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Chelsea have today appointed Guus Hiddink as their coach until the end of the season, as a statement on their official website confirms. The appointment had been expected over the last 48 hours, as the Dutchman, coach of the Russian national team and a close personal friend of Chelsea's oligarch Russian owner Roman Abramovich, emerged as the strong favourite to succeed Luiz Felipe Scolari.
The statement reads, "Chelsea Football Club is delighted to confirm Guus Hiddink will become temporary coach until the end of the season.
"He is due to meet theplayers later this week. The club would liek to take this opportunity to thanks the Russian Football Union for their understanding and cooperation."
He's gonna have a dual role as Chelsea and Russia NT's coach:
Chelsea's new coach has spoken out about his appointment today, and immediately addressed the lingering anxieties over his dual role that are affecting some fans of both the club and Russia's national team.
Some supporters are concerned that the distraction of undertaking two such demanding roles will prove too much for the 62-year-old Dutchman, despite his impressive track record, and that both teams' performances will suffer as a consequence.
Hiddink brushed off such suggestions when speaking earlier in front of the Sky Sports News cameras at Russia's warm weather training camp in Turkey.
"We talked about that, and thought about it so that of course it might not damage Russian football as well, but it's for the period until the end of the English season, which is in May," he explained.
"We have now preparation here in Turkey for the game against Azerbaijan at the end of March. I'll do that with my colleagues. Then, in June, there's the other qualification game against Finland.
"So we are in preparation and there will be no damage to the Russian national team."
And the forthright Dutchman was unequivocal when he stated that his focus for the future, after his temporary Chelsea role ends, would be entirely on the Russian team.
"We're focused now, and in the future, on the Russian team," he concluded.
Hiddink has combined two such roles before. He coached Australia between 2005 and 2006, taking them to their first World Cup since 1974, whilst working his second stint as coach of PSV Eindhoven (2002-06). Yet he still won three more Dutch titles with PSV Eindhoven during this period - including in 2005-06 when the two roles directly overlapped.
we could have had more goals then the scoreline suggests lol. malouda could have had a couple. drogba had some chances.
im not gona complain though, its the 3 points that matters in the end
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