Has Hiddink really got the Chelsea dressing room under control?

Salomon Kalou and William Gallas – foes now, teammates next season?
(Picture: Reuters)

SALOMON Kalou has caused a stir among Chelsea and Arsenal fans by saying that he is a fan of Arsene Wenger and is very open to playing for the current Arsenal manager (see story here).

The 23-year-old made the comments right after Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over Juventus in the Champions League, and hot on the heels of recent revelations of a fractured Chelsea dressing room under the reign of former manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.

While Didier Drogba has whined – one too many times – about wanting to leave in the past, and shocking rumours of a player mutiny (with Drogba, Petr Cech and Michael Ballack being fingered as the main culprits), Kalou is the first player outburst to come out of the Chelsea dressing room since the arrival of Guus Hiddink.

If you were Guus Hiddink, what would you do?

GUUS Hiddink faces an uphill task reunifying a fractured dressing room, while managing the demands of a ruthless and ambitious club owner, and not having the luxury of signing players he think would be helpful in reviving Chelsea’s fortunes.

If you were thrown in the hotseat, how would you reverse Chelsea’s slide?

THE POSTMAN LIM SAY HENG says: I say the first thing would be to show the same ruthlessness that Roman Abramovich has shown to his managers.

Sir Alex Ferguson has not survived the managerial axe for more than two decades by turning the other cheek when undermined by his own players, no matter how good they were.

Terry-able against United

MANCHESTER United consigned Chelsea to their heaviest defeat at Old Trafford last night with a 3-0 victory over the Blues, with goals coming from Nemanja Vidic, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov.

THE POSTMAN LIM SAY HENG says: What was more worrying was how Chelsea conceded the goals, even with their first-choice central defensive pairing of John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho back. All three goals, plus the disallowed header by Cristiano Ronaldo came from crosses from the flanks.

By most accounts, Terry and Carvalho would have eaten up these crosses easily, especially the England captain, whose superb aerial ability is reknown. So what happened last night?