Future not promising for Chelsea

There are nil-nils and there are nil-nils. Believe it, this was as nil-nil a nil-nil as any there have ever been. This was so nil-nil, in fact, that in the old reporter's phrase, we were lucky to get nil.

In that respect the game lived down to our expectations. Newcastle United may have started the day on top of the Premiership and Bobby Robson may have been presented with August's Manager of the Month award to his adoring public before kick-off, but even though optimism is as distinctive a Newcastle feature as the big river that runs through the city, there is a discernable whiff of realism about the place at the moment. Newcastle fans know their team is not good enough. It's almost disconcerting.

They are better than they were, of course. This time last year as Ruud Gullit did his utmost to fillet the soul out of the club, Newcastle sat on the bottom of the table with one point from seven matches. On Saturday teatime they gained their tenth in five - four if you take into account what Robson said after the opening day defeat at Old Trafford: "Our season starts now."

Derby, Spurs and Coventry were beaten subsequently and now, having lost three times by single goal margins to Chelsea last season, Robson's Newcastle have managed to take a point from a club Robson described as: "Top three". Newcastle are improving, both Aaron Hughes and Keiron Dyer are growing young talents and when Rob Lee and Carl Cort return from injury they will be difficult to beat. "I am not saying that we'll win anything but we will have a good season," said Robson.

Chelsea certainly found Newcastle obdurate on Saturday. Far from being top three, Chelsea are tenth, already five points behind Manchester United whom they meet at Old Trafford in a fortnight. Chelsea take on buoyant Leicester City before then and it is possible to see them being 10 to 12 points behind United by the start of October.

It is not promising. Here they played like a mid-table side. With Gianfranco Zola mysteriously left on the bench for 82 minutes, Tore Andre Flo tried in vain to strike up a rapport with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. It seemed Jimmy was not interested in what Tore had to offer.

In midfield Dennis Wise was subdued and with the on-loan Christian Panucci having a shocker at right back, there was an over-reliance on Marcel Desailly in defence. This was one of those thud and blunder English games where you understood Desailly's disdain for the domestic product. He could be playing for Juventus or Barcelona, and he must think that.

The ordinariness of Chelsea was quite stunning, what happened against Arsenal on Wednesday night does appear to have had an impact on their confidence. "We did something wrong against Arsenal in the last 15 minutes," said Gianluca Vialli. "After the criticism of the last three days we showed great composure today."

It would have been different had Carlo Cudicini not saved Alan Shearer's 17th minute downward header. That, and a Gary Speed volley from Dyer's cross and Kevin Gallacher's knockdown, was the best attacking football on display.

Other than that Shearer did little but make defensive headers from Chelsea corners and maybe the £15 million Robson said Real Madrid put on the table for Shearer last week is for Shearer the centrehalf. "If I sold him it would be like selling the Tyne Bridge," said Robson.

For £15 million you could get Hasselbaink, although given that he put most of his effort into whinging at Wise and fouling Hughes, Jimmy Floyd did not look anything like that valuation. He had two reasonable chances: the first he nodded over from six yards 10 minutes before halftime, the second in the final minute he dithered over allowing Hughes and Shay Given to block.

Neither was the result of particularly flowing play. Two seasons ago Vialli was the centre-forward for a Chelsea team that came to St James' Park top of the league in January and won 1-0 with a Dan Petrescu goal. At the time it was heralded, not least by Chelsea, as a result that showed they could win the Premiership. They finished third but got into the Champions League. Six of that team featured here. Each one must notice the difference.

Newcastle: Given, Barton, Goma, Dyer, Shearer, Speed, Solano (Gavilan 85), Cordone, Hughes, Gallacher (Ameobi 70), Charvet. Subs Not Used: Griffin, Harper, McClen.

Chelsea: Cudicini, Panucci, Leboeuf, Desailly, Hasselbaink, Wise, Le Saux, Melchiot (Morris 78), Di Matteo, Flo (Zola 82), Harley (Dalla Bona 83). Subs Not Used: Hitchcock, Gudjohnsen. Booked: Flo, Panucci.

Referee: G Poll (Tring).