Sunday Times

Chelsea on a Sky Blues cruise
Coventry 0 Chelsea 2

Joe Lovejoy at Ricoh Arena

CHELSEA moved routinely into the semi-finals of the FA Cup with their
fifth win in as many matches under Guus Hiddink, but the new manager’s
100% record is sure to come in for a much sterner test than this in
Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Juventus. Nicolas Anelka,
absent yesterday with a foot injury, may be fit for the trip to Turin.

Coventry’s Chris Coleman said beforehand that the Premier League team
would need to be at their best to win at the Ricoh Arena, which was
sold out for the first time since it was opened in 2005. He was wrong.

Chelsea hardly had to change out of second gear to dispose of
disappointingly poor opposition, whose performance reflected their
status in the bottom half of the Championship. Coleman’s post-match
complaint that the referee, Steve Bennett, had been “too smug and
friendly” with the Chelsea players and had “talked down” to the home
team had the sour-grapes taste of a bad loser.

Coventry have lost to Sheffield United, Derby and Cardiff recently,
and how they accounted for Blackburn in the last round of the Cup is a
mystery after this performance. Hiddink was spot on when he spoke of
“a very good end to a normal day’s work”. He added: “I thought we
controlled the game well and made a beautiful second goal which killed
it.”

The outcome was never in doubt from the 15th minute, when Scott Dann,
Coventry’s centre-half and captain, feebly surrendered possession to
the resurgent Didier Drogba, whose powerful, driven finish provided
him with his third goal in the last four matches.

Drogba immediately ran to Michael Essien, whose return, after a
six-month absence, was Chelsea’s post-match focus. Essien, who
replaced John Obi Mikel after 64 minutes, is a more accomplished
option for the midfield anchor role, and Hiddink intends to restore
him to the starting line-up sooner rather than later. Chelsea’s second
goal, which removed any lingering hopes the home crowd may have
entertained, came in the 72nd minute when Ricardo Quaresma’s break and
cross from the right enabled the charging Alex to score with an
emphatic finish at the far post.

Coventry were tediously reliant on the long ball and their most
dangerous weapon was Aron Gunnarsson’s long throw, so it was not
without irony that the second goal started from one of these howitzer
hurls from the Icelander, cleared by Michael Ballack for Quaresma to
break away and centre to the onrushing Alex. Much was made by Coleman
of the fact that Alex and Drogba had been off the field receiving
treatment for a clash of heads and were allowed back on too early when
Gunnarsson took the throw. It was a moot point, and not one of major
consequence.

The two goals apart, the best chance saw Frank Lampard’s dipping free
kick from distance tipped over the bar by Kieran Westwood for the save
of the match. Coventry’s outstanding opportunity came midway through
the first half when Leon Best, playing in a protective mask, left Alex
on his backside and evaded John Terry, only to shoot as if the mask
was a blindfold. Clinton Morrison’s finishing was similarly woeful
late on.

Hiddink said that he had fined Ashley Cole for being drunk and
disorderly in the early hours of Thursday morning but, after
“assessing all the facts”, he had not considered dropping him. It had
been “a little thing we had to cope with” and the issue was now
closed. The manager preferred to discuss the return of Essien and
Ricardo Carvalho, who was an unused substitute here, which had brought
his squad back up to something approaching full strength. Of Drogba’s
improved form, Hiddink said: “From the first day, when I saw him in
our Cup tie at Watford, and after that in training, he has been
working very hard. I don’t know what happened before I came, but I
haven’t had any complaints about his attitude or his commitment.

“I have devised a specific programme for him to work on his
positioning. I don’t have to force him to do that extra work, he does
it willingly.”

Last night, Hiddink had already turned his attention to Tuesday
evening, arriving back at his west London home in time to watch the
Turin derby between Juventus and Torino. No doubt he was pondering a
starting role return for Essien. “I have many hours between now and
the start of the Juve game to make a decision,” he said. “It is very
good to have him back. You could see today he played 30 minutes but he
has to pick up the game rhythm. The other players in the team you can
see have the game rhythm.”

Coleman said: “This was the biggest game for the club at this new
stadium, but we need to move on. It is going to be difficult against
Bristol City on Tuesday, but we’ve got to get back on it. We will have
to get back to reality.”

COVENTRY: Westwood 6, Wright 5, Dann 4, Turner 5, Hall 5, Henderson 6,
Doyle 5 (Beuzelin 59min, 5), Gunnarsson 7, Eastwood 5, Best 5,
Morrison 5

CHELSEA: Cech 6, Bosingwa 6, Alex 6, Terry 6, A Cole 6, Ballack 6,
Mikel 5 (Essien 64min), Lampard 6, Kalou 5 (Quaresma h-t, 6), Drogba 7
(Di Santo 80min), Malouda 4



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Telegraph:


Chelsea too strong for Coventry and ease in to FA Cup semi-finals

Never mind Cardiff’s heroics last year, when the cream of the Premier
League take the FA Cup seriously there can, sadly, only be one
outcome. Hence, there was never much likelihood of Coventry upsetting
Chelsea, let alone threaten the class of ’87’s unrivalled place in Sky
Blues history.

By Clive White

Now it’s back to the long shot of Championship promotion and a match
at Ashton Gate for Chris Coleman’s side while Guus Hiddink’s team
moves on to the San Siro on Tuesday, dreaming of European glory. As a
preparation for their match with Juventus this tie was next to useless
– unless, of course, Claudio Ranieri is of a mind to get his Italian
all-stars to start pumping it long like Coventry.

The ingredients for an upset yesterday were all there on Coventry’s
side: they have been in good form at home recently, beating the
Championship’s top two Wolves and Birmingham, not to mention Blackburn
Rovers in the previous round. Coleman was confident and it wasn’t
difficult to see how the Ricoh Arena could become a cauldron for the
opposition if Coventry’s tails were up. Perhaps they just needed a
lucky break, say, a deflection into Petr Cech’s goal off someone’s
knee, a la Gary Mabbutt in ’87. No, on second thoughts, perhaps not.

Chelsea were just too good, which is not to say they were great, even
if Hiddink did punctuate his post-match comments with liberal use of
the word “beautiful”, as the Dutch tend to do. They gave the
impression they had an extra engine in reserve never mind extra gears
had Coventry come up with something special. Coleman admitted as much,
but did have one or two gripes afterwards.

Firstly, he criticised referee Steve Bennett’s decision to allow two
Chelsea players – Didier Drogba and Alex – back onto the field of play
prematurely after sustaining injury, from which point Chelsea broke
upfield and scored the match-clinching second goal – through Alex -
and secondly, he objected to what he saw as Bennett’s smugness.

“He was too smug towards us,” said Coleman. “Talking to my players –
my senior players – they were saying he was very, very friendly with
some of the Chelsea boys. I understand it’s Chelsea and sometimes you
can be in awe of great players – and they are great players – but he
had to do a job. They [the Coventry players] weren’t happy with him,
they weren’t happy with his attitude.”

Instead of the flying start, which City so desperately needed, they
got a false one. A backward header by Ben Turner to Scott Dann after
15 minutes should have presented no difficulty to the Coventry
captain, but instead of dealing with it emphatically, he dallied and
was dispossessed by Drogba. The Chelsea striker is in the mood these
to make his own chances without being handed one on a plate and he
nonchalantly took the ball wide of Keiren Westwood in goal before
wellying home his sixth goal of the season.

“He is dangerous,” said Hiddink, who does a nice line in
understatement, “and it is good for the whole group that we have him
back. He still makes little mistakes, but he can improve. For me he is
a guy who has been working hard from day one. I don’t want to judge
what happened before.”

Coventry’s back four never really recovered from that and the insides
of an old central defender like Coleman must have been churning on the
touchline. Coventry didn’t want for effort but the quality just wasn’t
there. Once in the first half Leon Best, the hero of their win over
Blackburn, went on a winding run that his namesake would have been
proud but then finished with a shot that was more Clyde Best than
George Best.

At times in the first half it was as much as Coventry could do to get
out of their own half never mind threaten Cech’s goal; perhaps it was
his lurid orange outfit that repelled them. About the closest Coventry
came to making a game of it was when Clinton Morrison came within
inches of connecting with a speculative overhead kick to a long throw
from Aron Gunarsson after 66 minutes.

Four minutes later the game was up for them. Drogba and Alex banged
heads in the Chelsea area – not that they needed to – and had to wait
on the touchline for permission to return to the fray after treatment,
which they did a little too promptly for Coleman’s liking. To make
matters worse, Drogba was the one who sent substitute Ricardo Quaresma
on his way with a right-wing break and from his cross Alex powered
home like the goalscorer he isn’t.



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Mail:


Coventry 0 Chelsea 2: Coventry give up without a fight as Hiddink's
men stay on the trophy trail
By PATRICK COLLINS

A few moments after the final whistle, Guus Hiddink was asked for his
reaction to reaching an FA Cup semi-final. He said he was pleased with
the result and satisfied with the performance. He added: 'Coventry are
not a difficult team to play.'
The Chelsea coach realised his error immediately. He winced,
apologised for his English and insisted that Coventry had, in fact,
been extremely difficult opponents. And although Hiddink seems an
honest man, nobody believed him.
For Chelsea's progress to the last four was almost indecently simple.
They went through their paces, ticked their boxes, completed their
chores and accepted their reward without spilling a drop of surplus
sweat.

The anticipated gap in class was revealed as a chasm. They have surely
experienced more arduous examinations on the training ground. Even
those of us who still detect a dusting of magic in the oldest Cup
competition in the world cannot begin to defend such palpable
mismatches at the quarter-final stage.
It is traditional to console the underdogs by claiming that they gave
it a real go, never conceded an inch, did themselves proud. In
reality, none of those cliches rings particularly true.

Coventry were unduly cautious, indifferently organised and utterly
devoid of guile. Take away the odd, vaguely neanderthal long throw
from Aron Gunnarsson and they offered nothing to hurt Chelsea.
Not until the game was dead and buried in the last 15 minutes did they
even contemplate genuine enterprise as opposed to dour containment.

Coventry's manager Chris Coleman, while admitting that his men had
been beaten out of sight by a vastly superior football team, erected a
daft little smokescreen by suggesting that the referee Steve Bennett
had been on overly friendly terms with the Chelsea stars, that he had
spoken dismissively to the honest yeomen of Coventry.
In short, that he had been a trifle 'smug'. It was a curious
distraction, almost Warnockian in its paranoia, and the best we can
say is that his heart was not really in it.
He had been rather more frank in his programme notes, where he
announced: 'We have always said that the League is the most important
thing.' Which is rather sad, if undeniably true.
The Coventry public were rather more enthusiastic. They maintained the
noise from start to finish, bawling their support for a lost cause and
cheerfully abusing their Chelsea player of choice.

Frank Lampard was lightly burned and Didier Drogba energetically
derided. But, inevitably, the heaviest flak was reserved for Ashley
Cole. Throughout the 90 minutes, his every touch was greeted with a
barrage of boos.
He affected indifference, but on occasion he looked quite hurt. For
Ashley knows, better than most, just what boos can do to a man.
Yet these diverting sideshows could not divert the inevitable course
of the game. Within two minutes of a dire first half, Drogba was
whipping a self-made opportunity past the far post.
After 15 soporific minutes, an innocuous ball came drifting towards
the Coventry back line. Scott Dann had two chances to clear, and
declined both. Drogba seized the subsequent chance with punitive
efficiency.

From there on, it became a lesson in pass and move, with Chelsea
possession secure beyond challenge and the odd half-chance emerging
from their total domination.
The wonder was that half-time arrived with only a goal's difference
between the sides, the more so since Coventry's central defenders were
the football equivalent of 'walking wickets'.
Chelsea brought on Ricardo Quaresma for Salomon Kalou at the interval,
and later felt sufficiently at ease to involve the massively
influential Michael Essien for the last 25 minutes. Six minutes later,
the game was put to bed.
It was a curiously assembled goal. Drogba and his central defender
team-mate Alex clashed heads inside the Chelsea box. After treatment,
they demanded to return as Gunnarsson wound himself up for yet another
throw.

Referee Bennett held them back, then waved them on as the ball was
contested. It was knocked clear to Quaresma, who made urgent strides
down the right, saw the pass early and played it perfectly.
Alex, careering forward, met the cross with a striker's precision.
Poor old Coleman worked hard to find something sinister in Bennett's
conduct at that throw but, once again, his heart was not in it.
So Chelsea came sauntering home, with a Wembley semi-final secure and
Juventus appearing on their radar for a Champions League collision on
Tuesday.
Their season could yet be memorable, as they continue to fight on
several fronts. But one thing is certain: the next few weeks will
offer all manner of tests. And every one will be infinitely more
demanding than yesterday's gentle stroll in the Warwickshire sunshine.

COVENTRY (4-3-1-2): Westwood; Wright, Dann, Turner, Hall; Henderson,
Doyle (Beuzelin 59min), Gunnarsson; Eastwood; Morrison, Best. Subs
(not used): Marshall, Ward, Osbourne, McPake, Simpson, Thornton.
Booked: Beuzelin.
CHELSEA (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, A Cole; Ballack, Mikel
(Essien 65), Lampard; Kalou (Quaresma 46), Drogba (Di Santo 80),
Malouda.
Subs (not used): Hilario, Carvalho, Quaresma, Belletti, Mancienne.
Referee: S Bennett (Kent).



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Indy:


No romance for Coventry as Hiddink's honeymoon goes on

Coventry City 0 Chelsea 2

By James Corrigan at the Ricoh Arena

Five out of five and at least one visit to Wembley booked in for the
fans. Guus Hiddink's first four weeks in charge must now be credited
as being the start of dreams. Of a billionaire's dream at that. In
truth, though, anything but advancement from this rather dull FA Cup
quarter-final would have been disappointing for Guy the Gorilla, never
mind Guus the Genius; particularly as Hiddink fielded his strongest
XI. With the Champions' League return leg at Juventus looming on
Tuesday, it was, as the Coventry manager, Chris Coleman, called it,
"the greatest compliment".

Perhaps Hiddink was thinking back to the club's humiliating exit at
the same stage against Barnsley last year; or perhaps he was expecting
rather more from a Coventry side who never truly managed to raise
themselves above their Championship standing. Then again, maybe
Hiddink truly does hold the old competition in such high esteem. "We
don't have priority for the Champions' League," he said. "The FA Cup
is not just respected in England but worldwide."

Certainly it would have been no surprise to see him "rest" Ashley Cole
after his arrest outside a West End nightspot in the early hours of
Thursday morning. Hiddink maintained that after "addressing the issue"
with the England defender he did not think about dropping him – "not
for a single moment". As it was, Cole's performance was both sober and
orderly; a description that neatly summed up Chelsea.

Coleman billed it as "the biggest game in the history of this
stadium", which seeing as it has been in use since August 2005 was not
the grandest of statements. Nevertheless, this was the first time the
Ricoh Arena had been at capacity. Well, that is not strictly true, as
Oasis had also managed to raise the sold-out signs. Coleman was
certainly looking back in anger about the referee's display.

"I was disappointed with [Steve] Bennett," said the Welshman. "He was
too smug towards us. Some of my players said he was very friendly to
the Chelsea players. They weren't happy with his attitude."

Coleman admitted Coventry did not exactly help themselves; especially
with the first goal. Just 15 minutes had gone when a boot upfield was
first allowed towards their area by Ben Turner, where it was then
miscontrolled by Scott Dann as the bulk of Didier Drogba was bearing
down on him. The Ivorian's finish from a rapidly diminishing angle –
Drogba's third goal in four games – was one of the game's two moments
of class.

The other came with the lightning-swift break which led to a second
goal that Coleman was to dispute vehemently and Hiddink was to label
"beautiful". Alas, in between the fare was all too ugly as Chelsea
struggled to find the killer ball and Coventry embarked on their wild
Guus chase.

Leon Best created the home side's finest chance with a jinking run
before shooting over, and Frank Lampard and the rejuvenated Drogba
both went close. The game was made to wait until the 72nd minute for
the second goal. Coleman's ire was again directed towards Bennett,
whom he believed waved on Alex and Drogba too quickly when the pair
had been forced to leave the pitch after receiving treatment for a
clash of heads.

Chelsea were down to nine men as they tried to defend one of many Aron
Gunnarsson long throw-ins. But before the ball had bounced the two
Blues were running back on, and within 30 seconds Alex had side-footed
into the net up at the other end following a cross by the substitute
Ricardo Quaresma. It was a bizarre passage, which probably stemmed
from a bizarre law. Even Hiddink admitted: "That rule needs to be
reconsidered."

For now he has more pressing concerns. Nicolas Anelka is doubtful to
figure in Turin, where Chelsea will seek to convert their 1-0
advantage, while he has a quandary about whether to start Michael
Essien. Yesterday the midfielder came on with 25 minutes remaining for
his first action in six months following an anterior cruciate ligament
injury. It was a pleasing sight for the Blues. Indeed, everything
looks that much rosier now.

Attendance: 31,407.

Referee: Steve Bennett.

Man of the match: Drogba.

Match rating: 5/10.


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Observer:


Drogba strikes as Coventry go out with a whimper

Coventry City 0
Chelsea 2 Drogba 15, Alex 72

Paul Wilson at the Ricoh Arena

Didier Drogba scored, Ashley Cole was booed, Michael Essien made his
first appearance for six months and Alex rounded things off with one
of the stranger goals of the season. Oh... and Chelsea ended up in the
FA Cup semi-finals. This was another occasion when the fabled drama
and romance of the competition were somewhere else. ITV might have had
more luck screening a Tic Tac commercial.

Perhaps that is a little harsh on Coventry City, who tried hard
without ever looking remotely in Chelsea's class, though the underdogs
hardly helped themselves by conceding a soft early goal that allowed
the Premier League side to take it easy. "Chelsea are good enough to
make their own goals," Chris Coleman said. "They don't need any help
from us. That was a bit of nerves on our part."

The Coventry manager had promised he did not want to go out of the Cup
with a whimper and felt his team might be able to match their
opponents if one or two of the Chelsea players had an off-day, but
whimper it was and it was the City ­players who had the off-day,
­particularly the centre-back pairing of Scott Dann and Ben Turner.
Dann had already had a lucky escape as early as the second minute when
he let the ball bounce and saw Drogba whisk past him to shoot wide.
But when he repeated the error 13 minutes later the Ivorian striker
was less forgiving.

Turner put his fellow defender under pressure with a weak and
misdirected clearing header, yet even so Dann had time to deal with
the situation but instead allowed Drogba to push him off the ball.
Once goalside the rejuvenated striker expertly rounded Keiren Westwood
and scored from a narrow angle.

That goal killed the game as a contest. Leon Best put Coventry's best
chance of the first half high over the bar and Chelsea came close to
another goal when ­Westwood had to tip over Frank ­Lampard's 25-yard
free-kick. Chelsea operated at half pace for the rest of the game,
perhaps with an eye on their Champions League game in Turin on
Tuesday, and felt comfortable enough to send on Essien for the last
half hour, to feel his way back to match fitness after knee-­ligament
surgery. According to Guus Hiddink, the Ghanaian is unlikely to start
against Juventus and Nicolas Anelka is rated doubtful as well.

By that stage of the second half Coventry were pinning most of their
attacking hopes on long throws from Aron Gunnarsson, rather an odd
sight to behold as the tight sidelines of the Ricoh Arena necessitate
a round-the-corner run-up, a bit like a high jumper approaching the
bar. When Gunnarsson reached the touchline one did not quite know
whether to expect a throw or a Fosbury flop, though one of his lobs
was almost turned in by Clinton Morrison after 70 minutes. His next
one led directly to Chelsea's second goal.

The visitors were forced to defend it with Drogba and Alex off the
field receiving treatment after an accidental collision. Referee Steve
Bennett waved them on as the throw came in, Michael Ballack cleared,
Florent Malouda made space in the middle and found Ricardo Quaresma on
the right, and when the cross came in Alex was on the end after
running the length of the pitch. More bizarre still was Coleman
moaning about it.

"The referee shouldn't have let them back on the pitch so quickly," he
said. "He's supposed to see where the ball bounces first. But my
players weren't very happy with his attitude. He was on very friendly
terms with the Chelsea players and smug towards us."

Unsurprisingly, Hiddink failed to see the logic in that argument. "We
scored a beautiful goal on the counter," he said. "But I do think the
rule needs looking at. We were at a disadvantage, having to defend a
throw with two of our tallest players off the field. Referees should
be able to wait until the teams are equal."

On this evidence, even Coleman must accept that might be a very long wait.


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NOTW:


COVENTRY 0, CHELSEA 2

Didier Drogba is cooking for Guus

From ROB BEASLEY at the Ricoh Arena, 07/03/2009

WHO let the Drog out? Guus Hiddink of course — and Chelsea are now
reaping the richest of rewards.

It’s five wins in row for the Dutch boss and three goals in four for
the infuriating Ivorian. Drogba has been reborn under Chelsea’s
‘interim coach’. The sulky, brooding, malcontent has become a silky,
barn-storming, marauder.

He’s scored as many goals in the last fortnight as he had all season
under the axed Big Phil Scolari. A cynic would say he’s playing to get
away — and Drogba’s certainly hinted at it often enough in recent
times.

But it might just be that a bit of love and comfort from Hiddink has
done far more than the hardline approach of the Brazilian, who
famously banished the Blues striker to train with the youth team after
a 3-0 thrashing at Manchester United.

At the Ricoh arena the ‘old’ Drogba turned up and there’s no doubting
that, at his brilliant best, Drogba is a massive asset for Chelsea, a
tormentor of even the best of defences. Which is why he had so much
fun here in the Midlands.

Because, on this performance, Coventry skipper Scott Dann and poor old
Ben Turner could never be described as top-drawer defenders.

There they were with one man to mark between them and still City’s
centre-backs couldn’t cope. Turner was in turmoil as early as the
second minute when Drogba taunted and teased him to escape in the area
before dragging his shot disappointingly wide. But Drogba was not so
wasteful with 15 minutes gone.

Again he terrorised Turner before committing keeper Kieren Westwood
with a clever feint followed by a fearsome left-foot shot to convert
an early goal and dampen the excitement and expectation of the first
full house at the Ricoh for a football match.

There were 31,407 packed into the ground, including 5,500 travelling
Chelsea fans, who noisily contributed to the atmosphere.That
attendance has been topped only by a concert here by American rockers
Bon Jovi last summer.

Drogba was delighted with his second goal in a week and he ran down
the touchline to the Chelsea bench to share the moment with fit-again
team-mate Michael Essien.

The Ghana international, who has played just two games for the Blues
this season, was back in the squad for the first time since rupturing
knee ligaments playing for his country way back in early September.

It was a demonstration of team togetherness and unity, something
Chelsea have been accused of lacking this term. But the Blues now look
back in business for the business end of the season.

Not that Coventry rolled over and lay down. Boss Chris Coleman would
not allow that. In fact, masked raider Leon Best embarrassed Alex and
Chelsea captain John Terry with a searing 24th-minute run into the box
but then ruined it all by blazing wildly over.

Frank Lampard’s free-kick 10 minutes later was a better lesson in
accuracy. The England star’s drive was arrowing for the top corner
when highly-rated City goalkeeper Westwood threw himself full-length
to his left to touch it past the angle with his fingertips.

That let-off sparked an instant reaction from City — with Freddie
Eastwood smashing a fierce shot. It was Coventry's first on target but
it flew straight into the arms of Petr Cech. Mind you, Chelsea were
labouring to add to their early lead, with Drogba and Salomon Kalou
both off target just before the break.

After the interval City began to hope they could rescue the game. They
began to get a territorial foothold in the Chelsea half and the long
throws of Aron Gunnarsson were the biggest danger to a Chelsea defence
that’s had trouble this term dealing with high balls into the middle.
It raised the noise to unprecedented levels that even Bon Jovi would
have struggled to match but it was from one such long throw that
Chelsea actually killed the game.

Both sides were unhappy with events in the lead-up to the Londoners’
crucial second goal.

Chelsea’s Alex and Drogba clashed heads trying to clear an aerial
assault and crashed to the turf. It looked serious enough for both
Chelsea and Coventry’s physios to race on to the pitch to offer first
aid to the stricken pair. But once they were recovered, referee Steve
Bennett ordered them off the pitch. That left Chelsea to defend a
Gunnarsson special with only nine men — and they were not happy about
it.

But it was soon City’s turn to moan as Chelsea had the last laugh.
Michael Ballack won a towering header to clear the throw and
impressive sub Ricardo Quaresma scampered away down the right to lead
a telling counter-attack.

The on-loan winger then clipped over a superb ball into the middle
where, of all people, Alex was on hand to finish off.

He and Drogba had raced back on to the pitch as soon as Gunnarsson had
launched his latest missile and moments later the Brazilian
centre-back was charging forward to seal an April trip to Wembley for
Chelsea’s third FA Cup semi-final in four years. And with Essien and
Ricardo Carvalho back again they could just be coming good at the
right time.

Both could feature against Juventus in Turin on Tuesday as Hiddink
hunts down silverware on a second front.

Smug

But Chris Coleman accused ref Bennett of being too “friendly” with
Chelsea’s stars and complained: “I was disappointed with Bennett. He
was too smug. My senior players said he was very friendly with the
Chelsea boys.

“I know people respect great players and sometimes they can be in awe of them.”

Coleman was angry over the build-up to Chelsea’s second goal. Drogba
and Alex clashed heads and Bennett ordered the pair off the pitch
while City’s Gunnarsson launched a long throw-in.

But as soon as the ball had left Gunnarsson’s hands they stormed back
on to the pitch as the visitors broke away to score.

Coleman moaned: “I was not happy with the way Alex and Drogba
re-entered the field after treatment. Then who scores Chelsea’s second
goal? Alex!”

Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink was also unhappy. He said: “We had two of
our best headers of the ball off the field when we had to defend a
dangerous situation.”


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