Mourinho trudged out of the Potteries
with the look of a man on the brink of a
mini-crisis and his response when asked
how he can get his strikers to start
scoring – “I don’t know” –
suggested a much greater problem could be on the horizon. Chelsea should have been out of sight by
half-time but have now conceded six
goals in two games and could be seven
points behind Arsenal if Arsène
Wenger’s team defeat Everton on
Sunday. They had appeared on course for their
ninth win in the past 11 games against
Stoke after Andre Schurrle’s early
goal, in a first half Chelsea dominated,
but the home team responded with a
resilient performance that was a throwback to the gritty days of their
early years in the Premier League under
Tony Pulis. And just when Stoke appeared content
for a deserved point, Assaidi, signed on
loan from Liverpool, cut inside to beat
Petr Cech and condemn Mourinho to his
third league defeat of the season. John
Terry will not look back fondly on his 33rd birthday. Mourinho was at a loss to explain what
he had seen. “You don’t want me to
criticise my player’s mistakes. I
can’t. You can,” he said. “The
problem is we didn’t score goals and
we conceded goals, that was the mistake. After half an hour we should
have been winning by three or four. “We were playing so well, it was so
easy and you find spaces, creating so
much, you have to kill the game. “But we are playing well. To be where
we are, and you see us in relation to
Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester
United, Tottenham and Liverpool, we are
not doing badly even in term of points in
the league. “But we are not a physical team, we
are not a team who can defend against
physical teams. We need to score
goals.” The last time Stoke defeated them in the
league was 1975 when Mud were No
1 with Oh Boy. There have been
chastening defeats along the way, and
Stoke might have feared another one
when they fell behind after 10 minutes. An avalanche of Chelsea goals looked
possible then. It had seemed that there was nothing on
as Schurrle received the ball from John
Obi Mikel 30 yards out but the German
international easily bypassed Ryan
Shawcross, twice, before arrowing a
low shot across Asmir Begovic into the bottom corner. Schurrle’s goal, his second for Chelsea,
set the tone for the half as his side took
control. Eden Hazard, so inspired against
Sunderland on Wednesday night,
produced another menacing
performance, constantly finding space as he tiptoed his way through Stoke’s
midfield. Chelsea had chances to increase their
lead, with Juan Mata shooting straight at
Begovic before Ramires lofted the ball
over the crossbar. “You’re going down with United”
chanted the Chelsea fans, yet Mourinho
clearly seemed perturbed at only being
a goal ahead, frequently displaying his
repertoire of extravagant gestures. His anxiety proved well-founded. Stoke,
who lost Charlie Adam through injury in
the early stages, had offered little but
equalised three minutes before half-
time. Marko Arnautovic’s corner was
not cleared and Crouch reacted quickest to turn and shoot under Petr Cech. While that goal was scruffy, Stoke’s
second was exquisite, six minutes into
the second half. Jon Walters advanced
down the right and sent Stephen Ireland
clear. The midfielder curled a wonderful
shot into the far corner. Their lead lasted barely two minutes,
however. Mata’s free-kick ricocheted
off Crouch in the area and Schurrle’s
half-volley gave Begovic no chance.
Schurrle almost had a hat-trick, bending
a shot that struck the top of the bar, before being substituted for Samuel
Eto’o with an injury. It was now a riveting game and Ireland
wasted a decent chance before Frank
Lampard, a substitute, failed to trouble
Begovic with a free-kick. Assaidi then produced a moment of
magic to secure Mark Hughes only his
second league win since August and it
was no less than his side deserved. The manager said: “It’s a great result
for us and I thought it was a fantastic
game but I would say that. We need a bit
of credibility because we are trying to
change things. “There will be days when we are not
particularly good with what we’re
trying to do, but we have set our
standards today and we have to
maintain that.” Team details
Stoke Begovic, Cameron, Shawcross, Wilson, Muniesa, Nzonzi, Whelan
(Palacios 86), Walters (Assaidi 84),
Adam (Ireland 18), Arnautovic, Crouch.
Subs: Pennant, Jones, Wilkinson,
Sorensen. Booked Crouch, Walters, Assaidi, Ireland. Goals Crouch 42, Ireland 50, Assaidi 90. Chelsea Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Ramires, Mikel (Lampard
70), Schurrle (Eto'o 70), Mata, Hazard,
Torres (Ba 59). Subs Cole, Essien, De Bruyne, Schwarzer. Booked Terry. Goals Schurrle 10, 53. Att 25,154. Referee J Moss (W Yorkshire).
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