A derby that used to arouse so much passion, with fans choking
on the cordite unleashed by tough guys like Chopper Harris and Dave
Mackay, yesterday produced only the dampest of damp squibs. Even
with six Londoners starting and significant Premiership positions
at stake, the only real fire came from Chelsea's manager, Jose
Mourinho, who afterwards castigated Spurs for daring to defend
brilliantly.
Instead of taking Spurs' cautious, counter-attacking approach as a
compliment to his much-praised Chelsea hosts, Mourinho went on the
offensive. "Tottenham might as well have put the team bus in front
of their goal," Mourinho said. "Sometimes when you are a big club,
a very small club comes to your stadium. Tottenham got a point they
shouldn't.
"We wanted to play. They didn't. We wanted to score. They didn't.
Every time they just kicked the ball away. It is frustrating for
me, my players, for every Chelsea supporter and for every football
supporter. Because people don't pay to see one team play and the
other team falling down, demanding to see the medical
department.
"There were five minutes of added time at the end. For me, there
should have been 15. If you had stopped the watch every time they
fell down, there would have been 15 minutes. [Thimothee] Atouba was
down injured for five minutes and then took five minutes to walk
off the pitch. The referee has to protect against this.
"We finished with all our strikers on - Kezman, Duff, Drogba and
Gudjohnsen. You don't finish with so many attackers on if the other
team are also trying to win it. The next time, instead of having
William Gallas and Alexei Smertin on the bench, I will have Adrian
Mutu and Arjen Robben. I don't need defenders."
Mourinho did deign to praise Spurs' defensive rocks. "Ledley King,
[Noureddine] Naybet and [Paul] Robinson were good," conceded the
Portuguese. "But poor Jermain Defoe. Poor boy. He was just chasing
the ball."
Defoe was largely isolated, lacking service, although Spurs did
contrive the best chance of the game. Nine minutes after the break,
the busy Simon Davies whipped in a fine cross from the right to
Robbie Keane, whose neat header brought a marvellous save from Petr
Cech.
It was a rare flurry of activity in the Czech goalkeeper's box; ivy
could have grown up and along the woodwork such was the scarcity of
visits from Spurs. "It is very difficult for a keeper who has only
to sit in a chair all game because the ball does not come near
him," Mourinho added.
His words were accompanied by the sound of pots and kettles
arguing. Mourinho's old Porto side were not averse to time-wasting
or taking the odd tumble; just ask Martin O'Neill when his Celtic
team met them in the 2003 UEFA Cup final in Seville.
Jacques Santini, the Spurs head coach, responded with commendable
wryness to Mourinho's accusation of spoiling tactics. "If Mr
Mourinho is winning 1-0 at Highbury, it is possible he would do the
same," Santini said. "I understand he is not happy because they
missed a chance to go level with Arsenal at the top. When we play
against a big and good team, we have to defend. When we played
Norwich, it was the other way round; Norwich defended. It was very
important for my young team to get a point." Particularly as Spurs'
record against Chelsea is atrocious. It is now 29 league games
since Tottenham last vanquished Chelsea.
Good defending deserves applause and King was again outstanding,
dominating on the ground and in the air. Chelsea still had chances.
Eidur Gudjohnsen hit the post. If Didier Drogba's radar had been
working, or Robinson been less alert, the Chelsea striker could
have had a hat-trick. Duff's introduction brought width but no end
of crosses could erase the noughts.
Look at some of Mourinho's comments. What a joke. And Santini's
response.