More boos for Benitez as Chelsea are held by Fulham

 
Simon Johnson29 November 2012

Rafael Benitez was booed off by Chelsea fans for the second time in four days as the European champions extended their winless run to six Premier League games and lost further ground in the title race.

Once again cries of 'Roberto Di Matteo' rung around Stamford Bridge, while a cry of 'we want our Chelsea back' was another clear message of the home crowd's dissatisfaction at this goalless draw.

In fact it could have been a lot worse for Benitez, who has still to see his new side score a goal after replacing Di Matteo as coach last week, as Fulham had the better chances to win the game.

The only positive for the Spaniard was that at least Chelsea's following didn't jeer him from the outset as they had done during his debut game against Manchester City on Sunday, but it wasn't because they had chosen to forgive and forget.

In a dull first half, the only fans having any fun were those in the Fulham end, who taunted their west London rivals throughout.

Martin Jol's side were tactically well organised in a 4-5-1 formation, that was being led well by the technically accomplished Dimitar Berbatov.

How Chelsea could have done with a striker of the Bulgarian international's know how to build attacks around, rather than the listless Fernando Torres.

Benitez made two tactical changes from the one that struggled to score against Manchester City at the weekend, dropping Juan Mata and John Obi Mikel for Oriol Romeu and Ryan Bertrand.

It was the decision to omit Mata that seemed most bizarre. The Spanish international has been looking tired of late, but with Fulham concentrating getting bodies behind the ball, Chelsea sorely missed his creative spark.

Indeed Chelsea only created one real chance before the break, which ended with Torres hitting a tame shot at Mark Schwarzer from a Cesar Azpilicueta cross.

Fulham had looked dangerous on the break, but their first effort on target came in the 37th minute when Hugo Rodallega fired a shot from 25 yards straight at Cech.

When the whistle blew for half-time, the home fans let their frustration toward Benitez show and there was no sign of any improvement after the break, in fact it was Fulham who continued to look the most threatening.

Berbatov was wrongly ruled offside after being put clean through on goal and then in the 56th minute, a sublime Giorgos Karagounis pass found John Arne Riise running into the area but he scuffed his shot straight at Cech.

The disgruntled shouts from Blues fans towards Benitez increased in intensity, urging him to change it, but not even the introduction of Mata for Bertrand in the 63rd minute made much of a difference.

Fulham continued to negate Chelsea's attacks with ease and then spring forward at pace on the counter attack and it took a fine save from Cech to prevent Riise's fierce shot from outside the area from going into the bottom corner.

Torres did manage to send a shot towards goal which Aaron Hughes cleared to safety, but the point was the least Fulham deserved, while the problems for Benitez continues to mount.

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