GROUP D: Apoel Nicosia V Chelsea:CHELSEA'S DISMAYED players conducted a heartfelt inquest in the dressingroom at Wigan's DW Stadium on Saturday following the first defeat of Carlo Ancelotti's reign and are aiming to take out any lingering frustrations on Apoel Nicosia here this evening.
The surprise loss to Wigan saw Manchester United usurp the Londoners at the top of the Premier League, with the game against the Cypriots offering a swift test of Chelsea’s powers of recovery. Apoel secured an unexpected goalless draw at Atletico Madrid in their opening group game and the visiting players are intent on showing more “work rate” and “effort”, qualities John Terry castigated them for lacking against the Latics.
“Everybody spoke at half-time and at the end in the dressingroom,” said Florent Malouda, reflecting on Saturday’s events. “The players all knew it wasn’t a good performance and not to the level we expect. Yes, there was anger amongst us. When you lose the way we lost, nobody can be happy. We spoke and now we have the opportunity to act.
“Against Wigan we were always reacting to situations and were late with everything. Everything that could go wrong did. We didn’t put all the ingredients in to win as we had in the first six games of the season. We know that, even if we are a good team, if we don’t put in all those ingredients we won’t win. Every team we come up against is organised and wants to beat us. If we’re not prepared for that, we can have trouble against any side. But now we have an opportunity in another competition.”
Given the similarities between this Chelsea squad and that overseen by Luiz Felipe Scolari last season, there are clear concerns that a first taste of defeat could prompt a similar unravelling of form and confidence as that endured by the Brazilian at the turn of the year.
“But I don’t want to know what happened last season,” said Ancelotti. “I am focused on this season. We lost one game, but that can happen. We have to fix it for the next game.”
“No one questioned us before that first defeat and we’re not suddenly going to lose every game now,” added Malouda. “We know what we are capable of. We spoke on Saturday because it was not a good performance but we always analyse our mistakes even after victories. We want to correct what is wrong, and this is a chance to start another winning run.”
It remains a chance for the likes of Salomon Kalou and Branislav Ivanovic to impress in the absence of the suspended Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa. Joe Cole and Deco will begin on the bench as they recover from illness and a calf injury respectively, and Ashley Cole’s fitness is still being assessed. The full-back was carried off on Saturday after suffering a gash to his right knee. He trained with his team-mates last night, wearing a protective pad on the joint, but Yuri Zhirkov could yet be handed a first Champions League start for his new club.
Logic suggests this evening’s contest will ease Chelsea back into form. The Cypriots may have excelled in Madrid, but they have been denied four key players through injury for this tie – including their principal goal threat, Adrian Sikora – with their coach, Ivan Jovanovic, claiming yesterday the Londoners are “one of the top three or four teams in the world”.
Apoel have never confronted English opponents before, but at least one of their number will be vaguely familiar. Nuno Morais followed Jose Mourinho from Portugal to Stamford Bridge in 2004, making nine appearances – albeit only one start – in three years before leaving for Cyprus.
Guardian Service
Venue:GSP Stadium Kick-off: 7.45 On TV: Setanta Ireland Sky Sports 2
