If nothing else, the losers can thank Charlton for one thing: they have brought clarity to Chelsea's season. Quite simply Claudio Ranieri's team must survive at Tottenham in the FA Cup next Sunday or be immediately buried under the criticism, from the chairman down, of their large constituency.
Chelsea are already underachieving. Ranieri's side are now 11 points adrift of a Champions League place, the over lord Ken Bates's oft-stated benchmark. The compensation of fifth place and a Uefa Cup berth can scarcely be guaranteed, especially after this feckless performance. That leaves the FA Cup - and all Chelsea fans remember the 5-1 defeat from their last visit to White Hart Lane.
There is always the Intertoto Cup. For Chelsea, however, the very thought of taking the tradesman's route to Europe must be humbling. After all, even homely Charlton have cold-shouldered the summer competition.
Ranieri should beware after his chilly start to March. Is the Italian worried? It was difficult to tell from the debriefing of this latest defeat by Charlton, Chelsea's fourth in 18 months. The language barrier hardly helps but statements of the obvious are expressed with such dramatic quality that at first hearing they seem revelatory.
For instance: "At this stage of the season Chelsea must try to win every game," declared Ranieri. "One point is like nil." Can you win every game? "We'll try but we can't promise." All that was missing was the clump of a fist on the table.
Ranieri moves in mysterious ways, so much so that critics tend to be beguiled into thinking that he has a grander design. How otherwise to explain the puzzles that piled up here. Why did Gianfranco Zola remain for so long on the bench while Mario Stanic and Frank Lampard laboured. The latter's goal hardly compensated for a pedestrian performance. And how did Chelsea finish up with no fewer than five forwards on the pitch? Is that not a confession of desperation?
Comfortingly for Charlton, Alan Curbishley talks straightforwardly - and his team plays in the same manner. It is not pretty but, as Chelsea will admit, it is mightily effective. Charlton maintained an intensity of effort despite the frustration of strikers' block. Nothing was more deserved than Jason Euell's breakthrough, a volley delivered magnificently from 20 yards. It was his club's first goal in seven hours and 33 minutes.
This roused Chelsea into some form of recognisable life, even if the Premiership's most vaunted striking pair, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen, could make little impact on the ageing Jorge Costa and the 21-year-old Jon Fortune. Lampard struck from close range only for Chelsea to relax again as their defence was caught square and Euell calmly chipped home. Chelsea claimed in vain that the retreating Mathias Svensson was offside in the build-up.
Charlton are kings of the capital, at least in terms of derbies; they have not lost in seven this season. The reasons for their latest local success are simple, according to Curbishley. "I've got some angry, hungry players," he said, referring to men with renewed World Cup ambitions. "Svensson has got the bit between his teeth, as has Costa. And there's [Chris] Powell as well."
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