Fulham boss Roy Hodgson accepted that Chelsea had been
the better side and revealed how Jonathan Greening's
agent prevented him from signing in time to play any part in
the game.
Greening has joined the club on a season-long loan from
West Bromwich Albion but Hodgson said the deal was held
-up for six hours while the player's agent waited for his own
fee to be agreed.
Hodgson also hinted that his side looked tired after their
midweek Europa League victory over Russian side Amkar
Perm.
"We certainly played like we were tired,'' said Hodgson. "I
thought our energy levels were low. We kept Chelsea at
bay for long periods by keeping a decent shape but we
never got close enough to disturb them as much as we
would have liked to have done.
"In the end we lost and deservedly so. Looking at this game
over 90 minutes I thought Chelsea deserved to win it. Both
their goals came from clearances that bounced back to
them. We didn't look like conceding a hatful of goals but on
the other hand I didn't think we had anything near enough
like the possession we would have needed to cause them
more problems.
"They have the technique and pace to cause problems for
the opposition and they caused problems for us today and
we lost the game. They didn't pepper our goal with shots
but they had control of the game after half-time and we
didn't have enough in our locker.''
As for Greening's situation, Hodgson added: "His agent took
six hours to agree the agency fees so between 12.30 and
6.30pm, the agent was refusing to let him sign because his
fee had not been agreed. When he eventually signed at
6.30pm it was an hour-and-a-half too late.''
Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti insists he will keep on tinkering with his
Chelsea squad after watching them despatch west London
neighbours Fulham 2-0 with consummate ease.
Chelsea made four changes from the side that defeated
Sunderland last Tuesday but it made little difference to the
cohesion as goals from Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka
fired them to a 2-0 victory at Craven Cottage.
"Deco was out and Essien was out for this game,'' said
Ancelotti. "But it was a good line-up. Essien has played all
the games so far, so I wanted to give him a rest. He will
play the next game. We have to follow this line.''
Ancelotti was also left drooling at the Drogba-Anelka
combination in attack. "I am sure they can play together
because they are fantastic strikers and have different
qualities,'' said Ancelotti.
"For the first goal, Nicolas put a fantastic pass through for
Didier and for the second goal, Didier put a fantastic pass
through for Nicolas. They did a very good job together.
Nicolas is a very complete striker. He can play in the centre
and on the right and left, he can play behind the striker.
"Our idea today for Nicolas was that he would stay a little
bit behind Didier. In the first-half he played a little bit on the
right and our play was not so good but it improved in the
second half because he took a position more in the centre.''
Chelsea are now second in the Barclays Premier League
with a 100% record from three games and Ancelotti
admitted it had been the perfect start to his reign at
Stamford Bridge.
"It is a great start,'' said Ancelotti. "We wanted to do this. It
is a good moment for the team. We have to maintain this
now. The players have a good motivation and no problems.
It is very good.
"It is the first time we have not conceded and that is good.
The defensive line played very well. They had very good
concentration and movement. They played a fantastic
match.''