Football: Chelsea are left to rue Gullit's legacy of squad rotation

West Ham United 2 Chelsea 1

By Clive White

West Ham United 2 Chelsea 1

"WE JUST can't seem to string two good results together," lamented Graham Rix, Chelsea's assistant manager, after their fourth League defeat in five games. "I can't put my finger on why though." Try screwing up your team selection, Graham, with this daft, rotational idea which may yet be Gianluca Vialli's undoing, just as it was Ruud Gullit's, if the cups do not produce their anticipated joy.

Chelsea appear to have lowered their sights in the League, despite Rix's claim that they want to finish as high as possible - "no one at Chelsea ever thought we'd win it" - judging by the unnecessary changes they made at Upton Park. Six of those who started in the 6-2 win against Crystal Palace in midweek failed to do so here, among them Vialli himself, Gianfranco Zola, Dan Petrescu and Dennis Wise, although the latter was suspended.

According to Gullit, this policy used to work well enough at Milan, but the Italian club, circa '88-90, were not rotating players of quite the same quality as Myers, Granville and Morris. Quite apart from the obvious disruption to a team's fluency, it was positively harmful to someone like Zola, who has been struggling with his form all season and then just when he recaptures a semblance of it, against Palace, he gets left out. "He's had a couple of tough games in a week [Palace, tough?] and Thursday night's game is by no means over with, so we want him sharp for that," Rix explained.

At least he conceded where one of Chelsea's main objectives lie - the European Cup-Winners' Cup, in which they are expected this week to reach the semi-finals after disposing of Real Betis. That competition (in which Chelsea, in effect, may be seeking only to duplicate their efforts by beating Middlesbrough in the Coca-Cola Cup final) is small beer, however, compared to the Champions' League. With this defeat against a side far less compliant than Palace, Chelsea may have wilfully surrendered any hope of qualifying for that.

It was West Ham's fourth game in 12 days (two against Arsenal and one against Manchester United) but there was no suggestion of the Hammers taking a breather (or even needing one, judging by this performance) much as Harry Redknapp, their manager, would have liked to: "We're just surviving at the moment with the bare numbers." I would suggest they are doing rather more than surviving, this being their 10th game without defeat.

Of course, the Hammers cannot afford to put all their eggs in one cup, as Chelsea have done, not with an FA Cup sixth-round replay to come against Arsenal tomorrow night (which was reason enough in itself to take a breather on Saturday). It is just a pity that Trevor Sinclair will be sitting that one out - and not because of any rotational policy. Sinclair is Cup-tied and West Ham will miss his nimble, incisive skills, which might have had greater success against Arsenal's bulky defence than the more leaden-footed ones of John Hartson, who returns after suspension.

Chelsea never got to grips with the former Queen's Park Rangers winger and he was responsible not only for scoring the equaliser - his fifth goal in six games - but also setting up the winner six minutes later. His return to the Premiership, coupled with his return to fitness, appears to have rejuvenated him. He is playing with all his old zest and if it is possible to be a snip at pounds 3m, he is it. They say there are always one or two who come with a late run into World Cup squads and I wouldn't bet against Sinclair doing just that for England.

Goals: Charvet (52) 0-1; Sinclair (67) 1-1; Unsworth (73) 2-1.

West Ham United (3-5-2): Lama; Unsworth, Ferdinand, Pearce; Impey (Potts, h-t), Berkovic, Lampard, Bishop, Lazaridis, Sinclair, Abou. Substitutes not used: Mean, Hodges, Coyne, Forrest (gk).

Chelsea (4-4-2): Kharine; Charvet, Duberry, Leboeuf, Myers; Morris (Zola, 75), Di Matteo, Newton, Granville; Flo, Hughes. Substitutes not used: Clarke, Nicholls, Petrescu, Hitchcock (gk).

Referee: M Bodenham (West Sussex).

Bookings: West Ham Unsworth. Chelsea Charvet, Newton.

Man of the match: Sinclair.

Attendance: 25,829.