Chelsea
were "poor" and deserved to lose to Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday
night, according to Sky Sports pundit Phil Thompson.
The Premier League champions suffered their fifth defeat of the season in
all competitions, more than in the whole of the previous campaign, after
turning in yet another below-par display in their Group G contest at the
Estadio Dragao.
And while the visitors were denied a clear-cut penalty in the final minute
of the game, Thompson thinks that would only have "papered over the cracks"
as far as Jose Mourinho's side are concerned.
"It should have been a penalty," he said. "It was absolutely shocking that
at this level you can have the fourth official on that line looking straight
at it - he is about six or seven yards away - he moves his arms towards the
ball and it should be [a penalty].
"But that would just be papering over the cracks because Porto were by far
the better team."
Thompson highlighted a number of areas of concern for Mourinho to mull over
on the flight back to London, in particular the visitors' back line being
breached from a corner kick, as they had also been against Newcastle United
in the Premier League on Saturday.
"They conceded a goal from a corner kick again, they nearly conceded another
that hit the post," Thompson added, while the former Liverpool and England
defender was also highly critical of a number of Chelsea players'
performances on the night.
"Willian scored a good goal and he was their best player, while Costa also
hit the bar," he said. "But there were so many poor players for Chelsea
tonight, the legs have gone on Fabregas, so he cannot get anywhere near
anyone, Pedro was dreadful, Ivanovic - if he plays again…. because he was
shocking, Brahimi ran him ragged tonight.
"So there were a lot of bad things about this and there were a few players
who were left out - Terry, Matic and Hazard - who will now be happy at this
moment."
Thompson also thought it was a mistake by Mourinho not to have another
striker among his substitutes in case his team found themselves in a losing
position late on.
"You are looking at it when you are going to change things, you have got to
have a striker on there," Thompson said. "Those Porto defenders will know
all the Chelsea players and they will have looked at the bench and thought:
'That's all right, there is no striker there to worry me!'
"So when they make their changes, there was nobody to run behind the Porto
back four, so this was poor all round. Hazard, Matic and Kenedy all came on,
but it was still not good enough."
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