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Chelsea an even bigger noise with Essien in control room

Spackman backs a more open game as rivals square up again

Steve Tongue
Sunday 25 September 2005 00:00 BST
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The only useful preparation would have been somehow to reacquaint themselves with the noise levels that greeted them on the famous night four months ago for the second leg of the Champions' League semi-final; a wall of sound that made Phil Spector a tambourine man in comparison. "I've never heard anything like it before and I don't think I ever will again," said Chelsea's battle-hardened captain, John Terry. But that was before this year's draw brought the two sides together again, four days ahead of a Premiership match which will be their seventh meeting in a year.

Liverpool's only success in last season's five was on that enchanted evening in May, when Luis Garcia scored a goal that did not cross the line. So Mourinho, when he ends his self-imposed silence at Uefa's insistence on Tuesday by addressing the media in John Lennon Airport's Cavern Suite, is unlikely to break into a chorus of "Help!"

Instead he can be expected, in that dry, you-know-I-make-sense manner, to refer to the goal the linesman scored for Liverpool, and just possibly mention the 37-point gap between the sides once the Premiership race was run last May. (Last time, with a Shanklyesque flourish, he wrote it on a board in the Chelsea dressing-room before the game.)

None of the five matches reflected that chasm. Each of the London side's victories in the League was by a single Joe Cole goal, the Champions' League first leg was goalless and Chelsea edged the Carling Cup final 3-2. Eight goals in five matches may not bode well for the feast of entertainment that the English game needs from two such high-profile occasions in the next week, any more than the teams' miserly start to the current campaign does, but Nigel Spackman, the midfielder who played for both sides in the Eighties, is more optimistic.

"Having watched both games in the semi-final, they were both tight, but I think in the group stage you'll see a more open game. Chelsea will want to get one back on them for the semi-final defeat, when Liverpool had a little bit of luck. But over two legs, I wasn't surprised that they came through. You know how well organised they are and they got Chelsea at the right time, just when a few of the players were starting to look a bit tired."

Injured, too; Damien Duff was missing and Arjen Robben not fully fit, so that Mourinho had to improvise in each leg in the absence of the wide players with whom Chelsea's season had taken wing. The lesson was that even more cover was required, hence the arrival of Shaun Wright-Phillips as a reserve, a natural winger where Cole is not, plus Michael Essien and Asier Del Horno (hoping to be fit again for Wednesday) to go straight into the first XI.

Spackman, a regular Sky Sports analyst on Champions' League nights, knew more than most about the Ghanaian's qualities: "I'd seen a lot of him for Lyon and knew what a quality player he was. The beauty is he can play anywhere across midfield, get forward and score goals, or play in that Claude Makelele role just in front of the back four. A lot of people say Chelsea could still improve by getting an out-and-out striker who scores more goals. But at the moment [Hernan] Crespo seems to be finding the back of the net when he's playing and [Didier] Drogba when he plays, so it's the confidence that comes from playing in a good team.

"You have to say they have the strongest squad, a fantastic defence and a manager who inspires them all the time. When you've got players who can come off the bench and improve the team, that's a great weapon to have, and I don't think there are many teams in the world who can do that."

Not Liverpool, yet. "For Liverpool it comes down to finance, trying to get in better players than you've already got. Obviously, holding on to Steven Gerrard for the next few years was a major thing for them. Then you need better quality to improve the squad. Rafa [Benitez] is still trying to get a better balance and it's probably going to take a few seasons.

"They won the Champions' League against all the odds, when, like Porto the year before, they maybe weren't the best team in the competition but raised their game. The yardstick is still winning your own domestic league, as I'm sure everyone at Liverpool would say, so they're striving to be more consistent over a season and challenge for the Premiership. But at the moment the best they can hope for is third or fourth."

When Spackman moved from Stamford Bridge to Anfield in February 1987, it was unquestionably a step up; 15 months later he had won the championship and Chelsea were relegated. "Now, the roles have been a bit reversed," he observes. "You have to say Chelsea are favourites for everything at the moment because of the way the club have leaped forward with the top players and the best manager in world football."

OPERATION EUROPE: BRITISH CLUBS IN THE CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE

Tuesday: Group B

Ajax v Arsenal

When squeezing out Arsenal in the second group stage three seasons ago, Ajax gave a Champions' League debut to a young midfielder called Wesley Sneijder, now their dominant figure. But watch too for the left-winger Ryan Babel, already capped by Holland at the age of 18 - half that of Dennis Bergkamp, who is likely to be missing, as are Robin van Persie, Thierry Henry and Gilberto Silva.

Man to watch: Wesley Sneijder (Ajax).

Tuesday: Group D

Manchester United v Benfica

Cristiano Ronaldo will relish the challenge against his old Lisbon adversaries, and Wayne Rooney's suspension may offer Ryan Giggs the chance to play a latter-day George Best as the Sixties memories flood back. But Benfica's long absence from the Champions' League proper tells a tale. Last season's Portuguese title was their first for 11 years.

Man to watch: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United).

Wednesday: Group G

Liverpool v Chelsea

Having complained about Anderlecht just sitting back at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea should have a different set of problems this time; not least making themselves heard. A winning start for each of these sides means a draw here would be acceptable. The outcome may hinge on the midfield confrontation, in which Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Chelsea's Michael Essien collide with a bang.

Men to watch: Gerrard and Essien.

Wednesday: Group H

Internazionale v Rangers

Shrugging off unconvincing domestic form to sneak a 3-2 win over Porto was a critical result for the Scottish champions, who can now afford to regard anything taken from this game as a bonus. It ought to help them to be playing behind closed doors against a team missing Juan Sebastian Veron, who was sent off as Inter scraped a 1-0 victory away to Artmedia Bratislava.

Man to watch: Adriano (Internazionale).

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