Hiddink shows he is right man for big stage

By Patrick Collins for The Mail on Sunday Updated: 18:39 EST, 18 April 2009

There comes a time in the biggest matches when the manager turns to his biggest players. With six minutes remaining at Wembley, Guus Hiddink threw out his arms in urgent appeal. And Didier Drogba answered his plea.

There was a sense of the inevitable as the striker set out in pursuit of Frank Lampard's searching pass. His acceleration was instant, his purpose firm and clear, and he threw off the diffident challenge of Mikael Silvestre within a handful of yards. From there on, he did what the good finishers do, with practised efficiency and instinctive precision.

And as the ball burrowed into the Arsenal net, the way to the FA Cup final lay wide open for Chelsea.

Hiddink obeyed the conventions of celebration, giving the air a gentle punch and coaxing a gentle jig from his legs. For the past two months, he has constantly insisted that he is merely passing through, a freelance fixer whose task is almost done. But the Dutchman has done that job with skill and logic and that air of civilised assurance rarely seen in football management.

Of course, he enjoys vast resources and accomplished players, several of whom refused to perform for his predecessor. But he has worked patiently, first to win them over and then to offer them direction. And the first reward of his fleeting reign will arrive in the form of another Wembley final.

Chelsea deserve to be making that journey, since they were stronger, shrewder, better equipped to negotiate the kind of test which ultimately proved beyond Arsenal's gifted innocents. True, it was not one of those semi-finals which will resound down the decades. But that was the least of Hiddink's concerns as he surveyed his temporary kingdom last night.

Already he has left his mark, laying down simple principles, bringing enhanced performances from Lampard and gleefully incorporating Michael Essien into that daunting midfield.

Not least, igniting new ambition in Drogba. In a year, perhaps two, Arsene Wenger will have the personnel to match anything Hiddink or his successor has to offer, but that time is not yet here.

For the moment, all he can do is bite his lip and keep his head and wait for prodigious talents like Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott to inherit their destiny. A glance at his countenance last night told us how sorely his patience is being tested.

In truth, nobody tested it more than his goalkeeper. Lukasz Fabianski, who had played so well in Europe, was a bundle of neuroses from the start. Indeed, his one stroke of fortune could be found in the similar inadequacies of Petr Cech at the other end. The Arsenal goal was assisted by Cech's shortcomings, Walcott's chance being struck with no great venom, yet still finding its way across the keeper's body via a deflection off the hand of Ashley Cole.

At that stage, Arsenal were playing their football in tight, bright little triangles, while Hiddink was on the brink of his technical area, head on chin, cogitating. And yet the response was being assembled, most notably in midfield. Lampard in particular was playing with confident assurance, and it was his sweeping pass which instigated the equaliser.

Once again, Florent Malouda's shot was unremarkable. But yesterday's keepers had the knack of turning outside chances into bankers and a shot steered hopefully at the near post somehow deceived Fabianski.

All this time, and indeed for the opening 30 minutes, a helicopter hung over the stadium; distracting as an angry wasp. And all in the cause of providing pictorial cliches for television. It was a demonstration of contempt for 88,103 paying customers, and it was miserably typical. One day, a television company will demand the right to select both teams. And, on current form, the FA will reply: 'How much?' For the moment, such decisions are taken by managers, and the pressures upon them were evident.

Wenger looked agitated, Hiddink looked concerned, and when the ball came near either keeper, both men looked away. Still, Lampard held the important answers, with Fabregas struggling to find the form he once took for granted. When the Spaniard is on his game, things happen all over the field for Arsenal. Yesterday, with their inspirational source restricted, they looked elsewhere; to the pace of Walcott, the forays of Kieran Gibbs, the spasmodic threat of Adebayor.

It was not enough. For Guus Hiddink had other plans. And Didier Drogba delivered them.