SOCCER/Uefa Champions League:Goals are precious and Chelsea have the greatest horror of squandering them. With Andriy Shevchenko an irregular contributor, it is as if there is a limited supply that must not be used without prolonged forethought. The victory over Liverpool in the home leg of the Champions League semi-final was their 12th 1-0 win of the current campaign. Rafael Benitez' side have a similar mentality but they have won by that score on only five occasions this season.
The Liverpool manager and Jose Mourinho have a conservative attitude. It stems from their personalities and from the exhaustive analysis that has become feasible thanks to technology. Each, too, had a thorough education in living with limitations. Benitez, after a couple of false starts, got his first small success with second division Extremadura.
Mourinho came through at the obscure Uniao Leiria and his Porto were highly improbable winners of the 2004 Champions League. It is in his personality to manage clubs as if the odds are always against them, even when he has all the advantages Chelsea can offer. He could, of course, grumble that there is no alternative when the superstar bestowed on him by Roman Abramovich is the disappointing Shevchenko.
When the Ukrainian striker impresses, as he did while scoring gloriously in the FA Cup replay at Tottenham, it is a false trail bound for another dead end.
Premiership statistics are the chronicle of a footballer's normal work and Shevchenko has scored a mere four times there. The Chelsea centre half Ricardo Carvalho is a goal away from pulling level with him in the league.
No one knows whether Mourinho could ever bring himself to adopt a flamboyant style, but that is not even an option when there is only one striker of constant value, the extraordinary Didier Drogba. It has been rational for the manager to stick to a prudence that comes naturally. While Chelsea remain a high-class team, they realise that there is no need for a spree.
The records show Mourinho's team have put themselves in a strong position by overcoming Liverpool with a single goal. From the 2003-'04 campaign, when Porto triumphed, to the start of this week's semi-finals, half-a-dozen sides had opened by winning the home leg 1-0 in the knockout stages, and Real Madrid alone went on to be eliminated as Juventus regrouped in Turin to beat them 2-0 in 2005.
The evidence demonstrates it is remarkably hard to rally in this situation; on those six occasions Juventus were the only team even to score at their own ground. Benitez will have a keen sense of that without submerging himself in the statistics.
Liverpool, as holders, went out to Benfica last year, losing 1-0 in Lisbon before being beaten 2-0 at Anfield. It was, of course, excruciatingly close early in that second leg and Benitez' team might have levelled on aggregate then.
All the same, the main lesson is that a team without an away goal is under stress on its own patch.
Chelsea are durable enough to ratchet up the tension. They are normally at ease with a 1-0 lead, as they ought to be with all their experience of it, with Petr Cech between the posts and the entire back four in harmony.
Chelsea ought to have extended their lead at Stamford Bridge, but Mourinho's men would not have attempted to go on the rampage even if that had been in their nature. Joe Cole's goal resulted from a counter-attack initiated suavely by Carvalho's pass down the right. Chelsea were happy to invite a punchless Liverpool towards them and then hit on the break.
Those methods suit Chelsea and they have particular merit when the encounter with Bolton tomorrow is their 58th competitive match of the season. As they pursue the FA Cup, Premiership and Champions League, Mourinho's team will not run down whatever energy is left by hurling themselves forward needlessly.
Liverpool might still eliminate Chelsea next week, but they did not drain any vitality from them at Stamford Bridge.
Guardian Service
