FA CUP/Chelsea 4 Cardiff City 1:ADRIFT ON a raft of tabloid allegations regarding his players' private lives, before this match Carlo Ancelotti declared he wished to "judge my players on their professional behaviour". Little wonder he lost his rag at half-time.

The intention of the noon kick-off was to quell any potential crowd trouble and it appeared to have the knock-on effect of troubling Ancelotti’s side on the pitch.

“When we went back into the dressing(room) today the manager was crazy,” Mikel John Obi said. “He went mad at us. We knew we could do better. But we came out in the second half and that’s what we gave him. He shouted at us in English and Italian – everything. When he’s mad he mixes everything up. He was not happy.”

It was not surprising the normally sanguine Italian gave his charges the bilingual what for. Didier Drogba aside they were awful in the opening 45 minutes. Joe Cole was hauled off at half-time – no broken ankle or marital trouble to excuse this England international’s absence from the pitch after the interval. Ancelotti’s assistant, Ray Wilkins, confirmed it was a tactical decision to replace the attacker with Salomon Kalou.

It was Mikel’s lofted pass that sprung the Cardiff defence for Drogba’s second-minute goal, but the Nigeria international admitted things were not right at half-time. Had he been unaware of this fact it seems his manager would have made things crystal clear.

“Normally he’s pretty laid-back. But when things are not going right, that’s when he goes a bit mad. But apart from that he’s very laid-back, a very cool person,” the midfielder said. “We don’t like seeing him like that. So we like to do things right.”

In his programme notes the Chelsea absentee captain, John Terry, thanked the fans for their support and apologised in the opening two paragraphs. ‘Thanks for the unwavering support and sorry for personally shipping those two goals at Everton in midweek.’ Sorry he may have been, but not sorry enough to line up in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

It was almost written in the stars that the captain’s replacement, Alex, would be at fault for Michael Chopra’s equaliser. The Brazil international inexplicably stopped running as Chris Burke’s inswinging cross winged its way into the box. It was hard not to take note that the winger’s cross preceded the skinning of Yuri Zhirkov. To lose one world-class defender may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.

England hope Ashley Cole will be picture perfect come South Africa and his club team-mates are just as keen to get him back – Mikel’s endorsement of Zhirkov was hardly resounding: “Ashley is a very important player for this team,” he said. “He is going to be a big loss for us. We have Yuri who can play there, but Ashley is a very important player. We feel really bad that this has happened to him at this stage of the season . . . But Yuri can do the job.”

Chelsea’s defence did look more solid in the second half, mainly because the attack located their claws and pinned their Championship opponents back. The imperious Drogba laid on goals for Michael Ballack and Daniel Sturridge (who has scored in every round this season) before Kalou rounded off what morphed into a resounding victory with a neat finish under David Marshall.

Joe Cole’s replacement deserved a goal for a performance that added vibrancy to what had been a flaccid attack. Once more England fans will wait anxiously on the rehabilitation of a Chelsea player named Cole – this, however, is not as straightforward as ankle surgery. This, as Wilkins acknowledged, is a confidence issue.

“He is an entertainer and the supporters love to see him do his stuff,” he added. “For individualists like Joe in possession of the ball, it is a confidence thing. If certain things don’t go right then it is just one of those things. It is only a touch of confidence because he is trying to get back to feeling great. That is the first thing, feeling great, because when you are coming back from these injuries you end up with little niggles on the other side because you are overcompensating. Once Joe is up and playing he will be fine.”

Confidence deficiencies, ankle breaks and tabloid scrutiny . . . the lot of Chelsea’s England internationals is a rough one. Perhaps Frank Lampard should be bubble-wrapped until June.