“Next is what?” asks Samsung, Chelsea’s sponsors. That’s what Chelsea fans ask too. Next is what? We’ve seen the home record go. We have been beaten at home thrice, in a space of few weeks. We have been eliminated from league cup by Burnley at Stamford Bridge. In 9 home matches, we have won 3, drawn 4 and lost 2. Stoke City has won more home matches than Chelsea this season so far. Next is what?

San Siro. Earlier today. At the 47th minute, Inter are leading 2-0. Against the run of play, Chievo shocks them with two quick goals to make it 2-2 at the 65th minute. What does Jose Mourinho do? Makes three substitutions in 5 minutes. Brings on Balotelli, Crespo and Figo for Obinna, Muntari and Maxwell. Guess what happens next. Inter finish 4-2. For all this, they didn’t have to win this match to lead the table. They wer already 6 points clear off the the rest. They are now 9 points atop the table. Does JM perform this magic every match? No. If he did, he would win all the matches. But he certainly tries. He makes a valiant attempt; every single time.

Here we are, losing points at home for the for the sixth time in nine matches. We missed a glorious chances to put some daylight between us and the rest. How many times will you find all your rivals drop points in the same weekend? And how many times will this event be followed by a 24 hour-gap for you to realise and understand that a win would put you on top of the table? We had all except Essien and Carvalho. But we had very very capable back ups for these two too. We still managed to drop points? How did we achieve this?

Here is the recipe: (i) We had a fit Drogba who was left in the bench (ii) We kept a poor Deco on the pitch for all 94 minutes while he should not have seen beyond the 24th minute (iii) We substituted Joe Cole who contributed better than Deco, and brought on Belletti (iv) We subbed Mikel while his stay on the pitch would have meant no harm to our scoring chances (v) We made no visible tactical switch despite chasing just one goal for all of 40 minutes.

Match-wise, we let in a poorly defended goal, that appeared to have used a handball along its way. Chelsea had zero shots on goal in the first half. Then in the second half, we equalise when a superb movement by Drogba and Lampard put the ball to Anelka on a one-on-one situation. If it’s one-on-one, it’s Anelka. He is just a one-on-one striker, nothing more, nothing less. Then, Lampard fails to get a clear penalty late on. Compare this with Gerrard’s scandalous penalty against Atletico few weeks back at Anfield. Even Lucas Neill admitted that there was contact, he was lucky that penalty was not awarded. Then in last few seconds, Carlton Cole missed a glorious opportunity to take all three points and inflict Chelsea’s fourth defeat (oh my god, I don’t fecking believe this!) in 2 months in Stamford Bridge.

And then after the match, you get to listen to this shocking interview by Scolari:

Yes it’s difficult. When we play here it is different than when we play away. Away we have more space and we play more with the ball, maybe we are now thinking ‘this is not our home’ and we are not scoring goals, I don’t know what is happening. It was a difficult game for us. We played for much of the game with most of the ball, but we scored only one goal and had three or four good chances, while West Ham had just two chances and scored a goal. I think if we showed more quality with our final shot we would have won this game. We are dangerous on both systems. With [both Drogba and Anelka] yes, but also before because when they come on I lose my middle. We need to train with that system a lot more because when we only have two forwards and one winger like today I play a genuine 4-3-3 for the second half, but lose my middle – so it is difficult for me.

I think it’s a shame to admit that we find it difficult when we play at home! What is this new thing about not finding space at home? Always, I mean, always, smaller teams come to Stamford Bridge and park their bus. It happens at Old Trafford, it happens at Anfield, it happens at Bernabeu, it happens at Camp Nou, it happens as San Siro. What’s so new about not finding space at home matches? This has not come as a surprise. We have been struggling at home for a couple of months now and November has exposed us brutally.

All the while, Scolari has been saying that he does not have the players to play differently. Then he gets a fit in-form Drogba and puts him in the bench?! Unbelievable. Why would you put Drogba on the bench? If you love Anelka so much, at least play them together! Or play Drogba as the striker and Anelka as the centre forward / second striker. Which other team or manager would put a fit, in-form Drogba in the bench, when they’re struggling to score goals at home?

It appears that Scolari is not in favour of the 4-4-2 system at all because he does not feel comfortable about it. It almost sounds like ‘for 4-4-2 we need to train more so I play only 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1′. Sounds strange bordering on crazy. With Drogba and Anelka, we are significantly more dangerous than otherwise. We saw that today in the second half. But for the predictable pattern of passing play, we would have made better use of possession in the second half.

The only source for Chelsea attacks is Jose Bosingwa. The only source for Chelsea’s goals is Frank Lampard. I wonder what would happen in a match without Bosingwa and Lampard. Granted, Bosingwa is delivering great crosses but oppositions have figured out that Bosingwa plays a key role in Scolari’s Chelsea. All that they need to do is to stop him somehow or be prepared for his crosses. As a West Ham centre back if I see Bosingwa with the ball in the flank, I can be 100% sure that he is gonna deliver a cross. Whenever the ball goes to Bosingwa, that’s the only thing that happens. We simply fail to do anything else on the right flank. Credit for the good part of our plump goal difference should go to Bosingwa but have you been noticing that he has been less effective of late?

For all the cosmetics of Scolari’s Chelsea, we have boringly similar pattern of play which can be easily read and undone. From defence it goes to Mikel who sprays it to the advancing wing backs. Wing back then plays a one-two or interchanges with the side midfielder. Then, if it’s the right back, he crosses it in. If he is the left back he would either crosses or again tries to play one-two or interchanges. That’s it. You won’t find our midfielders passing to striker unless that puts him one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Any team with two hard working midfielders can stop us easily. Bosingwa and Ashley Cole are after all, full backs with a decent dribble. They are not Lionel Messi. Put two men on them, they’ll have to give up. If they give up we have no other potent way to attack.

Plus, we are not allowed to play in the air. Just one juicy lob and you see the coach criss crossing his arms gesturing ‘play it on the grass’. With long shooters like Lampard and Ballack, lobs to the forwards could result in nice lay offs for a belter. Oh, don’t get me started on the long shots. We don’t try them anymore and that’s down to the ‘newly acquired style of play’. We still sacrifice the shooting opportunity for that sweet-little-clever-one-touch-short-pass that gives a momentary pleasure to the players that they’ve managed to out-think the opposition. I don’t know when was the last time we scored from a corner in the premier league. We don’t try anything new in corners. No short passing or low crossing or laying off from the corner.

What do we lack, really? We’ve got one of the best goal keepers in Europe. We have a world class back four plus a very impressive Ivanovic and Alex to step in if required. We have John Obi Mikel who is the best young player in the premier league (in my view, of course). Mikel must be in the running for the Chelsea player of the season award. We’ve got a resurgent Frank Lampard. Our midfield is fantasy football-like with Lampard, Ballack, Deco and Joe Cole. We have Anelka who is the top scorer in the premier league. We even seem to afford to keep Drogba in the bench. What else does Scolari want to get a win? I can understand if we have one of those bad days when nothing would go right for us. But we seems to have occasional good days among an unusually high number of bad days.

The buck should stop with Scolari. He got us to a great start so there is no question of him having to settle down. He plays a lot of brazilian/portuguese players so language cannot be a problem. For those English players, they’re always on auto-pilot, they are top professionals who can work with little interaction too. Still, Scolari has got Ray Wilkins to help him out. There were some injuries. All teams have had. Many other teams did not have the luxury of bringing in players like Alex and Ivanovic as second choice defenders. Scolari never had to play anyone out of position. Scolari was given a champion team which was even grudgingly admired by its staunch haters. All that he had to do was to tweak here and there, oil the machine and ensure that it runs at the same level if not faster.

Deco was once again the worst Chelsea player on the pitch. Only a week back I wrote that he was the best Chelsea player on the pitch. Such has been his form in Chelsea. In many ways, Deco personifies Scolari’s Chelsea. Started his Chelsea career very brightly. Had fans and press raving about him. He can be sublime one moment, can be lovely when given space and time but can also be frustratingly wasteful. For now, he has been sadly dispensible. Deco in Chelsea sums up Scolari’s Chelsea, isn’t it?

Despite making no worthwhile contribution or even showing any promise, Deco was there start to finish. I wonder why? Is that because he was Scolari’s purchase? Is that because he promised to the boss that he would transform Chelsea with Deco? Is that because Deco is a brazilian? Scolari certainly has a soft corner towards Deco. See, I have always like Deco. I still think he can be great for us. But in matches like this, when it’s so obvious that he does more damage than help, I wouldn’t think twice about removing him from the pitch.

No matter what the situation is, Scolari always retains his back four on the pitch. He refuses to take risks with a 3-5-2 or an audacious 2-3-5 or something like that. Why can’t we just throw everything at the opposition, in the last few minutes. The only tactical change he makes to make the game more attacking is subbing Mikel. That’s what he does in every match where we’re left to chase. Watch it against West Brom, oops, I hope and wish we don’t have to chase against West Brom too. At the 80th minute, at 1-1, you have two options (i) to go for a win, plus side three points, minus side zero points (ii) just try to secur that point without outrageous risks. I did not see Scolari go for the win at all costs. Of course he went for a win, but not for ‘a win at all costs’, not even in the last 10 minutes. May be he feared losing that solitary point too. But it won’t work this way. You’d rather fight and lose than not to fight.

The next home match is on the boxing day against West Brom. And then against Southend on 3-Jan, Stoke City on 17-Jan and Middlesbrough on 28-Jan. We should need no help to beat West Brom and Southend. For Stoke and Boro, we might have Essien, Carvalho and may be a new signing. We are still in the champions league awaiting a draw against group winner. Now, it really makes me nervous when I look at the possible draws and more importantly the fact that Scolari is tactically inferior even to some of the very ordinary managers who have not won the world cup. We have the crunching second half of the league plus a tough champions league knock out phase ahead. Is Scolari up to it? Next is what?