 5-4 on penalties)

More misery for Mourinho as Hazard fluffs lines
Eden Hazard's penalty shoot-out miss sends holders crashing out at Britannia Stadium
More misery for Jose Mourinho

By  Sam Wallace, Chief Football Writer, Britannia Stadium

The consolation for Jose Mourinho is that the spirit of his title-winning Chelsea team of 2014-2015 is still there – flickering, indistinct and wholly unreliable – but it exists nonetheless and it took a Capital One Cup fourth-round defeat on penalties at Stoke City for it to show itself again.
Whether it is enough to save the Chelsea manager in the long term is another question altogether, especially with his team out of a competition they won last season, but the Mourinho who presented himself on Tuesday night was talking up his players, not bemoaning his bad luck. Chelsea scored a 91st-minute equaliser that took the tie into extra-time and they really should have won it before failing on the last of their five penalties.

It was Eden Hazard who was the last penalty taker of 10 between the two teams and whose shot was saved by Jack Butland to give 10-man Stoke victory. Hazard had been his side’s outstanding player in the frantic hunt for the equaliser to Stoke’s second-half goal which eventually came from substitute Loïc Rémy in the 91st minute when other teams might have given up.

Where does it leave Mourinho? His team are out of a competition he has won three times in six seasons in English football but the bigger picture is that ahead of that crucial game against Liverpool on Saturday he might just have something to work with. It came at a cost: Chelsea lost Diego Costa to injury in the first half, and in spite of Jonathan Walters’s 52nd-minute goal, the Chelsea players looked throughout like they were playing for their manager.

Afterwards, Mourinho was back on the offensive, attacking the suggestion that his players have given up on him.
“You think they didn’t give me everything to win that game?” he asked. “It [the suggestion his players have given up on him] is not sad for me, it’s sad for my players. For me it would be a fantastic situation. If the players were against me I could say ‘We don’t get results because the players are against me’.”

He gave every impression that he had no worries about his future at the club, or at least if he did it was not something that was troubling him.
“I have a day off tomorrow, I can sleep well,” he said. “I am going to enjoy my day and then back on Thursday, one more day like I have had in the last 15 years of my life.”
The game’s best player was Hazard, whose first-half performance alone should have been enough to give Chelsea a lead by half-time. Cesc Fabregas was out with injury and his team did not miss him. John Obi Mikel came into defensive midfield alongside Ramires and, once again, Willian was superb.

Their problem was scoring goals and once Costa had gone off the pitch injured that only became more acute.
For Mark Hughes it was a famous triumph with his Stoke team playing extra-time without the full-back Phil Bardsley, sent off at the end of the 90 minutes.
They had their own injury worries too, with Marc Muniesa obliged to come off, and at times they rode their luck although no one could question their determination to win the tie and their five penalties were immaculate.
For Mourinho, his terrible record in penalty shoot-outs continues: including the 2007 Champions League semi-final with Chelsea when they lost to Liverpool, and the 2012 defeat for Real Madrid at the same stage of the same competition against Bayern Munich.

This time it was Hazard missing from the spot while in the past it has been the likes of Arjen Robben and then, at Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka.
No Ronaldo or Kaka in the Potteries but a splendid cup tie which Chelsea began strongly. On 11 minutes Hazard found Costa on the left and his cross came off Philipp Wollscheid – it was going in until Glenn Whelan got in the way. Later Hazard played in Baba Rahman who clipped a pass through Stoke’s defensive line for Ramires. The Brazilian midfielder went past Asmir Begovic but was running out of pitch when he turned and hit the sidenetting with his shot.
Costa’s injury had come when he challenged Butland for a cross from the right, and – when the bodies cleared – the Spain international picked himself up clutching his right side. He went over to the bench immediately to tell them of his discomfort and despite their best efforts he came off shortly afterwards to be replaced by Rémy.

Later he was sent to hospital and when asked what happened, Mourinho said cryptically that the striker had “punched himself”.
There was one very poor challenge from Charlie Adam on Willian in the second half that went unpunished which may have been part of what had upset the Chelsea manager, but he was not for expanding on it.
In the meantime, Chelsea’s grip on the game slipped and by the end of the first half Stoke were back in it.

Stoke’s goal came on 52 minutes with Glenn Whelan held off Ramires and picked out Walters on the edge of the area. The striker had a bit of bounce in the ball as he turned on the edge of the area and, with Gary Cahill standing off him, was able to hit a half-volley, clean and true, past Begovic.
Mourinho’s team chased the game and, as injury-time was announced, a corner broke for Rémy in the box and he beat Butland from close range.
Even with Bardsley off, Chelsea could not find a way through and in the penalty shoot-out it was left to Butland to deny Hazard and put Stoke in the quarter-finals. There have been worse defeats for Mourinho, and he will cling to the hope that this one gave him.

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Mail:

Stoke City 1-1 Chelsea (AET, 5-4 on pens):
Eden Hazard misses crucial final penalty in shootout as Jose Mourinho's side crash out of Capital One Cup to heap more misery on Portuguese boss

By Matt Lawton for the Daily Mail 

It remains to be seen if a game that was settled when the penalty shootout reached the sudden-death stage proves to be terminal for Jose Mourinho.
But this amounted to another crushing defeat for Chelsea’s beleaguered manager. One made all the more painful by his side’s failure to take advantage of an extra man for 30 extra time minutes as well as the sight of Eden Hazard, already a source of some frustration this season, executing the one spot-kick Jack Butland was able to save for Stoke.
The chances are Mourinho will limp on. At least until Saturday’s encounter with Liverpool. But surviving 120 minutes without getting himself in any more trouble might not be enough to keep him in a job too much longer when this is now nine defeats in a season that descends deeper into despair for the English champions.

In fairness to Chelsea, they actually played reasonably well for large spells of this game. Until Jon Walters opened the scoring with a stunning 52nd minute volley they were much the better side.
But the spirit they did display, not least in scoring their equaliser through Loic Remy a minute into second-half stoppage time, amounted to nothing in the end.
Mourinho seemed to endure a whole kaleidoscope of emotions. Indeed to watch him was to see a man who appeared to be moving through the different phases of professional recovery until that final, crushing blow.

For the opening 45 minutes he wore the look of someone who wanted to be anywhere else but here.
Motivated, perhaps, by a desire to avoid any further controversy, he failed to engage his own players never mind a match official. He was actually a little weird, glued to his seat, as motionless as he was emotionless.

Only when Walters put Stoke ahead did Mourinho even enter the technical area. But the goal was like a poke of the fire that continues to burn deep inside him; some kind of awakening.
He made a bold tactical move, switching to a back three with Kenedy sent on as a replacement for Baba Rahman, and remained on his feet for the remainder of the first half; steering clear of the referee and his assistants but guiding his players from the touchline, an altogether more animated figure.

Even then, however, he endured an agonising wait, the equaliser that took this fourth round tie into extra time not arriving until the initial 90 minutes were up.
Remy’s equaliser, struck from close range after he seized on Kurt Zouma’s flick-on from a corner, seemed to revive Mourinho further still. As did the sight of Phil Bardsley being dismissed for a second yellow card for what was a rash challenge on Kenedy.

Suddenly Mourinho had a further 30 minutes as Chelsea’s manager with a one-man advantage. Suddenly he could smell victory when he must have suspected this might be the last act of his second term at Stamford Bridge.
And he no doubt communicated as much when he called his players into a huddle and told them to go win this game.

That they failed to make it count is sure to be held against him, even if an independent observer might have noted how well Hazard and a number of other Chelsea players actually played. 
Here, at least, they did not give the impression that their manager had lost the dressing room. They were committed even if they were not the clinical unit that won both this competition and the Premier League title last season.

The supporters, here in their thousands, seemed to be firmly behind Mourinho too. In both halves they sang his name, even if that is likely to have little impact on Roman Abramovich as he contemplates the possibility of firing the Portuguese for a second time.
On Tuesday night the team he so expensively assembled certainly started well. They played with real confidence on the ball. Their movement and passing was excellent.
And in Diego Costa they seemed to have a real threat until injury forced him to come off in the 33rd minute.
Chelsea had the better of the chances, forcing Butland to make some fine saves. In fact not until Walters tested Asmir Begovic moments before the break was Chelsea’s former Stoke goalkeeper really troubled.
Begovic, however, had no response to Walters’ breathtaking strike seven minutes into the second half; a marvellous volley hit on the turn after receiving a pass from Glenn Whelan with his back to goal.

Mourinho’s response was bold, the tactical switch paying off. Zouma had already sent one effort against a post when Remy struck to send the game into extra time with Stoke now down to 10 men.
Perhaps inevitably, Chelsea were unable to make the advantage pay. And perhaps inevitably the luck was not going to be with Mourinho in this most difficult of campaigns.
The penalties, it has to be said, were top drawer. Well the first nine were anyway, with Hazard knowing he had to score to make it five apiece.
But the finest player in the Premier League last season could not deliver, shooting close enough to Butland for him to make the save and so leave the pressure resting ever heavier on Mourinho’s shoulders.

Chelsea have lost all five of their penalty shootouts under Jose Mourinho, while Stoke have won each of their last five. Stoke have also eliminated the Blues every time they have faced them in the League Cup, winning five ties including the 1972 final at Wembley when George Eastham fired home to land the trophy 2-1.

Stoke (4-2-3-1): Butland 7, Bardsley 5.5, Shawcross 6.5, Wollscheid 6, Muniesa 7 (Wilson 49 6), Whelan 6, Adam 6.5, Diouf 5.5, Afellay 5 (Shaqiri 76), Arnautovic 5, Walters 8 (Odemwingie 90)
Subs not used: Ireland, Sidwell, Given, Crouch
Booked: Bardsley, Wilson
Sent off: Bardsley
Goals: Walters 52
Manager: Mark Hughes 7

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Begovic 6.5, Zouma 6, Cahill 6, Terry 5.5, Baba 6 (Kenedy 67 6), Ramires 6.5 (Traore 80), Mikel 6, Willian 7, Oscar 6.5, Hazard 7.5, Costa 5.5 (Remy 33 6.5)
Subs not used: Djilobodji, Azpilicueta, Amelia, Loftus-Cheek
Booked: Baba
Goals: Remy 90
Manager: Jose Mourinho 7
Referee: Kevin Friend 7
Att: 24,886
Star Man: Walters

*Player ratings by Chris Wheeler at the Britannia Stadium

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Mirror:

Stoke 1-1 Chelsea AET (pens: 5-4):
More misery for Jose Mourinho as Blues lose penalty shootout

By Adrian Kajumba
 
Loic Remy forced extra-time with a late equaliser but Eden Hazard's miss from 12 yards condemned the Blues to defeat

Jose Mourinho’s agony continued last night when Chelsea crashed out of the Capital One Cup on ­penalties.
Jack Butland was the hero for Stoke, brilliantly saving Eden Hazard’s spot-kick after City had played all of extra-time with 10 men following Phil Bardsley’s dismissal deep into injury time.
Cesc Fabregas, hooked at half-time at West Ham, was the big absentee from Chelsea’s squad and replaced by Oscar.
Better late than never some Blues fans might have said after his poor start to the season.
Mourinho took few risks in the latest game he could not afford to lose, with Baba Rahman replacing the benched Cesar Azpilicueta at left-back and Jon Obi Mikel in for the suspended Nemanja Matic.
Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross, fit again after back surgery, made his first appearance of the season and was one of six new faces in the side.

For all the changes Mark Hughes has made to Stoke, their ability to give the big boys a bloody nose remains.
And the locals smelt blood, greeting Mourino’s first ­appearance in the technical area with “sacked in the morning” chants.
By then, though, Stoke should have been behind. The Chelsea players may have been bracing themselves for Mourinho’s exit, but they are still playing for him.
If anyone had grounds to sulk it was Hazard, dropped and singled out by Mourinho recently.
Yet he more than anyone took the fight to Stoke early on.
Hazard was involved as Diego Costa went close twice, Glenn Whelan deserving credit for getting back just in time to hack his second effort off the line.

At the other end, Gary Cahill was putting his body on the line for the cause too, taking a bullet shot from Charlie Adam to the head and a few seconds to gather his senses after he was knocked to the floor. Costa, Hazard and Mikel were also in the wars. Costa had to be replaced by Loic Remy after failing to shake off the effects of being buffeted by Charlie Adam.
Marc Muniesa then looped an overhead kick onto the roof of the net from Stoke’s next real chance before Ramires found the side-netting after rounding Butland.
And either side of John Terry having a back-heel goal ruled out for offside, Asmir Begovic gave Stoke two reminders of what they are missing.

On his return to the Britannia, the former Stoke keeper got down sharply to keep out Adam’s cheeky low free-kick from a tight angle and then smother at the feet of Jon Walters. But Walters gave Begovic no chance in the 51st minute when he collected Whelan’s pass, spun and hammered a half-volley into the net off the bar.
That lifted the roof of the Britannia and brought a stern-faced Mourinho to the ­touchline.

Delirious Stoke fans were set to taunt him further, but were silenced within the first 60 seconds of the four minutes of injury time to play when Remy slammed in a corner from close range to take the tie to extra-time.
And there was still time for Bardsley to pick up a second yellow card as the game turned on its head and leave the Potters having to play the additional 30 minutes with 10 men.
But they held on to take the game to penalties and with the shoot-out score 4-4, Hazard stepped up only to see his shot superbly saved by Butland to book Stoke’s place in the quarter-finals.

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Express :

Stoke 1 - Chelsea 1 (1-1 AET Stoke win 5-4 on pens): Jose Mourinho's misery continues

JOSE MOURINO’S position at Chelsea is looking even more bleak this morning after a determined Stoke knocked out the holders following a thrilling penalty shoot-out.

By Graham Reed

Loic Remy blasted home an equaliser in the 90th minute to give the beleaguered manager a valuable lifeline by taking the game into extra-time.
But Stoke keeper Jack Butland was the hero of the hour when he saved Eden Hazard’s high penalty shot to send the delighted home side through to the quarter-finals.

Butland had earlier pulled off several excellent saves in extra-time as Stoke were forced to withstand an onslaught after being reduced to 10 men when Phil Bardsley was dismissed for a second bookable offence at the end of normal time.
It seemed as though Chelsea – and their manager – would be on their way out in normal time following a blistering 52nd-minute goal from Stoke’s Jon Waters.
Mourinho cut a lonely figure rooted in his technical area after that strike, enduring cruel chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” from delirious home fans.
The prospect of Mourinho walking out or being shoved towards the door now seems distinctly real.
Yet up to that point, Mourinho’s men had given him plenty of cause of optimism with a spirited display.

The Special One’s weekend meltdown during the defeat at West Ham left him facing a touchline ban after he confronted referee Jon Moss. The irony of having a referee called Kevin Friend last night surely could not have been lost on Mourinho.
He is not short of friends despite what he might think, though he was subjected to humorous chants of “You’re not ‘Special’ anymore!” as well as the taunts about the sack.
He was not without allies out on the pitch, where Hazard played like a man with a point to prove before that fateful penalty kick, while Oscar showed sublime skills early on.
Mourinho certainly wasn’t taking any liberties. The holders showed only three changes from the side which went down 2-1 to West Ham. No place for Cesc Fabregas, Cesar Azpilicueta had to settle for the bench, while Nemanja Matic is suspended.

Stoke welcomed back Ryan Shawcross for his first appearance of the season after recovering from back surgery.
And he showed he had lost none of his old combative spirit, whacking Hazard in the chest and flooring the Belgian.
Diego Costa lasted half an hour before having to go off with a rib injury sustained after Charlie Adam ran into him.
Through it all, Mourinho remained calm though he could not help but scramble from the dugout when Bardsley sent Costa flying with a hefty challenge and was booked.

But he saw his men continued their lively start, and only Butland’s legs stopped Oscar’s flick from giving them the lead. Glenn Whelan had to clear a Costa effort off the line and Butland denied Oscar but Stoke’s Marc Muniesa was unlucky with an overhead kick that dropped on the top of Asmir Begovic’s net.
Chelsea were floored by Walters’ stunner. He turned sharply before sending a dipping drive over Begovic and in off the bar.
But Chelsea were not to be denied and their pressure paid off when Remy rifled in a left-footed shot following a corner to take the tie into extra-time.
Chelsea pressed hard for the winner but Butland stood defiant before his shoot-out heroics piled yet more pressure on Mourinho.

STOKE: (4-2-3-1): Butland; Bardsley, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Muniesa (Wilson 49); Whelan, Affelay (Shaqiri); Walters (Odemwingie 90), Adam, Arnautovic; Diouf. Sent off: Bardsley.
Booked: Wilson.
Goal: Walters 52.
Next up: Newcastle (a), Sat PL.

CHELSEA: (4-2-3-1): Begovic; Zouma, Cahill, Terry, Baba (Kenedy 70); Ramires (Traore 80), Mikel; Wil- lian, Oscar, Hazard; Costa (Remi 33).
Booked: Baba.
Goal: Remi 90.
Next up: Liverpool (h), Sat PL.
Referee: K Friend (Leics).

===================

Star:

Stoke 1 Chelsea 1 (PENS 5-4 ): Misery for Mourinho as Hazard penalty miss costs Blues
EDEN HAZARD missed the crucial last penalty to send Chelsea crashing out.

By Jamie Anderson
    
Jack Butland pulled out a brilliant stop to pile the pressure on Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.
Loic Remy had rescued Mourinho from even more embarrassment with a stunning equaliser a minute into stoppage time.
Chelsea looked dead and buried and even bigger shadows suddenly hung over Mourinho when sub Remy sent a stinging shot into the roof of the net to level out Jon Walters' 52nd minute goal for Stoke.
And when Stoke's Phil Bardsley was sent off for a second yellow a minute after Remy's strike, the home side faced an extra 30 minutes a man down.
Chelsea had good reason to fancy they had turned the tide and their boss cajoled them from the touchline only to see them frustrated in their frantic efforts to seal victory.

Not too long before he had cut a lonely figure rooted in his technical area enduring cruel chants of "You're getting sacked in the morning."
Walters goal had put even more question marks of how long the Special One will stick it out.
Suddenly the prospect of Mourinho walking out or being shoved towards the door seems distinctly real.
Walters stunned Chelsea with his 52nd minute sizzler which flew in off the underside of the bar to break the deadlock.
To be fair up to that point, Mourinho's men had given him plenty of cause of optimism with a pretty spirited display.

He certainly needed it as speculation mounts that he could be on his way.
His weekend meltdown at West Ham leaves him staring a touchline ban in the face after confronting referee Jon Moss and his increasingly troublesome behaviour is setting the alarm bells ringing.
The irony of having a referee called Friend surely couldn't have been lost on Mourinho.
Leicester official Kevin Friend was the man given the unenviable task of being next to get caught up in Hurricane Jose ­but it proved to be little more than a gentle breeze.
The Chelsea boss remained calm throughout, though there was more than the odd occasion when things might just have got a little testy for him.

He's not short of friends despite what he might think, though he was subjected to humorous chants of "You're not Special anymore!" from the home supporters.
He certainly didn't look without allies out on the pitch where Eden Hazard played like a man with a point to prove -­ which he is.
Mourinho certainly wasn't taking any liberties with his line-up, choosing to go strong in a competition in which he's enjoyed plenty of success.
No place at all for Cesc Fabregas, Cesar Azpilicueta had to settle for a place on the bench while Nemanja Matic is suspended.
Stoke welcomed back Ryan Shawcross for his first appearance of the season after recovering from back surgery.

Diego Costa lasted half an hour before having to go off with a rib injury sustained when the robust Charlie Adam run into him.
Through it all, Mourinho remained calm though he couldn't help but scramble from the dugout when Phil Bardsley sent Costa flying with a hefty challenge.
Out came Mourinho to protest but he seemed happy with the ref's decision to book the Stoke man. How costly that proved in stoppage time when the defender was sent off for another foul, ­this time on Kenedy.
Stoke did threaten and Marc Muniesa was unlucky with a brilliant overhead kick which just cleared the bar and dropped onto the top of Asmir Begovic's net.

And the former Stoke keeper did well to pull out a brilliant close range block to keep out Jon Walters' shot on the turn.
Chelsea were probably worth the lead when they were floored by Walters' stunning shot from the edge of the box.
He turned sharply before sending a dipping drive over Begovic and in off the underside of the bar.
But then came the twist ­ Remy equalising in the first of four added on minutes and Stoke going down to ten men a minute later.


Sunday, October 25, 2015

West Ham 1-2



Independent:
Andy Carroll gives Hammers win over 10-man Blues after Jose Mourinho sent to the stands
West Ham United 2 Chelsea 1
Miguel Delaney Upton Park

Another Chelsea defeat, more chaos engulfing the club and that one big question that looms ever greater. Jose Mourinho refused to answer any questions, or  speak to the media  at all, after being sent off for a half-time incident, but the details of this deserved West Ham United win almost said enough.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich wants to give Mourinho time to turn this around  but that stance will not just be tested by a fourth League loss of the season, after Andy Carroll powered in a late winner. There was also the farcical nature of the performance, as the champions were so aggressive in their reactions to the referee Jonathan Moss’s decisions, but so meek in trying to attack.

The match ended with Nemanja Matic sent off for two bookings, Mourinho and his assistant Silvino Louro following the Serbian down the tunnel, and a further four Chelsea players booked due to so many remonstrations. Amid all of that, there was the most borderline goal decision that the game will see, as Kurt Zouma was denied a goal by millimetres. That proved key.
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic jokingly asked how many incidents there were in the game, and offered some sympathy to Mourinho. “I would definitely moan if it was against us,” Bilic said, “but they weren’t mistakes.” He added: “I feel for Mourinho. A lot of decisions from his point of view have gone against him.” It all added up, however, to what the Croatian described as a “brilliant win”. Chelsea felt anything but brilliant. Gary Cahill said they were “devastated”.
It is often said how cruelly thin the margins can be at this level, but it is rarely so literal. Chelsea had been building after Mauro Zarate’s opening goal for West Ham, until Zouma powered a header at goal. Goal decision technology dictated that not all of the ball had crossed the line, although it looked like more than 90 per cent of it had, and thereafter: total meltdown.

West Ham had been good value for their lead, with Dimitri Payet constantly causing problems. It was his corner that brought the opening goal after 17 minutes. Diego Costa fluffed the clearance but there was no such hesitation from Zarate, as he thrashed the ball past Asmir Begovic.
Chelsea did respond well, with Costa and Willian looking dangerous. Zouma thought he had scored, and Cesc Fabregas had the ball in the net, only to be ruled offside. It was not the only decision to go against Chelsea in a remarkable 10-minute spell. Matic had been booked|for cynically taking down Cheikhou Kouyaté in the counter-attack that came straight from Zouma’s header, and then subjected Diafra Sakho to a similar challenge down the right.

The West Ham players surrounded the referee and, after some deliberation, the official produced a second yellow for Matic. He then had to produce another two cards in quick succession as, once the decision was made, it was Chelsea’s turn to surround the referee. Moss was in no mood to indulge it, and put John Terry in the book, followed by Fabregas. The recriminations, and dismissals, were not finished there, as Louro remonstrated with the fourth official and was ordered off. Throughout all of this, Mourinho stood looking incredulous on the touchline, occasionally adding a sarcastic clap.
It seems he was much more abrasive in the tunnel, as the Portuguese was also sent off, with speculation that he had attempted to enter the referee’s room. Either way, he watched the second half from the directors’ box. The irony was that Chelsea were fortunate to be just  1-0 down. Just before all the chaos began, Manuel Lanzini should have scored, only to chip the ball over Begovic rather than finish.
Chelsea made West Ham pay for that 10 minutes into the second half.  They made the decision to bring off the under-performing Fabregas for John Obi Mikel, and he did temporarily steady the team. After 56 minutes, Chelsea won a corner, from which Cahill powered an equaliser past Adrian.
There was still too much anxiety about Chelsea, too much panic every time West Ham got close. Too many clearances were hacked away, and Begovic was forced into whacking the ball out for a corner under pressure. That told. After 79 minutes, Aaron Cresswell hooked a cross over for substitute Carroll, who easily headed it home. Chelsea’s reaction was meek. Mourinho was left stony-faced in the stands. The wonder now is what Abramovich’s reaction  will be.

West Ham (4-5-1): Adrian; Jenkinson, Tomkins, Collins, Cresswell; Noble (Ogbonna, 90), Kouyaté, Payet, Lanzini (Obiang, 81), Zarate (Carroll, 68); Sakho

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Begovic; Zouma, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta (Baba, 86); Ramires (Falcao, 82), Matic; Willian, Fabregas (Mikel, 45), Hazard; Costa

Referee: Jonathan Moss
Man of the match: Kouyaté (West Ham)
Match rating: 7/10

=================

Observer:

Andy Carroll scores West Ham’s winner to heap pressure on Chelsea
West Ham 2 - 1 Chelsea
Paul Doyle at Upton Park

West Ham deserved to win. It is worth highlighting that fact lest it be obscured by the fallout to Chelsea’s disciplinary meltdown.
The champions had Nemanja Matic sent off in the first half, two players booked for protesting against that decision, their assistant first-team coach, Silvino Louro, dismissed for haranguing the fourth official and José Mourinho banished to the stands at half-time.
The Portuguese manager has recently taken to describing referees, whose performances displease him, as “weak and naive” – pointedly borrowing the term from Arsène Wenger – but this was a demonstration of strength by referee Jonathan Moss, who was not prepared to let Chelsea personnel tell him how to do his job. Chelsea did not do their own job as well as champions should. Defensively it is they who have been weak and naive this season. There were suggestions before this match that they were improving on that front – two consecutive clean sheets served as evidence – but West Ham ran a serious stress test and Chelsea failed it.
Even amid a cagey opening there were signs that betrayed the principles that Mourinho teams have traditionally applied, with Cesc Fàbregas, deployed in an advanced midfield role, acting as the sort of luxury player that the Portuguese has never tolerated.
The Spaniard seemed sluggish at the start and his unconvincing tackle on Dimitri Payet in the 16th minute led to the home side’s opening goal. The Frenchman took the resultant 25-yard free-kick himself. He had fired over the bar from a similar distance earlier but this effort was more accurate and forced Asmir Begovic to improvise a save, the goalkeeper tipping the ball over the bar to concede a corner. Payet delivered the set piece and Diego Costa, one of Chelsea’s most energetic performers, botched an attempted clearance, allowing the ball to bobble out to the edge of the area, where Mauro Zárate arrived to lash a splendid low shot into the net.

“You’re getting sacked in the morning!” crowed the home fans as Mourinho fumed in the dugout. The visiting manager knew that his team would now have to pierce hosts who could afford to play as they had when achieving memorable victories away to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City this season. It was a while before Chelsea looked like rising to that task but eventually they did summon more intensity and creativity.
Kurt Zouma came within millimetres of equalising from a corner but Manuel Lanzini scrambled the right-back’s close-ranger header off the line.
The home side remained dangerous on the counterattack. Begovic blocked a James Collins header in the 36th minute. Moments later, Lanzini should have doubled the home side’s lead after being put through courtesy of a beautiful flick by Payet. Lanzini clipped the ball over the advancing Begovic but it flew over the bar, too.
Costa put a proper clearance on a West Ham corner in the 44th minute and it led to a wonderful counterattacking chance, with four Chelsea players racing towards two West Ham defenders. Willian slipped a pass through to Fàbregas, who cracked a low shot into the net – but the Spaniard was ruled to have been offside. Within a minute Chelsea lost a player and the plot.
Matic, on a booking for a previous foul on Lanzini, was adjudged to have tripped Diafra Sakho and was shown a second yellow by Moss. The visitors surrounded the official to vent their anger. That, at least, was like the old Chelsea.
Moss showed two of the offenders, Fàbregas and John Terry, yellow cards and then sent Louro to the stands for berating the fourth official. Mourinho watched the second half from the directors’ box, having been ordered not to return to the sidelines.

A man down on the pitch and two down in the dugout, Chelsea faced a stern character test now, on top of their footballing trial. Their initial response was decent. With Mikel John Obi introduced for Fàbregas during the break the visitors got a grip on the game despite their numerical disadvantage. Eleven minutes into the second period they drew level, Gary Cahill whacking a bouncing ball into the net from close range after Zouma flicked on a corner.
West Ham battled to regain the upper hand. Payet was a constant menace, probing and conniving relentlessly. But with Mikel joining Ramires in protecting the back four, Chelsea defended well.
Mourinho’s men retained their ambition to attack when they could. Ramires should have made Adrian work in the 77th minute after being teed up by Eden Hazard, but the Brazilian miskicked from 16 yards.
That proved costly, as two minutes later, Slaven Bilic’s decision to spring Andy Carroll from the bench paid off. The striker leapt to meet a fine cross from the left by Aaron Cresswell and sent a powerful header into the net from 10 yards.
Chelsea’s fifth league defeat of the season was complete, their problems nowhere near over.

====================

Telegraph:

West Ham 2 Chelsea 1
Jose Mourinho and Nemanja Matic red carded as Andy Carroll scores winner
This fifth defeat of the Premier League season might just be the most damaging of them all

By  Sam Wallace

“A lonely guy” was how Jose Mourinho described his life last week at the glittering, elite-end of football managing some of the biggest clubs in the world, and you get the impression that it does not get any lonelier than standing at the back of the West Ham United directors’ box watching your champions crumble yet again.

The fifth league defeat of the season for Chelsea and the screw is turning on Mourinho in the third season of his ­second spell at the club, when ever more the question is not whether the Premier League champions can compete to defend their title but just how long their manager can survive.

Sent off at half-time and forced to watch the game from the directors’ box, Mourinho ignored all post-match interview requests to get straight on the team bus afterwards, giving the afternoon more than just a whiff of impending catastrophe. The meltdown had begun with a 43rd-minute red card for Nemanja Matic, then another for coach Silvino Louro, and once again Chelsea fell apart under pressure.

There was no immediate mood around the club to dispatch the most successful manager in their history, although as Mourinho’s side face Stoke City away in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday, and then Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool on Saturday, you do have to wonder when this will change. ­Mourinho’s team are utterly beleaguered. He has dropped, admonished, cajoled and prematurely substituted them and nothing is working.

The suspicion is that he will blame the referee Jon Moss for this latest ­defeat, although he need look no further than the inexplicable decision by Matic to bundle over Cheikhou ­Kouyate by the touchline two minutes before half-time when he was already on a booking. The suggestion is that Mourinho then confronted Moss at half-time and was invited to enter the referee’s room where he was sent to the stands, watching at the back of the directors’ box.

If yet another Football Association charge is on its way for Mourinho then this is getting tiresome. He already has a suspended fine and stadium ban hanging over him for his remarks about referee Bobby Madeley after the Southampton defeat. Mourinho at war with the world is fine when he is ­winning but it the sympathy runs dry when they are 15th in the table after 10 games.
The club’s statement in support of Mourinho was issued on 5 October after the Southampton game, and since then they have won against Aston Villa, drawn with Dynamo Kiev and now lost to West Ham. It is not exactly the sharp upturn in fortunes – “the team’s performances must improve” as the club said – that was anticipated in that statement.

Amid the chaos and the three red cards, Cesc Fabregas was also substituted at half-time, a surprise given that at that point Chelsea were a goal down and a man light. Fabregas has been one of the senior players to have been spared the wrath of his manager so far and while he was on a booking it was curious to see him replaced by John Obi Mikel – not your obvious choice of a midfielder for a side badly in need of a goal.
It was easy to overlook West Ham’s achievement in the midst of all this, with a first goal from Andy Carroll this season winning the game for them.

At full-time they were up to second in the table with Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and now Chelsea all having fallen to Slaven Bilic’s team who played with a confidence that Chelsea lacked. “I feel for him,” Bilic said, talking about Mourinho afterwards. “A lot of decisions from his point of view have gone against Chelsea.”
Bilic said the second of Matic’s yellow cards was a matter of opinion that could have gone either way. So too a disallowed goal for Fabregas in the first half which was a very marginal offside.

Mourinho will also have cursed his luck with a very close goal decision system call that ruled all but a fraction of the ball had not crossed the line
from Kurt Zouma’s header – but there can be no arguing with the technology. The first West Ham goal came on 17 minutes when Diego Costa and Ramires failed to clear the ball from Dmitri Payet’s cross and it dropped at the back post to Mauro Zarate who dispatched it sharply past Asmir Begovic.

They got their equaliser 10 minutes after half-time when Zouma challenged for a Willian corner and the ball dropped for Gary Cahill to strike a quick, clean half-volley past Adrian. In the end, West Ham made good use of their advantage, when Carroll met a cross from Aaron Cresswell to score.
Begovic had come for the ball and then stopped and Carroll saw his chance.
There was hardly a Chelsea official left on the bench to argue with Moss come the end.

=================

Mail:

West Ham 2-1 Chelsea: Andy Carroll scores winner as Jose Mourinho is sent to the stands after Nemanja Matic red card
By Rob Draper for The Mail on Sunday 

Where once there was structure and order to Chelsea, now there is simply rank indiscipline.
At Upton Park, for the last time, they were added to West Ham’s victims. Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City have all fallen to Slaven Bilic’s men; now Jose Mourinho’s team.
Yet Mourinho lost more than the match on Saturday. Dignity was also sacrificed amidst a chaotic breakdown of order which saw six players booked, one sent off and Mourinho and his assistant Silvino Louro also dismissed.
And whilst they can claim a degree of bad luck - they had one effort ruled out by the tiniest margin on the goal-line review and another wrongly disallowed for offside - they were principally the authors of their own misfortune.
The management and players simply emotionally fell apart when Nemanja Matic was correctly sent off just before half time.
The fact that Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas managed to get themselves booked in the ensuing argument indicated a team without self control.
Yet when assistant coach Louro came racing from the bench a minute later, to berate fourth official Andy Woolmer for a missed offside and also received a red card, the sense of the team being in the verge of a nervous breakdown was merely exacerbated.

And the clinching piece of evidence that the club’s season is imploding amidst a misplaced sense of righteous indignation came with confirmation that Mourinho had been sent off to the stands at half time.
Quite how long Roman Abramovich will put up with a combination of the inflammatory behaviour and terrible results is now a matter for serious debate rather than idle speculation.
Mourinho, Premier League champion in imperious style just six months ago, is now precariously positioned.
The FA charges, the baiting of opponents, the sense of disorder in the camp: Abramovich had tired of it all once before. There seems no reason why he should not do so once again.
Essentially clubs put up with days like Saturday when results are good; but if all you can offer is aggravation and defeats, then you have served your usefulness as coach.
For the record West Ham were excellent even before the mini meltdown from Chelsea, with Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini giving Kurt Zouma a torrid time long before it had become 10 versus 11.
And even Chelsea had their good periods.
In fact, for much of the second half, incredibly given the leadership, the discipline returned and they looked as though they might rescue an unlikely point. 
Yet the damage had been done; effectively they had been holed below the water line by the earlier indiscretions.
Pity Bilic, whose team were well worth their win and who are now up to third in the Premier League. He was determined to talk about the game, yet saw his players’ good efforts overshadowed by the mini-drama series which is unfolding at Chelsea.
‘I feel for Mourinho,’ he conceded. ‘A lot of decisions from his point of view have gone against Chelsea. Against Southampton, against Dynamo Kiev.
'Today I can defend the decisions from West Ham’s perspectives. They weren’t mistakes, they were pinion. But all together it is too much for him and I would probably be the same.’
There were elements of Chelsea’s slapdash nature of their play in West Ham’s opener on 17 minutes. Payet’s corner was met by a poor defensive header from Ramires, but even then, his team-mates failed to respond or react as the ball bounced for Mauro Zarate, who struck it sweetly past Asmir Begovic.
But Chelsea’s sense of frustration and injustice stemmed from a short period just before half time, which proved decisive. When Zouma met Fabregas’ corner on 35 minutes, Lanzini tried to clear but looked to have allowed the ball over the line.
He hadn’t, but only just. The goal-line review technology showed that a centimetre more would have suffice for all of the ball to be over the line.
And on 43 minutes they were denied when Willian found Fabregas and the Catalan was ruled offside. Bilic said it was 50-50, but in that case the ruling should be in favour of the attacking side.
Doubtless that frustration contributed to what followed but the reality is that there was little to complain about at the inception of the 44th minute meltdown.
Matic had already been found wanting in midfield and had hauled back Cheikhou Kouyate to receive a yellow card on 36 minutes. On 44 minutes he manhandled Diafra Sakho to the ground and received his second yellow card, prompting the overload of aggrieved protests from Chelsea players and coaches.
Ironically, after their initial tantrum, Chelsea started the second half very well. The back four, Mikel and Ramires looked formidable and on 55 minutes they looked to have found themselves an escape route from crisis. Zouma and Cahill jumped for a corner, West Ham failed to clear and Cahill struck superbly well from close range to equalise.
With a Costa header and a run by Hazard to feed Ramires, their afternoon might have even taken an unexpected turn for the best.
But then came Andy Carroll. Deployed again as a late substitute, again he proved decisive. John Terry couldn’t clear his lines properly on 79 minutes and Aaron Cresswell crossed. This time Cesar Azpilicueta was at fault, failing to jump and looking overwhelmed by the imposing Carroll who rose to head home.
How the Boleyn Ground roared as Carroll set off to celebrate in front of The Chicken Run. They may never play Chelsea here again, but at least this was some finale in the old stadium’s final season.

==================

Mirror:

West Ham 2-1 Chelsea: 5 things we learned as Mourinho and Matic see red in Upton Park meltdown

 By Neil McLeman
 
Chelsea had Nemanja Matic sent off while Jose Mourinho also ended up in the stands before Andy Carroll headed home late on
Super sub Andy Carroll inflicted a fifth defeat of the season on Chelsea after Jose Mourinho was sent off at half-time.
The Chelsea boss was dismissed after an extraordinary first half which saw the reigning champions trail to a 17th-minute Mauro Zarate goal – and Nemanja Matic and assistant coach Silvino Louro sent off.

The Blues bench was furious that the Serbian midfielder was shown a second yellow just two minutes after Cesc Fabregas had a legitimate goal disallowed for offside. Louro was sent to the stands for protesting Matic's dismissal.
The Special One replaced the Spaniard with John Mikel at half-time before he watched the second half from the West Ham director's box.
Gary Cahill lashed home a 56th-minute equaliser and a great rearguard effort seemed set to salvage the Blues a point.
But Carroll, who came on after 68 minutes, headed home the winner 10 minutes later for his first goal since January. Here's what we learned.
 
1) Crisis far from over

Last weekend's win over Aston Villa and the midweek draw at Dinamo Kiev suggested the corner had been turned.
Even after falling behind to an early goal and seeing Nemanja Matic sent off, they fought back bravely after the break and were 12 minutes from salvaging a point.

2) Andy Carroll is back

Slaven Bilic has lots of silky attacking options but the raw power of the England striker is still invaluable.
Last week he came on to wreak havoc as West Ham scored two late goals to win at Crystal Palace.
Against a dogged Chelsea defence, his back-post header earned another three points.

3) Payet outshining Hazard

The two played together for a season at Lille before the Belgian's £32m transfer to Chelsea.
But last season's Player of the Year was again ineffective while the Frenchman dazzled down the West Ham left.

4) Chelsea struggling for top four

Chelsea are now not fighting for the title. They are struggling to reach the Champions League.
Jose Mourinho's side lost three matches in winning the title last year.
They have now lost five and could be 12 points behind Manchester City by tomorrow night.

5) West Ham love to hate Chelsea

John Terry's every touch was booed while Jose Mourinho was serenaded with: “You're getting sacked in the morning” followed by “You're not special anymore” before his half-time dismissal.
Upton Park's final victory over Chelsea was the special one.

Player ratings
West Ham (4-2-3-1)
Adrian 7; Jenkinson 6, Tomkins 6, Collins 7, Cresswell 6, Noble 6 (Ogbonna, 90), Kouyate 8, Zarate 7 (Carroll, 69), Payet 8, Lanzini 7 (Obiang, 82); Sakho 6

Chelsea (4-2-3-1)
Begovic 7; Zouma 5, Cahill 7, Terry 6, Azpilicueta 6 (Baba, 87); Ramires 6 (Falcao, 82),Matic 5 (so 44); Willian 7, Fabregas 5 (Mikel, 46,7), Hazard 5; Costa 6

====================

Express:

West Ham 2 - Chelsea 1: Mourinho and Matic see red as Carroll turns up the heat

JOSE MOURINHO must be wondering just what else can go wrong this season.

Gary Cahill lashed home what looked like a point-winning equaliser for the battling, 10-man Blues.
But 11 minutes from time, fit-again Andy Carroll won it for West Ham with a towering header from Aaron Cresswell's fine cross for his first goal of the season.

Gary Cahill lashed home what looked like a point-winning equaliser for the battling, 10-man Blues.
But 11 minutes from time, fit-again Andy Carroll won it for West Ham with a towering header from Aaron Cresswell's fine cross for his first goal of the season.

Cahill said later: "We've not had the rub of the green, but we're not feeling sorry for ourselves. We have to work hard to turn this round."
Earlier, Mourinho had seen Mauro Zarate give West Ham the lead and Kurt Zouma and Cesc Fabregas denied goals by goal-line technology and an offside decision.

Then there were Chelsea's disciplinary problems - Nemanja Matic sent off and coach Silvino Louro dismissed. And then Mourinho also ended up in the stands.
So a point would have been some consolation on a day when, for once, West Ham probably considered themselves favourites to win this London derby.
They started the day as a top-four team, usually an area occupied by the modern-day Chelsea, who have made a poor start to the season.
The champions were the more threatening side at the start, with Diego Costa prominent.

The Blues striker lashed the game's first chance over the bar, then glanced a header wide.
Chelsea, however, were behind in the 17th minute, after Asmir Begovic had turned a well-struck Dimitri Payet free-kick over the bar.
Payet took the resultant corner, which was only partially cleared by Costa. The ball travelled to Zarate, who drove a low, right-foot effort through a crowded goalmouth and inside Begovic's near post.
The irony of the goal was that the Argentinian was playing only because Victor Moses was not allowed to, as he is on loan from Chelsea.
Zarate's goal prompted the first round of "your getting sacked in the morning" chants, aimed at Mourinho by the West Ham fans.
Chelsea, though, were unlucky not to equalise before half-time.

Adrian made a superb save from a Willian free-kick, then Zouma thought he had scored with a downward header, but Manuel Lanzini cleared off the line.
Nine-tenths of the ball seemed to be over the line - and after that things went from bad to worse for Chelsea.
Fabregas had a goal disallowed for a marginal offside decision, then Matic was sent off on the stroke of half-time after two yellow-card fouls on Diafra Sakho.
In the aftermath, as Chelsea protested, coach Louro was sent to the stands after an altercation with fourth official Andy Woolmer.
And yellow cards were also shown to skipper John Terry and Fabregas.
Mourinho himself was then sent to the stands by referee Jon Moss at half-time and watched the second half from the directors' box.
Meanwhile, Begovic held a James Collins header and Lanzini lobbed over when he should have scored as the Hammers threatened a second goal before the break.

Chelsea showed their fighting qualities with a 56th-minute equaliser. Willian's corner from the left broke to Cahill, who lashed home a right-foot drive.
But Carroll's late header condemned Chelsea to their fifth league defeat of the season.
Hammers boss Slaven Bilic said: "Andy gives you options - not just through a long ball. He's a great player and we just want him fit.
"If he stays fit, then West Ham and England will benefit."
Billic added: "I'm very proud of my team. It's a brilliant win against the champions in front of our crowd.
And it's a win we deserved."

=====================

Star:

West Ham 2 Chelsea 1: Carroll downs 10-man Blues as Mourinho is sent to stands
JOSE MOURINHO must be wondering just what else can go wrong this season.

By Paul Hetherington

Gary Cahill lashed home what looked like being a late equaliser to earn a point for the battling, ten-man Blues.
But 11 minutes from time, fit-again Andy Carroll won it for West Ham with a towering header from Aaron Cresswell’s fine cross for his first goal of the season.
Earlier, Mourinho had seen Mauro Zarate give West Ham the lead and Kurt Zouma and Cesc Fabregas denied goals by goal-line technology and an offside decision.
Then there were Chelsea’s disciplinary problems – Nemanja Matic sent off and coach Silvino Louro dismissed, too.
And finally Mourinho ended up in the stands as well. So a point would have been some consolation on a day when, for once, West Ham probably considered themselves favourites to win this London derby.
They started the day as a top-four team, usually an area always occupied by Chelsea, who have made a poor start to the season.

However, the champions were the more threatening side, with Diego Costa prominent.
The Blues striker lashed the game’s fi rst chance over the bar, then glanced a header wide.
Chelsea, however, were behind in the 17th minute, after Asmir Begovic had turned a well-struck Dimitri Payet free-kick over the bar.
Payet took the corner, which was only partially cleared by Costa.
The ball fell to Zarate, who drove a right-foot effort through the crowded box and inside Begovic’s near post.
The irony of the goal was that the Argentinian was playing only because Victor Moses was not allowed to, as he’s on loan from Chelsea.
Zarate’s goal prompted the first round of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” chants aimed at Mourinho by the West Ham fans.

Chelsea, though, were unlucky not to equalise before half-time.
Adrian made a superb save from a Willian free-kick, then Zouma thought he had scored with a downward header but Manuel Lanzini cleared off the line.
After that things went from bad to worse for Chelsea.
Fabregas had a goal disallowed for a marginal offside decision, then Matic was sent off on the stroke of half-time after two yellow-card fouls on Diafra Sakho.
Coach Louro as sent to the stands after as spat with fourth-official Andy Woolmer.
And yellow cards were also shown to John Terry and Fabregas.

Mourinho himself was then sent to the stands by referee Jon Moss at half-time and he was forced to watch the second half from the directors’ box.
Meanwhile, Begovic held a James Collins header and Lanzini lobbed over when he should have scored as the Hammers threatened a second goal before the break.
But Chelsea showed their fighting qualities with a 56th-minute equaliser.
Willian’s corner from the left broke to Cahill, who lashed home a right-foot drive. But Carroll’s late header condemned Chelsea to their fifth league defeat of the season.
The striker said: “We’ve had some great wins but that’s got to be one of the best.

“We went for the win and kept on pushing and got it.”
His boss Slaven Bilic says Carroll still has a future on the international scene.
He said: “Andy gives you options – not just through a long ball.
“He’s a great player and we just want him fit. If he stays fit then West Ham and England will benefit.”
Mourinho snubbed the media after the game but a dejected Cahill stood in front of the cameras.
He said: “You’re left scratching your head sometimes.
“In the first half the Cesc Fabregas goal could have been given and we had the goal that was nearly over the line.
“It’s a summary of our season at the minute.”

====================


Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Dynamo Kiev 0-0




Independent:

Blues produce improved performance but can't find cutting edge
Dynamo Kiev 0 Chelsea 0
Jack Pitt-brooke Olympic Stadium

Under normal circumstances, a team like Chelsea might look at a point like this, and a game like this, as something to forget about quickly and move on. This Chelsea, though – the Chelsea of one of the most disastrous Premier League title defences ever launched – cannot turn up their nose at a clean sheet and a point.
This was not a classic match and nor was it a classic performance, but Chelsea found something here in Kiev that has evaded them for much of the season: stability. They defended in numbers but they defended well, which is more than they have been able to say of late.
Dynamo Kiev did very little to impress, but that is not the point. Chelsea have almost found ways of beating themselves, but here they hung together, played together and followed Jose Mourinho’s instructions as far as their limited confidence and form would carry them.
There were very few moments of quality on the pitch – the recalled Eden Hazard hit the post on the break, Willian hit the bar with a free-kick – but nor were there any moments of disaster.
After everything that has happened, this display – like the 2-0 defeat of Aston Villa – could represent if not progress then at least a bottoming out, or a clinging onto the last few rungs of a ladder that the team had been sliding down all season.

This was not a night for anything other than the basics for the visitors. When Mourinho listed before the game what he wanted to see from his team – “awareness, discipline, spirit, effort, concentration” – it was clear what sort of game he was planning.
It is what Chelsea tried to do against Porto three weeks ago but they were eventually overwhelmed by superior opposition. Here, though, they were facing an inferior side. Mourinho hoped that, if Chelsea just defended well enough, they would be gifted enough openings on the break.
To that end, the manager restored Hazard to the side after dropping him for curious tactical reasons on Saturday. Hazard was lively, keen to prove he is still the best player on this team. The Belgian, of course, had their best first-half chance after just nine minutes as he found himself space and clipped a shot against the far post.
The rest of the first half was scrappy at best. Cesc Fabregas should have had a penalty after being tripped by Serhiy Rybalka but had his claims ignored by referee Damir Skomina – a decision Mourinho described afterwards as “weak and naive”, to mimic his Arsenal counterpart, Arsène Wenger. The Gunners manager had escaped censure after using the same words to describe Mike Dean after his side’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea.
Willian put in one of his now-famous free-kicks from wide on the left, only for Diego Costa to just miss out on touching it into the net.
On another occasion, Nemanja Matic ran through the middle of the pitch and was so surprised to find himself through on goal that he stabbed the ball wide with his right foot, rather than simply using his left.

Although they did not score in the first half, Chelsea would stick with the same plan for the second. Without doing very much, the chances continued to come.
Rybalka pulled down Willian, who struck the 25-yard free-kick against the underside of the bar. Then Chelsea had a counter-attack which ended with Fabregas meekly shooting straight at Alexandr Shovkovskiy. When Willian picked out Hazard in space, a goal felt inevitable, only for Rybalka to throw himself in front of the shot.
Chelsea’s failure to exploit these chances left them at risk at the other end, and with Andriy Yarmolenko starting to play, even this Dynamo side carried a threat. Yarmolenko made a narrow-angle chance for Derlis Gonzalez, which Asmir Begovic saved. The Bosnian then had to claw a looping cross away from the far post, and Domagoj Vida shot over, as the hosts enjoyed their best spell of the game.
With Chelsea’s intensity dropping, Mourinho put on Oscar for Fabregas, but Dynamo were still on top and looked more likely to score in the final minutes. Junior Moraes replaced Artem Kravets up front and nearly turned in a cross at the near post from Vida.
Dynamo finished the game with a confidence that had been far beyond them in the first half. Gary Cahill and John Terry had to scramble a few headers away, conceding corners which they dealt with.
It was Chelsea, then, rather than Dynamo, who hung on for a point – but what an important point it might prove to be.

====================

Guardian:

Chelsea held at Dynamo Kyiv but keep Champions League hopes alive
Dynamo Kyiv 0 - 0 Chelsea

Dominic Fifield at the Olympic Stadium

Chelsea might more normally consider this to have been a rather forgettable occasion. It was, after all, a goalless scrap in a far-flung capital across the continent, a match marred by spats among home supporters in the stands as a reflection of the political tension currently gripping Ukraine, and a point which left the Premier League champions third in their section. Yet José Mourinho departed this arena talking of solidity and progress. He may yet pinpoint this as the moment his team’s faith and conviction were reaffirmed.
Something clicked in Kiev. This was more like the effective Chelsea from the latter stages of last season, when attacking threat was allied to the required work-rate and defensive nous. The likes of Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic, so off-colour up to now, reacted to their manager’s recent criticisms and were recognisable against Dynamo as the talents of last term, with each conjuring their most convincing displays of the campaign to date. Here was evidence Mourinho’s methods are sparking a response, with the last four days having now yielded successive clean sheets for the first time since mid-April.
 
The team’s destiny in Group G remains in their own hands, and there will be confidence the remaining home fixtures can be won, together with the trip to the section’s whipping boys Maccabi Tel Aviv, to smooth passage into the knockout phase. The sense of satisfaction obtained here, though, should maintain the optimism generated from Saturday’s welcome win over Aston Villa. “The team were really solid and compact, the midfield really strong,” said Mourinho. “We are recovering some of that compactness, solidarity, effort, tactical discipline, qualities which are very important when you are not flying or playing with that confidence or flair, when your attacking players are not killing [opponents]. So in three days, two solid performances are good for us.”
There was, inevitably, one gripe that needed to be aired. The game had edged just beyond the quarter-hour mark when Cesc Fàbregas wriggled into the penalty area and was clipped by Serhiy Rybalka, only for the Slovenian official, Damir Skomina, to wave away the appeals for a spot-kick.
“The referee was weak and naive,” offered Mourinho, echoing Arsène Wenger’s unpunished criticisms of Mike Dean’s display when Chelsea beat Arsenal in September. “A big penalty. I keep not understanding what the referee standing behind the goal does because [he] doesn’t make a clear decision.
“I think the referee was very good – I’m serious – but he made one mistake. And, for example, in the Rugby World Cup, I think the referee [Craig Joubert] in the Scotland game was very good but made one mistake. And that mistake cost Scotland their chance. When the result is 0-0 and such a penalty is not given, it’s a crucial moment of the game.”
A local asked whether Mourinho might be risking sanction from Uefa – he is out of the jurisdiction of the Football Association in this competition – with his criticisms, to which the Portuguese offered with a smile: “So it was not a penalty.” Uefa may still wish to cast an eye over the comments. Regardless, the phrase “weak and naive” may be muttered with some regularity over the course of the campaign to come. Rybalka’s trip should have presented Chelsea with their clearest sight of goal, but they still created enough opportunities to have inflicted Dynamo’s first home defeat to English opposition since 2007. It was profligacy which cost them a victory. Hazard, nominated for the Ballon d’Or earlier in the day, broke away from his industrious defensive running to curl a shot on to the base of the far post early on while Willian struck the crossbar with a free-kick just after the interval.
The link-up play between the wingers, Fàbregas in midfield and Diego Costa was exquisite at times, even if it was Matic who created and missed the best chance of all. Intercepting the ball in central midfield, the Serb rampaged through and beyond four flustered Dynamo players and into the area. He seemed as startled at his progress as anybody, which might have explained the awkward finish poked wide of the far post as Oleksandr Shovkovskiy dived almost in despair.
The frustration was that Dynamo were there for the taking. Thrashed at home by Shakhtar Donetsk last Friday, they were as timid and fragile as Chelsea have been at times this term, their only real attacking threat carried by the much coveted Andriy Yarmolenko on the flank. Only in the last 10 minutes, with Chelsea wondering whether to stick or twist, did they threaten to pilfer reward, again with Yarmolenko to the fore. Yet the visitors held firm.
This is another step towards recovery, a display and result from which to draw encouragement. This team is edging itself back into form.

=====================

Telegraph:

Dynamo Kiev 0 Chelsea 0

Jose Mourinho uses refused penalty to take another swipe at Wenger
Referee described as 'weak and naive', words used by Arsenal manager in escaping punishment by authorities

 By  Matt Law

Jose Mourinho took another sarcastic swipe at Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger after his team were denied a Champions League victory in Kiev by the woodwork and referee Damir Skomina.
Chelsea manager Mourinho was furious he was punished by the Football Association for saying referees were “afraid” to give his team decisions, while Wenger got away with calling Mike Dean “weak” and “naïve.”
Mourinho felt Cesc Fabregas should have been awarded a first-half penalty against Dynamo Kiev and borrowed Wenger’s phrase to describe the performance of Skomina.
Fabregas danced his way into the box and went down under a challenge from Serhiy Rybalka. The Spaniard was the only man to appeal for a penalty and replays suggested he was right to, but Skomina allowed play to continue.
“The referee was weak and naïve,” said Mourinho. “It was a big penalty. I keep not understanding what the goal referee does. Because [he] doesn’t make a clear decision. When the result is zero-zero and such a penalty is not given it’s a crucial moment of the game.
“I think the referee was very good. I think he made one mistake. And, for example, in the Rugby World Cup, I think the referee in the Scotland game was very good but made one mistake. And that mistake cost Scotland their chance.”
Mourinho has to be careful about commenting about referees in England with a suspended one-match stadium ban hanging over his head and it now remains to be seen whether or not Uefa looks at his comments in Europe.
Other than being denied what Mourinho felt was a certain penalty, Chelsea were twice kept out by the woodwork in Kiev as Eden Hazard was denied a dream return.
Chelsea dominated long periods of their Champions League clash against Dynamo, but could not break the deadlock and still have work to do to qualify from Group G.
Hazard, recalled to the starting line-up after being left out against Aston Villa, hit the post and Willian struck the underside of the bar as Chelsea were frustrated by the hosts.
Cesc Fabregas found Hazard inside the penalty area and the Belgian shifted the ball out of his feet, but goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy managed to push his shot on to the upright.
Certainly, Hazard was a lot busier than he has been in recent weeks and made a very obvious attempt to get back to help his defenders, as well as dribbling at both Dynamo full-backs and producing some of his trademark turns.
Shovkovskiy saved from both Fabregas and Willian, before Nemanja Matic, recalled at the expense of teenager Ruben Loftus-Cheek, squandered a wonderful chance to put Chelsea ahead.
Matic burst his way past four Dynamo players into the box, but the midfielder seemed as surprised as everyone else to find himself in front of goal and stabbed the ball wide with only Shovkovskiy to beat.

Just as he was against Aston Villa, Ramires was excellent in the centre of midfield, retrieving the ball for Mourinho’s men and starting attacks, while Willian caused the Dynamo defenders plenty of problems.
The Brazilian started the game as Chelsea’s top scorer with four goals all from free-kicks and twice nearly added to that tally from set pieces.
Willian has specialised the art of sending a free-kick past the onrushing attackers and into the corner of net, but his effort on 19 minutes narrowly bounced wide of the Dynamo post.
Just minutes after the restart, Willian went even closer after winning a free-kick for himself in a central position 20 yards out. This time his effort sailed over the wall but bounced agonisingly off the underside of the crossbar to safety.

Despite creating numerous chances of their own, Chelsea also suffered a couple of nervous moments at the back.
Vitaliy Buyalskiy was Dynamo’s most dangerous player and he twice forced Asmir Begovic into saves. The first shot was straight at the Chelsea goalkeeper, but the second had Begovic diving to his right to push the ball around the post.
While the woodwork was undoubtedly responsible for keeping the score goalless, so was some wasteful finishing.
Mourinho’s men should have taken the lead in the 53rd minute, when Hazard broke with the ball and had four Chelsea players queuing up ahead of him to shoot at goal. He elected to pass to Fabregas, but the former Arsenal man sent a low drive straight at Shovkovskiy.
Hazard was again denied, as Rybalka threw himself in the way of his shot after Willian had found his team-mate in space inside the Dynamo penalty area.

Chelsea were close to being caught by a sucker punch, however, as Begovic made two more vital saves. Derlis Gonzalez looked set to score, but the Bosnia international stood his ground to keep out the Dynamo forward’s shot and then remained alert to tip away a dangerous cross.
Mourinho decided to make a change with 15 minutes remaining as Oscar replaced Fabregas. The substitution swung the game back towards the visitors and Willian went close with a late shot, but Chelsea could not find the goal that would have made qualification from the group stages look a lot more certain with Porto beating Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“We thought we could win, but we couldn't lose it,” said Mourinho. “If we'd lost, we'd have to win at home. Dynamo have to play Porto still, so one will lose points, so this result keeps us in a stable position.”

============================

Mail:

Dynamo Kiev 0-0 Chelsea:

Eden Hazard and Willian hit the woodwork as Blues are held to unlucky draw in Champions League

Chelsea kept pace in Champions League Group G with a draw against Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine

Sami Mokbel

This was a predictable Jose Mourinho away performance. Tight, compact, solid and disciplined. And, of course, a pop at the referee.
The Chelsea manager, having watched his side secure a gutsy draw at Dynamo Kiev, criticised Damir Skomina for his failure to award a penalty after Cesc Fabregas fell in the box.
‘The referee was weak and naive, it was a big penalty,’ said Mourinho. ‘I don’t understand what the goal referee does. Because he doesn’t make a clear decision
‘When the result is 0-0 and such a penalty is not given it’s a crucial moment of the game. I actually think the referee was very good but I think he made one mistake.
‘And in the Rugby World Cup, I think the referee in the Scotland game was very good but made one mistake. And that mistake cost Scotland their chance.’

Look a little deeper and you will realise this was not merely a swipe at Skomina. The words ‘weak and naive’ were used by Arsene Wenger to describe referee Mike Dean’s performance after Chelsea’s controversial win over Arsenal earlier this season.
As pointed out by Mourinho last week; the Gunners manager dodged FA sanctions for his comments.
Likewise, just 24 hours after the FA published their written reasons for handing Mourinho a £50,000 fine and a suspended touchline ban for his comments regarding referee Robert Madley, Wembley disciplinary chiefs will certainly have noted the Special One’s sarcasm.
But when Mourinho sips his coffee on Wednesday morning, he will be much happier than he was this time last week.
But for the time being, refraining from the ‘Chelsea are back’ statements would be wise. This was not vintage; far from it. But it was more like it from Chelsea. Disciplined, calculated and considered — it is what Mourinho does best.
A goalless draw against Dynamo Kiev may not have the rest of Europe quaking in their boots, but on the evidence of last night they look to be heading in the right direction.
Mourinho has not been slow in criticising his players in recent weeks. On Tuesday night the message finally looked to be getting through. They carried out their manager’s instructions to a T.
Yet, the Blues boss will have a tinge of regret his side did not leave Ukraine with victory. They had certainly the chances. Mourinho said: ‘We are much more solid now. Two matches, two clean sheets, no problems defensively.
‘We are recovering some of that compactness, solidarity, effort, tactical discipline which are important when you are not flying.’
Eden Hazard returned to the starting XI after he was axed for the 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday. It was not a decision Mourinho would have taken lightly, though.
‘What do I expect from Hazard? If possible, win the match for us. If not win it, be a team man for us,’ said Mourinho before kick-off.
The comments were indicative of Mourinho’s mood. This was not a night for pretty football, but one for grinding out a result.
Centre backs John Terry, Gary Cahill and Kurt Zouma all started — the latter playing at right back. Nemanja Matic was recalled in preference to Ruben Loftus-Cheek and took his place alongside Ramires in defensive central midfielder.
Chelsea looked better for the changes; Hazard hit the post with a curling effort in the 10th minute before Fabregas, after colliding with Serhiy Rybalka, saw his half-hearted penalty appeal waved away by Skomina. 
The lack of significant appeals from the Spaniard indicated it was the correct decision — although TV replays showed why Mourinho was so angry at full-time.
Matic missed a glorious chance in the 19th minute before Willian hit the bar just after half-time.
The hosts mustered a response in the final 10 minutes but Chelsea never looked in any real danger as Mourinho’s side left Ukraine with what they wanted — a point.

============================

Mirror:

Dynamo Kiev 0-0 Chelsea: Eden Hazard stars but Blues made to settle for a point in Ukraine
 
By John Cross
 
The Belgian wing-wizard was restored to the starting line-up by Jose Mourinho for this Champions League away-day and repaid his boss with a fine display
If that is what tough love does for Eden Hazard, then Jose Mourinho better try it with the rest of the team.
Hazard put in his best performance of the season - which isn't saying much - and only the woodwork denied him and his team a precious Champions League victory.
Mourinho can feel rightly frustrated that Chelsea did not take all three points here in Ukraine but he will also see the bigger picture and that was typified by Hazard’s display.
It was all about hard work, tracking back and putting in a shift for the team. It was reminiscent of Hazard at his best last season and will be hugely encouraging for Chelsea.
Obviously, no game would be complaint without a Mourinho complaint about a referee and he was right to feel aggrieved because Cesc Fabregas should have been given a penalty.

But after a turbulent and dreadful start to the campaign, you can see green shoots of recovery. Maybe Mourinho’s message is finally getting through.
On Saturday, he dropped Hazard - last season’s double Player of the Year - and promptly slaughtered him for not doing his defensive duties and lacking tactical awareness.
It was brutal but maybe Mourinho has lost patience with every other tactic in trying to get the best out of Chelsea’s No10.
And on a cold, drizzly night in Dynamo Kiev’s vast Olympic Stadium, Hazard dug deep with a man-of-the-match display straight out of the Mourinho textbook.
This is how he wants even his luxury players to play. Covering the full-back, defending as well as attacking.
It was a complete performance to remind us why Hazard was one of five Premier League stars nominated in the Ballon D’Or World Player of the Year awards.

There is a long way back for Chelsea and Mourinho is clearly dreaming when he claims they can still win all four trophies. Their Champions League group still looks treacherous, never mind winning the damned thing.
But you can slowly but surely see last season’s Chelsea emerging from the clouds of doom. It’s not about them hitting top gear, more about them scrapping, looking more solid and regaining their belief.
Right from the start, it was Hazard who caught the eye amid Chelsea’s solid midfield as Nemanja Matic and Ramires ran themselves into the ground. Clearly, Mourinho’s Hazard pep talk is working for the rest of the team.
After just nine minutes, Hazard went desperately close to giving Chelsea the lead but his low shot hit the far post with Dynamo keeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy well beaten.
That set the tone as Fabregas and Matic both went close while Diego Costa just failed to get the finishing touch on one of Willian’s familiar teasing free-kicks.

Fabregas was right to feel aggrieved when he went down in the box under Serhiy Rybalka’s challenge only for Slovenian referee Damir Skomina to wave away protests when TV replays showed it should have been a penalty.
No wonder Mourinho was incensed but luckily his post-match jibes - another sly dig at Arsene Wenger - will come under UEFA’s jurisdiction rather than the FA.
Willian crashed a 25-yard free-kick against the underside of the crossbar in the second half as Chelsea continued to dominate.
Hazard was superb throughout, leading a breakaway to set up Fabregas but his low shot was gathered by Shovkovskiy.

This was much more like it from Chelsea.
Hazard went close again after 59 minutes when Willian’s cut back found the Belgian forward only for Rybalka to make a heroic block to deflect the ball over the bar.
But as their legs tired and work rate dropped as the game wore on, the Londoners also had to rely on keeper Asmir Begovic to deny Derlis Gonzalez.
But Chelsea flew home with their belief and confidence slowly returning. And, possibly just as importantly, their best player shining once more.
Mourinho’s bold claim that they can still win all four trophies still looks like a fantasy. But just one will do after the start to the season they've had.
And after positive signs, you wouldn’t bet against it now.

========================

Express:

Dynamo Kiev 0 - Chelsea 0: Blues earn valuable point from stalemate in Ukraine
CHELSEA rediscovered some of the old resilience and stubbornness that are the normal hallmarks of Jose Mourinho’s teams in the Ukraine last night.

By Tony Banks at the Olympic Stadium

Mourinho’s side, who badly needed a result to get their Group G campaign back on the rails, produced one of their best performances of the season to snuff out Sergei Rebrov’s team and grab a vital point.
It was, for the first time in this topsy-turvy campaign, like watching the Chelsea of last season, the Chelsea that won the title.
They were sure-footed, incisive and confident – qualities that have been missing all too often this season. Perhaps it was the first sign that Mourinho, who said before this game that he still believed that Chelsea could win all four trophies, is beginning to turn around his team’s season. It was not quite vintage Chelsea – but it was a vast improvement. Maybe the green shoots are at last showing.

After the defeat at Porto in their last game, Mourinho needed this display.
Eden Hazard, dropped and given a dressing down by Mourinho at the weekend, was back in the side – and the Belgian was another who needed a strong showing.
Kurt Zouma was drafted in at right-back in place of the injured Branislav Ivanovic. Hazard in fact started as though he was going to prove his manager right.

He collected a pass from Cesc Fabregas and curled in a shot that 40-year-old goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy got his fingertips to and touched onto the post – and then Fabregas flashed a header over from Diego Costa’s pull back.
Dynamo looked nervous, though Vitaliy Buyalskiy did test Asmir Begovic with a drive from 25 yards. Fabregas was felled in the area by Serhiy Rybalka, but referee Damir Skomina waved away Chelsea’s appeals, to Mourinho’s fury on the touchline.
It certainly did not look as if the Dynamo man got the ball. But then came another golden opportunity for Mourinho’s men – as Nemanja Matic drifted right through the middle past three tackles.
But then somehow he managed to poke his shot wide of the post from ten yards when he should have scored.

For the first time Dynamo broke through, and Buyalskiy’s shot was deflected just wide. But Chelsea were harrying well and closing the gaps, giving Rebrov’s team little space – and they were looking dangerous on the break. Then Shovkovskiy saved Gary Cahill’s header under his own bar, but Dynamo looked vulnerable at the back to Hazard and Willian’s pace.
Rebrov’s team kept trying to get star man Andriy Yarmolenko – a target for Everton, Stoke and Tottenham – into the game – but he was well shackled by Cesar Azpilicueta.
Mourinho had called for tactical awareness and discipline from his team, qualities not shown often enough by Chelsea this season. And Chelsea came out for the second half in exactly the same determined frame of mind.
And when Willian was tripped just outside the area, the Brazilian picked himself up to curl a glorious 47th-minute free-kick over the wall – only to see the ball bounce back off the bar and Dynamo scramble it away.

Then came another break, and yet another good chance went begging, as Hazard set up Fabregas, but the Spaniard fired his shot straight at Shovkovskiy.
Another combination from the pair saw Hazard clear in the area, but his shot was blocked. There was though a rare moment of danger, when Dynamo broke quickly, and Begovic had to produce a smart block to foil Derlis Gonzalez.
At last, Rebrov’s team began to crank up the pressure – but Domagoj Vida shot over when he should have done better.
With a minute to go Begovic collected a dangerous low centre from Serhiy Sydorchuk, then Willian curled just wide for Chelsea in stoppage time.

DYNAMO KIEV (4-2-3-1): Shovkovskiy; Silva, Khacheridi, Dragovic, Vida; Rybalka, Sydorchuk; Yarmolenko, Buyalskiy (Garmash 83), Gonzalez; Kravets (Moraes 78). Booked: Buyalskiy.
CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Begovic; Zouma, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Ramires, Matic; Willian, Fabregas (Oscar 75), Hazard; Costa. Booked: Zouma. NEXT UP: West Ham (a), Sat PL.
Referee: D Skomina (Slovenia).

=======================

Star:

Dynamo Kiev 0 Chelsea 0: Blues hit the bar twice during frustrating night in Ukraine

CHELSEA still have work to do if they are to progress in the Champions League – but boss Jose Mourinho will be heartened by his side’s performance in Kiev.


By Jeremy Cross, Chief Sports Writer

The Stamford Bridge men struck the woodwork twice and Cesc Fabregas had a strong penalty shout waved away – to Mourinho’s disgust on the touchline.
After the defeat at Porto in their last game, this was just the sort of showing that Mourinho demanded from his side.
Eden Hazard, dropped and given a dressing down by his manager at the weekend, was brought back into the side – and the Belgian needed to put on a show.
Before kick-off Mourinho insisted Hazard was the man who could be his match winner, while he also drafted Kurt Zouma in at right-back in place of the injured Branislav Ivanovic.
Chelsea were facing a dangerous Dynamo side that had taken four points from their opening two matches in Group G, but crashed 3-0 embarrassingly at home to league rivals Shakhtar Donetsk on Friday night.
Hazard started as though he was going to prove his manager right, collecting a pass from Fabregas and curling in a shot that 40-year-old goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovsky got his fingertips to, touching it on to the post.

And Fabregas flashed a header over from Diego Costa’s pull-back as Dynamo looked nervous at the start, though Vitaliy Buyalsky did test Blues keeper Asmir Begovic with a drive from 25 yards.
Fabregas was then felled in the area by Serhiy Rybalka but referee Damir Skomina waved away Chelsea’s appeals, much to Mourinho’s fury on the touchline – and it certainly did not look as if the Dynamo man got the ball.
But then came another golden chance for Mourinho’s men – as Nemanja Matic drifted right through the middle past three tackles but then somehow poked his shot wide of the post from 10 yards.
For the first time Dynamo broke through and Buyalskiy’s shot was deflected just wide.
Chelsea were giving Sergey Rebrov’s team little space and they were looking dangerous on the break.
Shovkovsky saved Gary Cahill’s header under his own bar but Dynamo looked vulnerable at the back.

Rebrov’s team kept trying to get star man Andriy Yarmolenko – a target for Everton, Stoke and Tottenham – into the game but he was well shackled by Cesar Azpilicueta.
Chelsea came out for the second half in the same determined frame of mind.
And, when Willian was tripped just outside the area, the Brazilian picked himself up to curl a glorious free-kick over the wall – only to see the ball bounce back off the bar and Dynamo scramble it away.
Hazard set up Fabregas but the Spaniard fi red his shot straight at Shovkovsky and Hazard was clear in the area but his shot was blocked.
Begovic had to produce a smart block to foil Derlis Gonzalez and later from Junior Moraes after John Terry had fluffed a clearance but Chelsea stood firm for an important away point.