Chelsea are still in the title race despite falling further behind at the weekend, says Nicolas Anelka.
The Blues' manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, said his side were not playing well enough to secure silverware of any description come May following the 3–0 defeat at Manchester United – watched by the former manager Jose Mourinho. The Brazilian has vowed to improve the performances and insists the remedy does not lie with simply bringing in new faces during the January transfer window.
Anelka, who came on as a second-half substitute at Old Trafford, says all is not yet lost.
"The fans have been frustrated by our recent results, which is logical," said the striker. "As far as the players are concerned, we have not been happy with some of our games. The positive point is that we are still on course for the treble. We understand it's going to be massively tough, but everything is possible."
United took the lead in first-half stoppage time through a far-post header from Nemanja Vidic, with goals from Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov ensuring there was no way back for the Blues, now four points adrift of table-toppers Liverpool and only one in front of Sir Alex Ferguson's men, who have two games in hand.
Scolari criticised the Chelsea defence for not working as a unit. "Losing goals at set plays is not something we accept. We train very hard to try and stop it happening," he said. "Set pieces have been a problem. In the first 15 or 20 games we were fantastic. I don't know why it has changed. Maybe I need to change the system because something is going wrong. It is my responsibility."
Ricardo Carvalho feels the players must stand up and be counted.
"We have to mark our men and this time we didn't mark our men, and goal after goal it is getting worse for us," said the Portuguese international. "Our mistake was the corner and we conceded a goal in the last minute of the first half. After that it was difficult to react, we tried but the second goal killed us."
Chelsea head to Southend on Wednesday night for their FA Cup third-round replay in search of a first win since Boxing Day.
