Soccer: Unfit Chelsea has coach braced for tough start

CARDIFF - Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho said yesterday his squad were so far short of match fitness that he would not be surprised to drop points at the start of the Premier League season.

Mourinho said Liverpool deserved their 2-1 victory over the English champions in the Community Shield but was content to measure himself and his players over the marathon test of the league season.

"They deserved to win. We had quite a good percentage of ball possession but sometimes in football that means not a lot, especially when the difference in pace, intensity, rhythm and sharpness is so big," he said after Peter Crouch's 80th-minute header had secured the trophy for the FA Cup winners.

"I could feel when the game was broken, they were much stronger than us. In the second half I could guess they would inject fresh blood and people with pace at a moment when we could not cope with it.

"I tried to make the team a bit more compact but not many of my players were in condition to play 90 minutes."

Mourinho spent most of the build-up to Sunday's game complaining that he had had so little time with his players, many of whom were on World Cup duty and returned to training only two weeks ago.

He will lost most of them again this week for Wednesday's big night of international friendlies and then faces three quick-fire Premier League games, starting with his season-opener against Manchester City next Sunday.

"This week I have to work with two goalkeepers and two Portuguese players, the rest are away," he said. "Then the next week I have two matches. I cannot work, only play.

"But I am not worried because it's a 10-month competition, so if something happens in these first two weeks and you lose some points it's not a drama."

Michael Ballack lasted only 22 minutes before limping off with a hip injury.

The Germany captain will have a scan today and Mourinho said of his new playmaker: "He's had one week of training, it doesn't surprise me for players to be injured and to have these little problems."

Andriy Shevchenko, who scored Chelsea's equaliser late in the first half, had a more satisfactory day but the coach said he was still feeling the effects of the knee injury that hampered him throughout the World Cup.

"He is an amazing player, he's had no more than 10 training sessions, he did very, very well," said the coach.

Mourinho and opposite number Rafael Benitez did not shake hands at the end of the game but they did agree that Liverpool's new signings have made them a far more dangerous team than a year ago.

"They definitely have more options," said Mourinho.

Benitez started without several of his big names, including captain Steven Gerrard, and was pleased with the performances of those given their chance.

"It will be different in the season but if you start winning, especially with different players, you get some confidence," said the Spaniard.

"Last season we had problems, only Djibril Cisse with pace, this time we have Craig Bellamy, Jermaine Pennant and Mark Gonzalez, that is the reason I say we are better but you have to play games."

Benitez, who as well as the start of the Premier League has the added pressure of getting past Maccabi Haifa to make the Champions League group stage, summed up the day by saying: "Both teams had the same idea - it was an important game, but not the most important game."

- REUTERS