Chelsea are in Kuala Lumpur to play their third pre-season friendly today. The opponents are Malaysian Select XI from an under 23 category. Football is really big in Malaysia. I understand that their national league is very fervently followed over there. I’ve seen that their league matches draw crowds more than 80,000 fans. Today could be a big day for the Malaysian football fans. I’m sure they won’t mind get beaten by a team that has Cech, Terry, Ballack, Lampard, Essien, Deco etc.

Michael Ballack is back and has joined the team for the rest of the friendlies. The formation that Scolari chooses now would mean a lot. I don’t think he’ll keep playing two different teams for each half. He would slowly settle down to his first team and the probable formation that he is interested in playing. Just another high scoring clean sheeter.

There was this Peter Kenyon interview in the official website which made a few things very clear. The most interesting part of the interview was his explanation of the club’s objectives:

The first objective was to improve the infrastructure and win trophies. It’s what our fans want and we succeeded. But football’s about entertainment and we want to play good football. The most attractive football across Europe last season was played by a couple of teams. We want to be a team that wins things in style and that’s about the club growing up. If you look at a Madrid, a Milan, a Barcelona, you look at a Manchester United, they’ve all been successful but they’re all teams with an identity and known for their style. That’s what we want to achieve. It’s important that we align with what the owner wants. When he bought Chelsea, he wanted it to be not just a successful football club but for it to be a force for good. He recognises how powerful sport can be in changing the social aspects of life and the influences it has on youth. That, philosophically, is very much Roman Abramovich. Roman watches more football than anyone I know, and not just Chelsea. He is absolutely absorbed by the sport. Part of our overall club objective was to be recognised by 2014 as the world’s No.1 club. There are two dimensions to that: one, success on the field and ultimately winning the Champions League; two, developing Chelsea for all parts of the world. Asia is a priority in doing that.

May be this is one time where Kenyon has said it very openly that the style of play is a big priority. May be that’s because, it has become a priority only now. As he says the primary objective a couple of seasons back was to win and be successful, which we did achieve. Now Kenyon says Chelsea should acquire a playing style of their own. Fair enough. But he also says we should play good football. I thought it was silly of him to make such a comment. Chelsea under Roman have always played good football. I mean, it all boils down to how you define the term ‘good football’? For instance, Barca last season played ‘bad football’. I say this because, I don’t just look at the attacking side of the game. Barca despite their riches in attack and their creativity in their game, were very poor in defence and many times lacked common sense for a team of that stature. For me, that was bad football, good attacking game but bad football overall. So for me, good attacking game does not simply equal good football.

And then he talks about most attractive football. Now that’s something else. Entirely different from the term ‘good football’. Has Chelsea been playing attractive football? For me, yes. For neutral fans, may be not. The way the neutral fans look at a game and a supporting fans look at the same game would be different. The neutral fans might look for some entertaining action, he doesn’t care who takes the damage. Whereas the expectations of the supporting fans could be quite different. I’m not trying to say we play in a very attractive way as that of Barca or Man Utd. We play differently. If we have to play like a Barca or a Man Utd, that would require a a sea change in the overall mindset of each and every player including even the goal keeper. When you try to play a very creative and flambuoyant game, it is natural that the defensive discipline and organisation may not be at their best. To align these two aspects of the game – creative/flambuoyant game plus the defensive discipline and organisation – would require time and more than time, patience. Scolari might try to achieve this but he would need time. But wait, isn’t he under a 2-year contract? That’s okay, contracts mean nothing these days.

Earlier Fergie made a remark that he would be worried only if someone could [Scolari] better an incredible Mourinho record. When asked about this Scolari responded quite well, shying himself away from a pointless banter. One good thing he has done so far is he has not talked anything about the previous managers or what we achieved or could not achieve. I like this part in Scolari. He’s got a job on hand and he gets on with it. Here is his response:

My name is Luiz Felipe Scolari. I’m not Jose Mourinho. I have my own personality. I follow my way, not another way. I don’t know if Mourinho says yes or no and I say different or not. To my players and the fans, I say what all coaches say: we need to win. Only this.

When asked if he would change the playing style as wanted by Roman, Scolari in fact does not answer the question directly and still insisted that for him winning is more important than anything else.

I don’t know. I’ll answer in June 2009 (after next season). My way in Chelsea is the same as my way in my life. I want the same as I wanted in the clubs and national teams I worked with before: winning. This is my way. I follow this way, only this.

He knows that if he doesn’t win, nothing else actually matters, he’ll be gone. Invariably we put our managers under such pressure and then expect them bring about any transformation which could take time. These two contradicting expectations in the most difficult league in Europe.

Anyway, all said, I’m more and more impressed with Scolari and the way he conducts himself. I like the way he emphasises winning more than anything else. I’m looking forward to this season now more than ever.