Mourinho expects more from Shevchenko after his two goals against Wycombe

Andriy Shevchenko scored twice to lead Chelsea to a League Cup final and coach Jose Mourinho still expects more.

Photo: Mourinho expects more from Shevchenko after his two goals against Wycombe

Shevchenko scored Chelsea's first two goals in Tuesday's 4-0 victory over Wycombe and set up the first of two for Frank Lampard.

However, the Ukrainian's most impressive performance yet in English soccer came against a club three divisions below Chelsea. He has to start scoring regularly in the Premier League if Chelsea is to catch leader Manchester United.

"He was brilliant in this game," Mourinho said. "I don't think it is the moment yet for fireworks, but it is a step forward."

The Chelsea manager shook Shevchenko's hand when he substituted him late in the game, three days after pointedly ignoring him at the end of Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Liverpool.

"The ones who work more and perform game after game are the ones I send out onto the pitch," Mourinho said. "I am very happy Sheva got the message.

"Sometimes you kiss them and sometimes you kick. At Liverpool, I didn't kick, I ignored."

Shevchenko has been a huge flop in his first season in England, fueling speculation that Mourinho didn't want him and that his 30 million-pound (US$59 million; Ђ45.6 million) transfer was initiated at the behest of Chelsea's Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.

A free-scoring forward for Dynamo Kiev and AC Milan, Shevchenko has managed only three goals in 21 Premier League appearances.

His lack of support for Didier Drogba, who has a total 21 goals this season, is one of the reasons the Blues are trailing United instead of dominating the league for a third straight season.

What Chelsea was hoping for was a repeat of the form Shevchenko showed when he hit eight goals in eight Champions League matches for Dynamo Kiev and 173 in seven seasons for Milan, reports AP.

"He needed time to adapt (in English soccer)," Mourinho said. "If he can repeat what he did in terms of his movement, his contribution for the team, his effort to create spaces, his work when we didn't have the ball and pressing opponents he is arriving at where we want him to arrive."

Despite a poor first six months at Chelsea, Shevchenko has a first English cup final to look forward to. Chelsea qualified for the Feb. 25 at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and will face either Tottenham or Arsenal, who played the first leg of their semifinal Wednesday.

"I'm very happy to be in the final," Shevchenko said. "It's very important that the team played very well and I'm happy. The support for me from the team and fans is very nice."