CHELSEA assistant boss Steve Clarke hailed new boy Steve Sidwell
as the "best player on the pitch" - but the Blues still lost their
unbeaten pre-season record.
Late goals from Nacho Novo and Filip Sebo clinched Rangers' perfect
warm-up for Wednesday's Champions League second-round qualifier
against FK Zeta.
But Clarke insists Ashley Cole's return from injury - plus roles
for summer recruits Sidwell, Tal Ben Haim and Claudio Pizarro -
made up for Chelsea's defeat a week before their Community Shield
clash against Manchester United.
He said: "Ashley Cole came back after a long time out. It was a
good training session for John Terry, who hasn't trained for three
days with a broken toe, so for him to get 90 minutes at that tempo
and that pace was good.
"Claudio Pizarro coming in, he has only trained with the group four
times and had another chance to link up with the players and
understand what we want from him and how we play. They are all
positives.
"I thought Steve Sidwell was the best player today. I thought he
was excellent, a good acquisition for us. He strengthens the squad
and gives us other options.
"Tal Ben Haim was excellent in the first half. He made a few
mistakes towards the end of the game but that's fatigue. Don't
forget, he played in three positions.
"He started the game at centre-back, he played left-back and then
we moved him to right-back."
Clarke added: "There were pleasing aspects, although the result was
disappointing. We don't like to lose any match but, at this stage
of the season, there are other priorities.
"We don't select easy games for pre-season. If we want to win 3-0,
4-0, 5-0, we can go to other places and find easy games.
"We played in Feyenoord on Wednesday night, it's a difficult place
to go. Ibrox is a difficult place to play. Now we go to Brondby on
Tuesday, another away match and always difficult.
"We are always looking to challenge our players and give them
different aspects.
Maybe we will come up against Rangers again in the Champions League
so now they have a feel of the place and they understand what it's
about."
Clarke admitted Rangers looked livelier, saying: "I think they
showed that they are a little more advanced in their pre-season
preparations than we are.
Obviously they have a big game on Tuesday night and they look
sharp, they look ready for it.
"They finished the game a little stronger than us, they caught us a
couple of times on the counter-attack and they looked a bit quicker
and sharper towards the end. That's the two various stages of
pre-season.
"I thought all round their performance was good. They worked very
hard in the first half when we had a lot of possession. Their shape
was good.
"They changed their formation a little bit in the second half and
brought some good pace into the team and caused us a different
problem.
"From that aspect, the fact that they changed systems and we had to
change to adapt, it was a good training match."
Novo smashed home off a post on 86 minutes following Chris Burke's
surging run.
Then, barely 60 seconds later, Sebo thundered home the clincher,
albeit via a big deflection.
That double left Gers buoyed, whereas Chelsea are still below their
usual efficiency.
John Terry, fresh from signing a new five-year deal which
reportedly makes him England's highest-paid player on £130,000 a
week, recovered from a toe injury in time to lead out the Stamford
Bridge side at Ibrox.
Summer signings Florent Malouda, Sidwell and Ben Haim were also
named in the starting line-up.
Arjen Robben's absence from the squad was the result of a knee
injury rather than speculation of an imminent move to Real Madrid
for the Dutch winger.
The 11 players named by Walter Smith were identical to the line-up
selected by the Rangers manager for Tuesday's friendly against
Ajax, suggesting he has now settled on the team likely to begin the
new Clydesdale Bank Premier League campaign which gets under way in
Inverness a week today.
Before then, Rangers take on Zeta on Tuesday.
Apparently, no-one was willing to take their place in Smith's plans
for granted though and Rangers hassled and harried their glamorous
visitors from the first whistle.
Jean-Claude Darcheville, the man dubbed 'The Rocket', left Terry in
his wake when he exploded down the flank and left the side-netting
shuddering from the impact of his right-footed effort.
Sasa Papac then sliced a diagonal ball into the path of Kris Boyd
but the move was easily read by Petr Cech, the Chelsea goalkeeper
racing off his line to smother before the striker had the chance to
pull the trigger.
*
'Jose, thanks for Seville' proclaimed a banner among the
near-capacity crowd, referencing Mourinho's triumph as Porto
manager over Rangers' bitter rivals Celtic in the 2003 UEFA Cup
final.
But, on the pitch at least, the love-in was about to come to an
end.
A cynical Barry Ferguson foul on Malouda earned the Rangers captain
a quiet word in his ear from referee Stuart Dougal, as well as a
sneaky push from Didier Drogba. Malouda responded with a scything
tackle on Ferguson minutes later.
The former Lyon man then turned his focus back to the football,
flighting a cross onto the head of Drogba, whose header flashed
across the face of goal and past the upright.
Malouda also tried his luck before the break, his long-range strike
whistling past the static Allan McGregor and harmlessly wide.
Half-time prompted a flood of substitutions, Chelsea making four
changes and Rangers making six, handing a home debut to former
Manchester United and West Ham goalkeeper Roy Carroll.
Ashley Cole came on for his first appearance since an ankle
operation in the summer, replacing Glen Johnson early in the second
half.
Terry picked up the first booking of the game for tangling with
Sebo before the striker, famous for his failings at Rangers last
season, somehow managed to mis-kick in front of goal from eight
yards after being released by Nacho Novo.
At the other end, Carlos Cuellar was in the right place at the
right time to block a point-blank shot from Claudio Pizarro on the
line before the new Chelsea recruit tested Carroll with a stinging
effort seconds later.
It was Rangers who netted twice as the game raced towards its
conclusion. The flashes of brilliance widely expected from
Chelsea's superstars failed to illuminate the match as much as the
luminous yellow strips they wore.
