Mourinho must assess his strength and depth

The one thing Jose Mourinho took from the 1-0 defeat at Anfield was a rich new topic for his analytical mind: failure. Liverpool ended his perfect record in European football that began in the late summer of 2002, when his Porto side set off on their eventually triumphant Uefa Cup campaign with a tie against Polonia.

The manager, who yesterday extended his contract with Chelsea until 2009, has at last come across opponents he could not outwit. Liverpool pointed out certain flaws in his team, even if those weaknesses should not be exaggerated.

Soft heartedness is no excuse for soggy thinking and anyone who believes that Chelsea's wealth will be overcome on a regular basis by Anfield emotionalism is bound for horrible disillusionment next season.

Mourinho's side have failed against Liverpool, but the outcome will only make him think more acutely about matters that were already on his mind.

There have been advantages in using a relatively small and therefore unified squad, but unsuspected weaknesses have been costly when there are no alternatives available. Despite his unhappiness over the Liverpool goal, Mourinho will eventually have to admit that it was feeble of Chelsea to demand only a single, major save from Jerzy Dudek in the three hours of the tie.

It is too convenient merely to curse the loss of Damien Duff and, to all intents and purposes, Arjen Robben. Chelsea, for all their means, could not come up with any other way of giving width to their attacks. Even so, it is a fault that Chelsea's remaining personnel did not fit into an alternative system.

Mourinho, wonderful manager as he is, ought to be blamed slightly. With Petr Cech and Robben bought before his appointment, his own recruitment record at Chelsea is patchy.

Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho, the best of his signings, are players he had known well at Porto. The strike rate with the more speculative transfers has been moderate.

Didier Drogba makes spectators wince at least as often as he makes defenders flinch. Despite his helpful 16 goals so far this season, his touch can vary widely from one game to the next and his finishing is rarely clinical. Mateja Kezman is another disappointment. This sniffer out of goals for PSV Eindhoven has never caught the scent at Chelsea.

Drogba and Eidur Gudjohnsen might each have hit the away goal that was required at Anfield, but the Premiership winners never dominated the tie as they ought to have done. The season has taken a greater toll of Chelsea than anyone had envisaged.

While legs churn and ground has been covered, the team's play has generally been leaden since the wins over Bayern Munich.

The excitement and anxiety that are bound up with achievement have drained Chelsea, but Mourinho cannot let this fade to occur again at Stamford Bridge.

There might have to be a tense discussion with the fitness coach, who is meant to tune the condition of the squad.

Whether or not he is wearing a gadget inside a woolly hat, Rui Faria could get another word in his ear from Mourinho.