Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho unleashed a brutal assessment of
his side's problems after watching them drop two home points at
Stamford Bridge for the second time in four days in a 2-2 draw
against west London neighbours Fulham.
The Portuguese coach was scathing about his side's inability to
defend and, in another damning blow for £30million striker Andriy
Shevchenko, he claimed his side possessed just one in-form striker
in Didier Drogba.
Carlos Bocanegra's 84th-minute equaliser earned Fulham a
well-deserved point to leave the Blues six points adrift of
Manchester United at the top of the Barclays Premiership.
But Mourinho had more pressing problems on his mind after watching
his side's woeful defending.
They have now conceded eight goals since captain John Terry was
sidelined with a back injury and Mourinho fumed: 'I am disappointed
because we didn't get the result we wanted, but not so disappointed
because it is not a big surprise for me.
'Everybody knows in this moment that Chelsea cannot defend. I am
the first one to know that.
'Maybe we are not as good as we think, maybe I am not such a good
manager, maybe the players are not such good players.
'When the game goes on and the opponent sees one mistake, and
another mistake, and another mistake, they smell the chance.
'It is exactly the opposite of previous times for us. Teams knew
they couldn't score against us and we could dominate matches, now
they know they can.
'They chased the luck and the luck came. But Paulo Ferreira is not
a central defender so he does what he can.
'Hilario is our third-choice goalkeeper and in my opinion he does
what he can to the maximum. Ricardo Carvalho is the only central
defender we have and he is doing the maximum he can, because he
knows he is the only one to play there.'
Mourinho felt his side could have put the match out of sight early
on but wasted numerous chances.
'In the first 15 minutes of the game we had five chances to score,
some of them with an open goal, and the first time Fulham attacked,
we gave them a goal - this is Chelsea at the moment.
'When the game goes to the last 15 minutes and the opponent puts
more pressure on us, we cannot cope with that pressure and concede
the second goal.
'The way teams play in this country you need very strong central
defenders in the air. I think if you play with this defence in
another championship, or even (in the) Champions League, it is not
a big deal.
'But in this country everybody has tall, strong strikers. They put
the ball in the box. We do not dominate the game in the air.
'What can you do with (Michael) Ballack? Nothing. What can you do
with Geremi? Nothing. The players have no qualities adapted to the
game opponents are playing against us - it is as obvious as
that.
'In attack, in this moment, we have one player performing and
scoring goals. All the other players are not performing well
enough. That is obvious.
'But we cannot defend, we concede incredible goals, and in attack
we have one player.'
But when asked whether his defensive problems would persuade him to
move into the transfer market in January, Mourinho said he would
not ask billionaire owner Roman Abramovich to pay big money for
players who were not worth an inflated fee.
Mourinho added: 'If the club asks for my opinion, I would say `yes'
to new players but at the same time, when I see the eyes of some
clubs and they want incredible money for very ordinary players, I
would say `no'.
'A normal player is a normal player. You cannot pay a fortune, so
if it is like that, we go with the players we have.
'It is difficult but I hope that John Terry and Petr Cech are back
soon. I don't need millions next month, I need the best goalkeeper
and the best central defender in the world back.'
Mourinho also fears he has lost England midfielder Joe Cole for the
rest of the season.
Cole, who has a stress fracture of the foot, has been advised to
undergo surgery by the club doctor but Cole has yet to make his
mind up.
The Portuguese said: 'Joe Cole, I think is an injury forever or at
least for the season.
'He has a stress fracture and has to make a decision about surgery
or no surgery. I don't know his decision but time flies.
'He has an opinion from our doctor which is surgery but we are
waiting for the player to make his decision.'
Moritz Volz scored the 15,000th Premiership goal to put Fulham
ahead on 17 minutes but an own goal by Liam Rosenior 10 minutes
before half-time levelled matters.
Drogba then became only the fourth player in a decade to score 20
goals a season when he put Chelsea in front for the first time in
the game in the 61st minute.
It was his sixth goal in as many games but that was cancelled out
by Carlos Bocanegra's 84th minute effort that earned Fulham a
well-deserved point.
