Hiddink rejects criticism of team's tactics

PREMIER LEAGUE: GUUS HIDDINK has rejected Barcelona's complaints that Chelsea had been overly physical in their approach and employed the "tactics of fear" in securing a goalless draw at Camp Nou in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.

Andres Iniesta and Xavi, among others, followed the Catalans’ manager, Pep Guardiola, in denouncing Chelsea’s apparent lack of ambition in Tuesday’s game and argued that the German referee, Wolfgang Stark, should have penalised the visitors for a perceived strong-arm approach.

Yet Hiddink defended his team’s tactics and dismissed Barca’s criticisms as unfounded.

Asked whether Chelsea had employed “tactics of fear”, Hiddink replied: “No, we don’t know fear and we can’t say ‘sorry’ for not conceding a goal. When you play a team like Barcelona you must give resistance. We were not able to play as we wanted, offensively, so we were forced back. Sure, we showed a little bit (of) a lack of initiative in some periods of the game, but many, many teams – big teams – have not been able to resist Barcelona there and conceded three or four goals. We didn’t want to do that. Barcelona should credit themselves that we did not create more.

“We didn’t want to play ‘anti-football’, but their complaints do not surprise me. They are used to scoring, and had done in every game there for a year, so their failure to do so will have been disappointing. Tactically, we did what we had to do and, even then, they had their chances.

“We were outplayed once or twice, and Petr Cech pulled off a good save to stop (Samuel) Eto’o. But, if you can’t easily win, you must not be easily beaten. We’d like to have played a better (attacking) game, but we’ve proved on several occasions this year that this team likes to play football.”

Hiddink cited one challenge from Michael Ballack on Thierry Henry, which earned the German a booking, as his team’s only real misdemeanour. “But that was punished with a yellow card. It’s a man’s game. We don’t like to lose, but to win in a proper way. But if we can’t play in the way we like we don’t throw in the towel.”

Chelsea will rest some key players against Fulham this afternoon with Wednesday’s second leg in mind. Those on the bench could include Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Ballack though Hiddink remains aware that Arsenal must still be fended off to secure a top-three place. Arsène Wenger’s side are six points adrift of their London rivals; they meet at the Emirates next Sunday.

"The first target I had was to get into the Champions League directly for next season," added Hiddink. "That means a place in the top three. The fourth place is a backdoor route (via a qualifier), so we'd rather be fighting for second or third place. It's difficult to make sure all the players stay focused on this game with Fulham – some part of the brain can't avoid thinking about the Barcelona match – but we have to take it very seriously." Guardian Service