SOCCER/Chelsea v Juventus:GUUS HIDDINK plunges himself back into the Champions League this evening with an admission that his whirlwind appointment as Chelsea's manager has granted him "no time" to scout Juventus in the flesh, and with injuries already eating into his options for a tie upon which the success of the team's season may depend.
The Londoners are playing catch-up with Manchester United in the Premier League but, while manager and players remain defiant the leaders can be caught, the 10-point deficit already appears unbridgeable. While they remain in contention for the FA Cup, the onus forever placed on Chelsea winning their first European Cup by the owner, Roman Abramovich, ensures the Dutchman’s principal task will be at least to emulate Avram Grant’s achievement in reaching May’s final in Rome.
Juventus, now coached by the former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri, lie second in Serie A and beat Real Madrid twice in the group stage, and so represent daunting opponents in the first knockout phase. “I’ve not seen them play live, but you make your preparation as best you can,” said Hiddink, who won this competition with PSV back in 1988.
“It’s easy for me to say, here, as I said before the Aston Villa game, that I would need two, three or four weeks to observe the team and everything about the club, and then I’d start working. But there’s no time.
“That would be giving myself and the team an excuse not to perform at 100 per cent. That’s not an aspect of top-level sport, to offer excuses. It has to be done in the moment against Villa and now, home and away, against Juventus. Every manager would like four, five or six weeks. But I have to do that in a reduced time, a pressured time. But we have no choice.
“I’d like to underline, we must not give ourselves an excuse because, if we do, there’s a tendency that we go at it a little bit less.”
Hiddink described the competition as “very challenging” and is already discovering his squad may lack the depth of recent seasons. Although Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Essien joined in with training at Stamford Bridge last night, neither is expected to feature, with the Portuguese still recovering from a hamstring problem and the Ghanaian still being re-integrated after knee-ligament damage. Also missing, more surprisingly, will be Deco with a minor hamstring tear.
The new manager will still have enough on the bench, though the lopsided nature of his squad – too many defenders and too few experienced attackers – could be exposed by Deco’s absence. Franco di Santo is the back-up striker.
The short-term nature of the Dutchman’s proposed spell has made him virtually untouchable, though he will be aware this competition has been cruel on his predecessors. Ranieri was condemned by defeat in the semi-final, a stage beyond which Jose Mourinho never progressed. Grant took the team to within inches of the trophy, only for the potentially decisive penalty to rattle a post rather than ripple the net. It remains to be seen whether the side Hiddink inherited from Luiz Felipe Scolari boasts the depth and quality to succeed where previous teams failed.
Certainly, the memory of the defeat on penalties to Manchester United still hurts. Hiddink witnessed that game as a neutral – his players still wince at the thought of John Terry’s pivotal miss. “There’s an added incentive for us because of the manner in which we came so close,” admitted Frank Lampard. “We’re all desperate to get another chance and actually win it.
“Winning at Aston Villa was a start, but only a start. Now this is a tough game for us. We lost at Roma in the group stage, even if we were below the standards we set ourselves that night, and Juventus are having a better season than them in Italy.”
Hiddink has had a chance to prepare his players and put across his own ideas, though results must now be instant. “We know that, to be in this competition after Christmas, you are amongst the elite clubs,” he added. “A club like this needs that much.”
As previous managers can vouch, Chelsea need a lot more.
