I don’t think Guus Hiddink was too impressed by what he saw yesterday. Of course he looked happy enough while we were tucking the goals away against Bolton and judging by his substitutions, like the rest of us, he assumed it was game over.

What he didn’t look so happy about was the effect those substitutions had as Bolton were allowed to stage a comeback that left them within a goal-line clearance of getting a point. And with us holding a 3-1 advantage over Liverpool going into the second leg of our Champions League tie, the Chelsea boss is determined not to let it happen again.

After the game - once he’d removed his heart from his mouth – Hiddink, who disagrees the substitutions caused our collapse said “It was a wake-up call for us and we talked to the boys straight after the game. If you play at the top, you cannot afford to do it twice.  We must not let it happen again. It is normal that the players react to the situation. It was a typical English game. We were leading 4-0 with 20 minutes to go and waiting for a fifth.  All of a sudden we got very sloppy and too relaxed and didn’t win any duels defensively.  I am not just talking about the defence but also the midfield and front players. We conceded three goals in nine minutes I think - that should not be possible against a team that is near the top of the table. We did not perform well. There was a sequence of errors that we made.  I don’t think the substitutions were the cause. We were just too relaxed in the last 20 minutes.”

In fact ‘relaxed’ is putting it mildly, when ‘comatose’ might be a better description. I think he’s wrong about the substitutions but if he’s right, surely we should be even more worried?

Filed under: Rants