Football story by Dominic Taylor, Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:24:00 GMT


LONDON - Former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit has asked current Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho to stop moaning about his injury-hit team and fill the gaps with available players. Injuries to key players like Petr Cech, John Terry, Joe Cole and Ricardo Carvalho have crippled the champions who have struggled to stop conceding goals.

After the latest loss to Liverpool, Mourinho suggested that he was only the manager and not the owner. He said that he had requested reinforcements in the January transfer window, but these had been denied.

However Gullit feels that Mourinho can easily fill these gaps.

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"When you are in charge of such a high budget, I'm concerned that he keeps talking about missing this player or that player,: he told the Daily Mirror. "If you have one of the highest transfer and wage bills in Europe there should be enough quality within their squad to fill any gaps. And I find it curious that he keeps mentioning John Terry being injured."

Gullit said that after spending 200 million pounds, Mourinho must have enough people to act as cover for injured players. "From a punter's perspective it doesn't look good when you complain about financial restriction if you have spent almost £200 million on players," he observed.

Chelsea face Wycombe in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final tonight.