Jose's not so special

Who else is going to claim any credit? Jose Mourinho? When it comes to winning the big games, the one-off encounters that mean so much, too often he's been found wanting.

Champions League semi-finals? Blown it. A showdown with Barcelona? Second-best.

Now this, an FA Cup semi-final which should have established Chelsea's credentials as the ultimate power in English football tossed away through a combination of Mourinho's arrogance and sheer smart alec tampering.

Who else but the self-confessed Special One thought he could get away with such a flagrant disregard for everything Chelsea have built under him?

It gifted Liverpool a place at Cardiff and exposed the very human failings which will haunt Mourinho for years to come..

There were shades of Jose Tinker man and horrible memories of Claudio Ranieri when the Chelsea line-up was revealed.

Because Mourinho, to the shock and surprise of every Blues fan, opted for Paulo Ferreira on the right of a midfield diamond with Michael Essien at its point instead of the free-scoring Frank Lampard.

In a run-of-the-mill Premiership game it would have been a major deviation from the Chelsea norm' in an FA Cup semi-final it was a decision which ranked up there with Ranieri's buffoonery against Monaco two seasons ago.

With Geremi behind Ferreira, it was undoubtedly a tactical switch designed to blunt Liverpool's leftsided threat of Harry Kewell and John Arne Riise while Essien could stand on Xabi Alonso's toes and prevent Benitez's side from building. Yet for all Mourinho's tinkering, it was Kewell and Alonso who provided the biggest threat to the champions.

The Aussie sent in two crosses that begged to be buried after finding acres of space while Alonso stung Petr Cech's fingers with a swerving shot the Chelsea keeper saw late.

At the other end, Jamie Carragher had to be brave in throwing himself at Didier Drogba's flying volley after a mistake by Sami Hyypia gave Chelsea the first glimpse of a chance.

Drogba was the target for merciless stick from the Liverpool fans and he gave them even more ammunition for abuse when he was given the benefit of the doubt on a marginal offside by referee Graham Poll and surged into the Liverpool penalty area.

Given his ferocious form of recent weeks, he was odds-on to give Chelsea the lead, only to nervously stab at it with his left foot and send it three yards wide. It was a major blunder...and made all the more sickening for Chelsea as events unfolded minutes later at the other end.

John Terry had a legitimate moan that his challenge on Garcia was thumpingly fair, only for Graham Poll to call it as foot-up 22 yards from goal and in prime position for the likes of Riise and Steven Gerrard.

And the pair conjured up one of those 'Here's one I prepared earlier' moments of sublime class.

Riise touched the ball to his skipper who stopped it for the Norwegian to curl his left-foot shot into Cech's bottom righthand corner, courtesy of the gap that opened up in the wall between Ferreira and Lampard.

It was a mortal blow to a Chelsea side who looked fragmented and edgy while Liverpool were bursting with the kind of confidence they showed in the two Champions League clashes last season.

Lampard, uncomfortable on the left, could hardly get on the ball and was overshadowed by England team-mate Gerrard while even Terry was found wanting at the back as Mourinho quietly fumed on the bench.

Mourinho had to do something decisive if not drastic at the break, hence the arrival of Dutch flyer Arjen Robben.

It meant Chelsea reverting to a flat midfield four, with Lampard inhabiting the central area he has made his own these past two seasons.

And just for a second it seemed as if Mourinho had shaken off his dunce's cap and replaced it with a professor's mortar board.

Robben's first t o u ch was to swing a free-kick from wide on the right towards the Liverpool far post where Terry was marauding.

A short run, a powerful leap - and the Chelsea skipper met the ball to power it past Jose Reina. Sadly for the blue hordes, Terry had used Riise as a springboard and Poll got it right with his decision to rule out the effort.

If that stuck in Chelsea throats, it was nothing compared to two minutes later when Liverpool tightened their grip on this semifinal.

Another blunder, this time from William Gallas who back-headed a throw-in towards his own goal, saw Garcia break clear. The Spaniard still had an awful lot to do with Terry snorting on his shoulder, but he simply let the ball bounce once before sending a leftfoot volley dipping over Cech.

It was a goal to both raise Liverpool spirits and doubts about Mourinho as he switched to 4-2-4 which at least saw Drogba pull one back after a dreadful Riise error.

But like everything about Chelsea, it was still the reverse Midas touch, turning gold into dirt. And sub Joe Cole missed a sitter in the last minute

So much for the genius. This was the nothing but a case of the emperor's new clothes with Mourinho stripped bare.

The People