The Russian Railways Cup starts today. It’s a three day knockout tournament involving four teams – the other teams being AC Milan, Sevilla and Lokomotiv. There would be four matches in all including the third place play-off. In the first knockout round today, we play Lokomotiv and Sevilla plays AC Milan. The Sevilla vs AC Milan kicks off in the afternoon while our match is at 6:15 pm UK time.

For various reasons, this may not be played like a bunch of friendlies. Reason one is, the competition involved. In China and Malaysia, Chelsea can play so-so and still come out with a win and pride intact. Against Lokomotiv, Sevilla and AC Milan that may not be the case. Reason two is, the venue of the competition is Moscow. No Chelsea player wants to lose again in Moscow, in Roman’s backyard. It’s now a sentimental thing. Reason three is, friendly or not, it is a cup. Scolari would want the cup. He might want to start his Chelsea career with a trophy.

I’m curious to see how Scolari fares, when he plays to win and when he can’t afford to lose. That’s when the true nature of the manager comes out. The formation and strategy followed in this tournament could be the ones that we use in this league. Scolari has almost the full team for his selection. We have very little excuse for not doing well in this quick competition. I’m sure he wants to win it at any cost and he is taking it quite seriously. If you had any doubt about Scolari’s intentions on winning rather than ‘anything else’, here is the confirmation:

I am not here to play pretty but to win titles. If we do both, that’s great. There has never been a situation when Roman said ‘We have to play beautiful’. I met him twice and we talked like two ordinary people, not as owner and coach. He said ‘Do better for Chelsea’. That’s it. Nothing more.

Shall we put these things to rest? Scolari wants to win titles and that’s the one thing he wants to do. I’m more than happy to know this. Chelsea have their own style. We mix up our play quite nicely and we adapt very well to various opponents and conditions. Deco’s arrival anyway would provide a new dimension to our style. Scolari can just concentrate on winning the titles.

One bit of news is Scott Sinclair has joined the squad. I like this bloke. He is a good player. In the few matches that he has played, he has played rather well. If he gets to play more matches with some continuity at high level, he can get better. I’m not sure how his loan stints with the championship teams help him find a place in ‘this’ Chelsea team.

I hope to watch this match against Lokomotiv tonight. The match is live on Chelsea TV at 6:15 pm UK and the replay is at 10:15 pm UK. Let this be the first trophy of the parade to follow this season. Go Scolari!