Hiddink tells Chelsea to heed Bolton warning

Guus Hiddink has warned Chelsea to curb their generous nature if they wish to preserve their dream of a first ever Champions League triumph.

The Blues interim manager was dismayed by the shambolic defending which almost gifted Bolton Wanderers an extraordinary point on Saturday.

The west Londoners had raced into a 4-0 lead but leaked three goals in eight second-half minutes and ended the afternoon clinging on to victory by their fingertips.

Liverpool’s delegation of scouts will have noted that late capitulation with interest ahead of their trip to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

The Merseysiders have been largely written off following their 3-1 defeat in the first leg at Anfield, but they could yet produce an improbable fightback if they can exploit the insecurities laid bare in the Chelsea defence on Saturday.

Petr Cech looked particularly on edge, the Czech goalkeeper failing dismally to cope with the stream of high balls being pumped into the home penalty area, while Ricardo Carvalho – who is certain to play against Liverpool, when John Terry is suspended – lacked sharpness on his return from injury.

All three Bolton goals came from long balls which were headed on or down by Kevin Davies and it will be of some consolation to Hiddink that Liverpool do not possess a hulking striker in his mould.

The Dutchman will also back his side to cause problems of their own against Rafael Benitez’s team, and their attacking performance, particularly at the start of the second half, was ominous for their rivals.

But Hiddink, a manager unused to his teams showing such defensive flimsiness, insisted that a vast improvement is needed for Liverpool’s visit.

“That would have given heart to Liverpool and we must not let it happen twice,” Hiddink said. “Against top teams, you cannot afford to concede goals like that and we have told the players that.

“We were just waiting for the fifth goal when we were 4-0 up with 20 minutes to go, but then we got very sloppy. We were too relaxed and we weren’t winning enough battles defensively, all over the pitch.

“We conceded three in eight minutes, I think, which is impossible, really, for a team which is near the top of the table. It’s normal that players will react to this situation, though, and I am sure they will.”

Hiddink refused to attribute the bulk of the blame to Cech, insisting instead that “everyone, including the goalkeeper, didn’t perform well. We made a sequence of errors to give Bolton their goals.”

The Dutchman also played down the significance of his own decision to take off Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba after Chelsea had scored their fourth, claiming – not unreasonably – that his side’s sudden defensive jitters could not be attributed to replacing an attacking midfielder and a striker.

The memories of those chaotic last 20 minutes will hang heavy in this corner of the English capital ahead of Tuesday’s tie, but Hiddink will do his best to accentuate the positives, not least the brio Chelsea showed in racing into such a commanding lead.

After Michael Ballack had stabbed in the opener five minutes before half-time, Chelsea took complete control just after the re-start: Drogba converted Lampard’s cute free-kick, the latter slammed in from the penalty spot after Gretar Steinsson’s hand-ball and Drogba completed his brace from Ballack’s corner.

The game looked to be ambling to its conclusion when Bolton delivered their exatrordinary flurry of goals from Andy O’Brien, Chris Basham and Matt Taylor, all converted from close range. There might even have been an equaliser, but Gary Cahill’s last-gasp strike was scraped off the line.

“I don’t know whether this will have given Liverpool heart but it certainly gave us heart,” Bolton manager Gary Megson said. “We will get more credit for being beaten 4-3 here than winning 4-1 against Middlesbrough last week.

“There’s a whole gamut of emotions – there’s anger at the way we defended at times and approached the game, and pleasure at the way we came back. But ultimately we have still lost the game.”