Chelsea get away with slack defending

Schalke 0 Chelsea 0:After the rip-roaring has come the mind-numbing. Chelsea have been determined to scintillate in recent weeks, but their seven-game winning streak spluttered to an end in the Rhineland last night with a shivering stalemate in Gelsenkirchen.

They could count themselves lucky to emerge with a point, so stretched were they at times by Schalke, but that point has eased them to the verge of qualification. Victory in either of their remaining group games would confirm progress into the knockout phase.

Avram Grant will cling to that encouraging reality today, because so little of what he witnessed in the Arena AufSchalke will have satisified him. The visitors may have plucked out presentable chances to puncture the Germans' momentum, but too much of their defending was chaotic.

There was general bafflement at the hosts' inability to find reward in the absence of the injured Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi, with the succession of opportunities passed up eventually prompting wailing frustration. The reaction was furious when Peter Lovenkrands battered against a post two minutes from time.

Schalke's profligacy has most likely cost them a place in the knockout phase, given Rosenborg's startling victory in Valencia. Chelsea, their clean sheet deceptive, will have to defend far better than this if they are to retain realistic hopes of securing a first European Cup at the culmination of this campaign. This was slapdash.

The locals had closed the roof here, fearing a drenching from the heavens to go with a potentially chastening experience at the hands of the Premier League visitors. They were spared both. Thrust up against a side struggling to make any impact in the Bundesliga this term, there was a sloppiness to Chelsea from the outset.

It is on nights such as this that this team truly feels the absence of John Terry. The Brazilian Alex can look cumbersome at times and did here, and even Ricardo Carvalho surrendered possession in dangerous areas as the hosts sensed uncharacteristic nerves in the Chelsea ranks.

Yet nowhere were their frailties more obvious than at right-back. Juliano Belletti may have offered punch when joining the attacks, but he cut an increasingly desperate figure as a defender. He was a mess of misplaced passes, half-hearted challenges and hands-on-hips huffing at team-mates.

He presented Mesut Ozil and Heiko Westermann with time and space to spit two shots at goal within one first-half minute. When Westermann was again allowed to progress unchallenged down the channel nominally guarded by the Brazilian, Petr Cech had to tip a swirling shot behind.

Yet there was worrying fragility to most of the visitors' defending. The corners fizzed in from either flank by Ozil and Ivan Rakitic might have yielded reward: Marcelo Bordon headed one over an empty net from point-blank range and Gerald Asamoah, recovered from a knee injury, missed a header at the near-post with the goal gaping.

Chelsea were panicked and, increasingly, dishevelled, with their security threatened yet further by the withdrawal of Cech at half-time. The goalkeeper had appeared to hurt a shin while attempting to claw away an Ozil corner.

Carlo Cudicini is a fine replacement, his positioning sound as he claimed Ozil's shot after a galloping run through the centre, but the Italian does not exude the same authority as the Czech.

The hosts should have sensed vulnerability. Yet such is the quality of this Chelsea team that they still might have led. Didier Drogba, peripheral for the most part, muscled out two excellent opportunities from Joe Cole passes amid the Schalke pressure. Manuel Neuer, a young goalkeeper attracting interest from Premier League clubs, thwarted both.

Chelsea could have done with a lead to calm their jitters, with their defence still heaving to contain the Germans. Cudicini dived to block a near-post attempt from Rakitic after the hosts' eighth corner, with Avram Grant on his feet and aghast as Asamoah and Soren Larsen became entangled before they could muster a shot at goal. Life at Stamford Bridge is about entertainment these days, with comical defending one means of ensuring it is delivered.

Belletti's hapless display eventually saw him hauled from the fray, Michael Essien moving into the right-back berth.

But, for all that the substitution was a mercy, Schalke still eked out chances. Rafinha, charging forward in support, met Rakitic's cross and saw his shot deflected on to the crossbar with Cudicini helpless. Lovenkrands, only recently introduced, failed to convert the rebound.

SCHALKE 04:Neuer, Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Westermann, Jones, Bajramovic, Asamoah, Rakitic, Ozil (Lovenkrands 60), Larsen. Subs not used:Schober, Grossmuller, Howedes, Azaouagh. Booked:Rakitic.

CHELSEA:Cech (Cudicini 46), Belletti (Obi 64), Alex, Carvalho, Bridge, Essien, Makelele, Lampard, Joe Cole, Malouda (Wright-Phillips 78), Drogba. Subs not used:Shevchenko, Pizarro, Kalou, Ben-Haim. Booked:Essien.

Referee: Massimo Busacca(Swi).