An Awful Performance; Poor Result.

Jose Mourinho was correct recently when he suggested that Manchester City dropping points at home to Hull City was no surprise. He wasn't belittling the reigning champions. Instead he was stating that in England it is possible for struggling teams to take points off top of the table opposition. So it came to pass again on Saturday past, as Burnley proved to be coupon-busters, defying the form book and punishing lack lustre Chelsea with a late equaliser.

Burnley always had the potential to be a difficult assignment. Peculiarly, they are not the customary sort of team that tries to 'shut up shop' away from home. Instead, urged on by their uncompromising manager, they are committed to attacking, and to hell with the consequences. This guns blazing attitude occasionally works, but because of the frailties of their defence, then their approach more often fails - hence their league position. However, on Saturday afternoon it was Chelsea's frailties that came to the surface, providing Burnley with a comparatively easy ride, and with the impotent home team unable to double their lead, then the door was left ajar for the hosts to get mugged by the 'minnows' from Lancashire.

Ironically, it was a corner kick that provided the source for the equaliser. This is all the more surprising, as Chelsea had only conceded once from a corner all season, and secondly Burnley have been especially weak from corners in recent weeks, as Smalling of ManUre highlighted. It's not difficult to admire Sean Dyche and his Burnley team. They are Premiership paupers, but they are determined to punch above their weight and resist the powerful clubs that they are regularly confronted with. I'd much prefer Burnley to escape relegation, than Aston Villa or the vile QPR.

However, there was more than a slice of good fortune about Burnley's draw. Firstly, their leveller probably owed much to the dismissal of Nemanja Matic. Enjoying a one-man advantage convinced the away team that they could go forward and find the back of the net. This is what ensued about eleven minutes after the big Serb's red card. Jose Mourinho was predictably left fuming at the ordering off of Matic. He described the attempted tackle by Ashley Barnes as "criminal", and pundits such as Pat Nevin and Alan Shearer were fully in agreement. Ordinarily, Matic would command much sympathy for being on the receiving end of a horrific challenge from Barnes, but the FA remain unmoved, merely reducing his ban from three to two matches. Barnes has now provoked Matic into missing out on a cup final appearance at Wembley. This is reprehensible in the extreme, and adding insult to injury, no further disciplinary action is going to be taken against Barnes, even though the FA were quick to impose a ban on Costa for behaviour that was scarcely any worse.

The sense of deep injustice felt by Mourinho is clearly being cranked up even further. The referee Martin Atkinson, by all accounts, had a stinker. He refused to award a penalty to Chelsea for an obvious handball and later for a foul on Costa. It seems that referees are resolved to deny Costa any penalty. If he is fouled outside of the box, then they award a free kick, but if he is felled inside the penalty area, then they decide that he is simply 'looking for a penalty'. To compound the situation, Manchester Mercenaries were able to reduce the Premiership lead to five points, assisted by a second-minute penalty. Furthermore, Tottenham have been granted at least half a dozen penalties since the start of the year. Obviously, referees are more favourably disposed towards certain teams. I reckon that Mourinho's campaign to heap pressure on officials by citing their mistakes is possibly counter-productive because it only strengthens their resolve to defy him. It's as if they are trying to prove that they won't be influenced or intimidated by Jose. His post-match outbursts seem to only succeed in landing him in hot water and rarely move referees into purely impartial decisions on Chelsea penalty claims.

Admittedly I find teams that cry foul of unawarded penalties have simply failed to do enough to win a match from open play and therefore they are relying on assistance from the 'assistants'. If a team scored two or three goals, then the issue of unawarded penalties would be taken out of the equation. However, Chelsea have become alarmingly goal-shy. Were it not for four goals in six matches from the red-hot Ivanovic, then the Blues might be out of the cup final, struggling to stay in Europe, and also in danger of being knocked off the Premiership top perch. 

This result and more particularly the performance has raised a few questions. Is Cuadrado an improvement upon the departed Schurrle? Is he even an improvement upon Marko Marin? Should Branislav Ivanovic be used as a centre forward? Is Costa suffering a dip in form? Has the influence of Fabregas declined? Is Oscar pulling his weight? Answers on a postcard!

Hopefully this miserable performance and result will galvanise the troops ahead of the cup trip to Wembley. With Tottenham having to pay a trip to Italy on Thursday night for a Europa League fixture, then Chelsea have the obvious benefit of no match commitments this week. I really want to see Fabregas and Oscar earn their wages. I hope that Mikel isn't deployed as an inadequate stand-in for the absent Matic. Chelsea can and should defeat Tottenham, but if we produce another average display, then we can expect a repeat of the cup final heartache against the same club back in 2008. I would shove Drogba up front, alongside Costa, from the kick off, but JM appears to regard such a manoeuvre as a last resort, if his team are chasing a goal.

A piece of silverware will be a tremendous boost and a fitting reward for great early season form. Losing to Tottensham Wannabes is not an option.....but perfectly possible! 

CHELSEA 1 Burnley 1; half time: 1-0. Saturday 21st February 2015.

CHELSEA goal scorer: Ivanovic

CHELSEA team: Courtois, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Filipe Luis, Matic, Oscar, Fabregas, Cuadrado, Costa, Hazard. Used substitutes: Willian; Ramires; Drogba.

CHELSEA LEADING SCORERS:

Costa - 17 goals

Hazard - 13 goals

Oscar - 7 goals

Drogba and Ivanovic - 6 goals

Remy, Schurrle and Terry - 5 goals

Fabregas and Willian - 4 goals

Matic and Ramires - 3 goals

Cahill and Zouma - 2 goals