Let’s play to our strength, shall we? We have no genuine pacy quality wingers. Without them, 4-3-3 is a bit toothless. We have a Malouda and Kalou who are unreliable. We have a Joe Cole who is on and off with his form and fitness. And the one supposed to receive their supply is Anelka who does not use his head, literally speaking. With a financially tight transfer window approaching, it makes sense to realise that our slow but world class midfield is our real strength and the tactics should surround in getting the best out of our midfield.

When we are at home our opponents close up at the back, with lots of men behind the ball. It is different when we play away. The home sides play a more open game. We lack an organiser who can get hold of the ball, get forward and energise our front line. I just have players who work on the ball. Deco, Ballack and Lampard can all shoot but I don’t have a player who can dribble. There is no point in me weeping or moaning or seeking blame. I have to find a solution – and that is what I will do.

If he really said this, verbatim, I think he made a mistake. One is he undermines Deco, Ballack and Lampard publicly that they can’t dribble. That may be partly right but there is no need to make this so public. I’m sure he won’t like if Lampard comes out and says ‘we don’t have a manager with a tactical nous’. Deco was supposed to be the player that would make a difference to this side, right? Is this Scolari’s way of putting pressure on Deco and Ballack? Is this his way of provoking them to come up with a roaring performace? And while talking about dribbling players at Chelsea, how can he miss Joe Cole?

But he’s right. But he can’t deny that he has a great team at his disposal which ended only 2 points below the champions and were 2 seconds away from winning the champions league last season. All through the turmoil of the last season, no home game was lost! There was no Deco or Bosingwa then. Drogba was on and off. We got 43 points out of our home games last season with 12 wins and 7 draws.

This season, out of 9 matches, we have got 13 points. To match last season’s home points tally, we got to take 30 points in the remaining 10 matches. My math tells me that we need 10 wins out of 10. Scolari can say all that he wants but there’s no denying that we have gone a step back in his short stint so far. Mr. Scolari, I don’t expect you to emulate Jose Mourinho. Please at least emulate Avram Grant. That’s it.

Yes, to admit that Joe Cole is our best dribbler is like saying we have no dribblers. That’s the truth. But we have so many other strengths! We have a great goalkeeper, the best back four in the premier league, five unbelievable midfielders and one Anelka that Scolari himself rates very highly. With all these pluses, there is a minus that we don’t have great dribblers. Being a legendary coach that he is, why can’t Scolari devise a strategy to play and win, that maximises the strengths and minimises the weaknesses. Isn’t that managing all about?

With this set of goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, strikers – if we also get world class dribblers as wingers, probably even I won’t do badly with this Chelsea team. We need a Scolari in place of a lowly BC because we have a set team to work with, who were double runners up last time, who need to be made champions this time around. Again, we were runners up in premier league and champions league last season. To that squad, we trimmed the fat and added Deco and Bosingwa. Now, what should be the normal expectation?

Mostly to go one up better than last season or at worst not to drop below from last season’s standings. So that means, at worst, we need to be runners up in premier league and champions league. It just takes one bad home league run in April (just like November), to put us out of the title race. In champions league, we are light years before talking about reaching the final.

It is quite apparent that Scolari is tactically weak. He has one way of working and playing and expects everything else to fall in place to make it possible for him to work in his own way. I can come from somewhere, take up Chelsea job and say I want to play 4-3-3, you give me players that can fit into my system. Or I can say, this is the team I have, let me see which system works best for them to keep the momentum. Or I can even try my stuff and once I’m convinced that my system does not work, I can go back to the system that did work. Or alternatively, there is this Avram Grant way. Don’t change anything. Look at what worked and then use same team selection, same line-up, same formation, same style, same everything.

Scolari needs to drop his 4-1-4-1 for once. We don’t have pace. Our build-up is rather slow. And we don’t use the width of the pitch well enough. Once we gain momentum in one side of the pitch, we hardly change sides. Given the set of players and their abilities, 4-1-4-1 means we don’t everyone to their best. To have two wide midfielders has been a waste. With our wingbacks already in attack, a dribbling player in the centre prone to lose some possession, will we be protected enough at the back when a quick counter attack happens? Most teams set us up at Stamford Bridge, waiting only for a counter attack. To have a dribbling player in the middle might also playing into the opposition’s hands.

We should play 4-1-3-2. Kalou as a striker is much better bet than as a winger. His natural position is that of a striker, he creates quite a lot as a striker, he can use his head (once again, only literally speaking). 4-1-3-2 also can eliminate the need for having to play Malouda. Plus, it makes it possible to play Franco di Santo. With 4-1-3-2, our attacks are primarily through the centre, holding the ball, winning free kicks outside the D, with some surprise unleashing in the flanks. When you’re playing through the centre, you may not need dribbling abilities. You need intelligent positioning and tactical understanding, which our midfielders have in abundance. This way, Scolari won’t lose ‘players in the middle’. Our defence has not been the real problem as such though the goals we’ve let in have a pattern. If he has the risk apetite, he can also play 3-5-2 just like the way we played when Essien was the right back.

Some amount of innovation from Scolari might also help. He wants playmakers ‘who can who can get hold of the ball, get forward and energise our front line’. How about playing Joe Cole in the middle, just behind the striker? How about trying out some of our talented youngsters? By venting his frustration with the press, he is only creating a divide between himself and the management. He should rather spend his time in getting the best out of what he has. Most managers could kill to manage this Chelsea team.

These are tough times in the financial world. I’m not sure how much Roman lost in the latest Madoff scam that vanished $50 bn. Scolari cannot count on too much money or support in the transfer window. He might have to sell players to buy new ones, he might have to offload expensive players to release the wage budget. He might have to do a lot more on and off the pitch, apart from his mis-interpretable (?) interviews. Like he admitted, he needs to find the solution. At least, by saying this, he concedes that there is a problem, which is what we’ve been saying for weeks and months. While experimenting his solution, he can’t afford to lose points too. Sounds difficult but there’s a reason why he gets 6 million pounds a year.

Scolari needs to watch out, really. Do you know that Micheal Laudrup visited Chelsea FC yesterday. He wasn’t there for his job interview. His team Spartak Moscow was allowed by Chelsea FC to use the training facilities at Cobham, ahead of their UEFA Cup tie against Tottenham tomorrow night. Laudrup was one of the shortlisted candidates for the Chelsea job when the vacancy arose at Chelsea after JM and Grant. Is something brewing behind the screens? No, I don’t think so because The Sun don’t say so!