Another target is missed but no panic at Chelsea

SOCCER: Chelsea are so prosperous that even their glumness has a glossy sheen to it. With almost a third of the programme completed, the side has ticked off the away fixtures with Liverpool and Manchester United and logged a home win over Arsenal. After all that, Jose Mourinho has a double-digit lead over everyone except Wigan - who have earned his respect without raising his anxiety levels. Few clubs have so many consolations after a defeat at Old Trafford.

Even so, the 1-0 loss should prompt him to take stock of a side that can be stylised on the rare occasions when it gets into trouble. The glitches will surely not prevent Chelsea from retaining the title and their prospects of winning the Champions League are as good as any other leading club, but the result against Manchester United ought still to make Mourinho restless. The team cannot readily snap out of its well-drilled approach when a more aggressively flamboyant style becomes essential.

Darren Fletcher scored in the 31st minute and it took Chelsea the best part of half an hour to whip themselves into a heated reaction. Credit is due to a Manchester United back four that has been so reviled, but its rehabilitation owed something to the manner in which the visitors allowed themselves to be kept at arm's length for so long. There were overtones of Chelsea's previous away fixture in the Premiership, when the team revived to draw with Everton, but needed a goal struck from outside the area, by Frank Lampard, to equalise.

United were far better at limiting the midfielder's opportunities to let fly and that put the onus on forwards who could not always shoulder the burden. Damien Duff did thrive, but the middle of the goalmouth is not his natural territory and no one else could prosper there. Didier Drogba is always aggressive and scores with respectable frequency, but he is still not the sort of forward on whom a manager would wish to depend.

It is the one area of the squad where Mourinho is made to live like a normal, frustrated manager, unable to get his own way. Andriy Shevchenko and Adriano, for instance, have not handed themselves over to Chelsea and Hernan Crespo, back from the loan year at Milan, again cuts an enigmatic figure. The Argentinian, injured at present, is not markedly altered from the player who loitered in the shadows of the squad under Claudio Ranieri. Here is a rarity, the Stamford Bridge footballer yet to be transformed by Mourinho.

The one performer who might have transformed Sunday's match with his mercurial talent currently seems stuck in an awkward relationship with the manager. Arjen Robben, reportedly troubled by pain in a hamstring, may just be giving Mourinho an unwelcome insight into the obstinacy of the Dutch.

Chelsea could afford to wait for the attackers to put themselves to rights on or off the pitch if only the defence had not contracted a mild case of waywardness. Petr Cech stranded himself at the United goal by moving for a Cristiano Ronaldo cross he could never reach and, far more scandalously, Fletcher was not marked, with Michael Essien unable to make up ground in an area that surely ought to have been occupied by Asier Del Horno.

Eidur Gudjohnsen, who impressed when he came on at Old Trafford, was probably not faking his air of calm afterwards, despite the fact that Real Betis also beat Chelsea 1-0 last week. "Losing is part of football," he said. "There's no questioning our desire, togetherness or commitment. Probably for the neutrals it's what everybody was wishing for. But for us it's about beating Newcastle in two weeks' time. Hopefully we will now go another 40 games undefeated. The last time we lost two games on the trot, in February, our response was to go on a run that took us away from everybody and won the league. Don't be surprised if it happens again."

Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, the sighs of relief have been deafening - with Rio Ferdinand claiming the victory will have "shut a few mouths". After soulless performances at Middlesbrough and Lille - and a vicious slating from Roy Keane - Alex Ferguson's side could hardly have gone into Sunday's encounter in a worse frame on mind.

Yet, they responded with by far their most accomplished performance of the season with some of the men in Keane's line of fire - Alan Smith, Darren Fletcher and Ferdinand himself - playing starring roles in the success.

"It has been a hard last couple of weeks, both personally and for the club," Ferdinand said. "Criticism comes with the territory at a massive club like Manchester United. You expect criticism to an extent, but sometimes it goes too far.

"There have been a few snide comments, but this was a game where we had to stand up and be counted. We did just that and thankfully, we have shut a few people's mouths.

"Every player gave 100 per cent, all played to their capabilities, which you have to do against a quality side. No one shirked anything."

Guardian Service