Chelsea v Everton:GUUS HIDDINK has admitted the salvage mission with which he was charged upon his appointment as Chelsea's temporary manager has been transformed into a pursuit of a treble, with the FA Cup finalists and Champions League semi-finalists attempting to maintain their Premier League title challenge this evening.
Chelsea welcome Everton to Stamford Bridge tonight in what is in effect a dress rehearsal for next month’s FA Cup final, which the FA announced last night would be refereed by Howard Webb. But despite his side sitting in third place, Hiddink will not follow Manchester United’s lead at the weekend and intends to select a full-strength team. The Dutchman has admitted his primary aim upon taking the reins as Luiz Felipe Scolari’s successor was to secure Champions League qualification for next season but, with that all but achieved, the prospect of claiming the club’s first major silverware since the Jose Mourinho era now beckons.
“Mathematically, the treble is possible,” said Hiddink. “In February we had to make sure we qualified for next year’s Champions League but, being such a big club, you cannot just be satisfied with that. If you’d told us in February we’d be playing in the FA Cup final on May 30th, people would have raised their eyebrows.
“Everybody has done what is expected of him, so you push your targets higher. We are doing that. We pick our strongest team and we will not change our system, but you need a group of 17 competitive outfield players, and we have that. The league is very serious for us and, as long as it’s possible for us (to win it), then we go on.”
Hiddink had taken on a team whose confidence had waned through the final months of Scolari’s brief reign, yet his arrival has served to bolster belief and remind underachieving players of their capabilities. Since then, he has inspired his staff to such an extent that he has players such as Didier Drogba, previously out of favour, willingly doing “the dirty work defending corners” as his team works towards a common goal.
“I wasn’t nervous arriving here,” said Hiddink, who will be without the injured Portugal internationals Deco and Jose Bosingwa tonight. “I was tense and excited to take this job on. There are big names in the group, players who have experienced winning titles, who have played in World Cups and in Champions League finals. But, that first day, my question to them was simple: ‘Are you still hungry?’ I observed and watched them to see if they had that hunger or not, and I didn’t see any attitude problems whatsoever.
“If I had, I would have tackled that from the first minute. If a player is too big for his boots, is lazy or fed up, then you have big problems. Also, if he is too laid-back and does not care much, you have a problem. But I didn’t experience that here. It was a case of saying to them: ‘Regardless of whether your name is big, or what you’ve achieved in the past, let’s go for it now. Don’t be scared of this challenge.’ This group reacts to mutual challenges like that.”
His record to date – 10 wins in 13 games in all competitions, and only one defeat – suggests the experiment of combining duties with the Russian national team has been a success, though Hiddink sees no future in that arrangement. “I’ll be very occupied with Russia at the beginning of next season. I love working here – that’s no secret – but you have to consider that I was with Russia first. If it had been the other way around, then that would be very different. It’ll be up to the board who they choose (to succeed Hiddink) but whoever they choose must know how to deliver a top, high standard of football.”
Chelsea are to sign the highly-rated teenager Philipp Prosenik from Rapid Vienna in the summer. The move represents something of a surprise, with the chief executive, Peter Kenyon, having indicated earlier this season that Chelsea would be pursuing young British rather than continental talent in the future. Whether the club’s director of scouting and youth development, Frank Arnesen, will be at the club next season remains to be seen after the Bundesliga club Schalke 04 earmarked him as a potential successor to the sacked Andreas Muller as their general manager.
Guardian Service
