SOCCER:Jose Mourinho's shock treatment has resuscitated Chelsea, but with every passing day it seems the voltage he carries crackles too much for his employers.

His remarkable outburst after the 1-1 League Cup semi-final draw against Wycombe Wanderers suggested that he had been denied the players he demanded during the January transfer window, citing "club reasons".

Those reasons surround the desire to make Chelsea's books balance within three years and, for the club that made a £140 million loss in its most recent accounts, the days of multi-million pound stopgaps have passed.

Indeed, the desire to bridge that yawning gulf to sustainability is what prompted Peter Kenyon, the club's principal negotiator, to head to China in a huge promotional campaign this week. The timing of Kenyon's departure, in the second week of the transfer window, is likely particularly to have irked Mourinho.

When asked to deliver his video statement to the Chinese fans, far from showing he buys in to the concept, Mourinho seemed to be displaying his rage against the marketing machine.

The slick performer of the American Express commercials was nowhere to be seen. An unkempt Mourinho apparently made no attempt to disguise that he was reading from an autocue. Intentionally or not, Mourinho's message seemed to be that while his empire burns, Kenyon is fiddling with petty contracts.

Wednesday night's result against a team more than three full divisions below Chelsea, and the repercussions it will have in the matches to come, did little to mollify Mourinho's mood.

"No central defenders, no strikers, no outside-left on the bench," Mourinho said, the first two positions outlining the areas he wanted to strengthen during this month.

"The situation was difficult and we are surviving. We are surviving, but we know it looks like it never ends. We have a lot of problems. Now Ashley Cole is suspended for the next game, and Makelele. I don't see John Terry back. We have problems, but this is about surviving and waiting for a better squad situation and we are surviving well."

Agents were dispatched to sound out Newcastle over the availability of Obafemi Martins, a player Mourinho admires, but they were given short shrift by the Tyneside club. Mourinho must watch wistfully on television as David Villa scores his goals and Frederic Kanoute his, since neither the Valencia nor the Seville striker will be given to him at Chelsea while £20 million-plus prices are quoted.

The salient point for the board is that within a squad with which Mourinho declared himself content six months ago is a £30 million striker in Andriy Shevchenko, who has failed to rediscover the form that three years ago made the Ukraine international a European footballer of the year.

There is particular disquiet among Mourinho's superiors that, rather than offer public succour to a player who has had difficulty in adjusting to the pace of the Premiership, Mourinho chooses to berate him.

But it is not just up front that Mourinho's problems lie. He would have liked to see his chief executive deliver Tal Ben Haim from Bolton. But, chasing a place in the Champions League, Bolton do not wish to sell for less than £3 million and, since the Israeli will be a free agent in six months when his contract expires, that cheque will not be signed.

"I'm not even as lucky as some other people because I don't have in the reserve team defenders with the quality and ready to play for my team," said Mourinho.

"You look at other teams - Glenn Roeder had Huntington, the boy who scored against Manchester United (David Edgar). Other teams have an answer. We have no quality defenders and players ready to play for the first team - they are too young or not good enough to play at this level. I don't even have a second squad to go and pick players."

Yet unlike other managers Mourinho disdains youth and reserve-team football, preferring to concentrate solely on the first team. There is a feeling that, were Mourinho to take a greater personal interest, he might draw more dividends.

His inability to contend with an injury crisis has exposed his limits, and Kenyon, current custodian of the billions that sustain Chelsea, will not ride to the rescue. It is 24 months since Kenyon stated to the City that: "Two years ago we were seen as streets paved with gold. That is over. Chelsea is now being run properly."

Finally, it seems the message has been delivered to the manager.