Let’s not beat around the bush. We’re not picking up the points. We are not playing good football. Our football is neither beautiful nor intelligent. Luckily for us, our rivals are as inconsistent as we have been. Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal have all been drawing and losing matches. But I need to admit that they play much better and deserve to call themselves unlucky after most of their draws/defeats. The matches where we have been dropping points, there has been no question of luck, it’s sheer under-performance.
My team is no longer fighting like they did before. They no longer play like their lives depended on that game. Teams no longer fear Chelsea. Don’t think I’m trying to say that we have a divine right win all the matches and end up with 114 points. To all those who say that you were around when Chelsea were shite, good for you. Flash news: Times have changed. The club spends more than a million pounds per week on player wages alone. Do the results and the way we play correspond to the million pounds per week wages?
The Chelsea team had more self respect and a siege mentality. When we were hurt, we hit them back as a group. When we lost or drew, we cam back like a wounded animal. Chelsea’s wrath used to be too much to handle. Opponents may win or draw but cannot dominate Chelsea like they are doing now. Attack or defence, we normally have the game under our control. At their will, this team would attack or defend. Defend because we want to or we can afford to. Attack because we want to and we can. Believe it or not, we’ve seen the mid-tablers dominate us this season. We’ve become lot more subdued and submissive. We lack self confidence big time.
Do you think all our players would step into the Bridge thinking, ‘okay there, three points in the bag’? No way. Unfortunately, there are no regulation wins anymore. Earlier, you could look at the fixtures list for the next month or two and fairly predict the number of points Chelsea would collect. I can’t do that anymore. Which of these places would West Brom prefer to go this week and why? Anfield, Emirates, Old Trafford, Villa Park or Stamford Bridge? Don’t tell me Arsenal or Villa have a better squad than Chelsea.
Win or lose, how do we play is all that matter to me. I hate to see Chelsea come up with one subdued performance after the other. The Chelsea I know plays best when the opposition scores a goal or gets us a red card. Truly. Because, those were taken personally by the players and they wanted to prove a point. The team’s aggression has certainly come down by a few notches. I will put any of these things on the availability or non-availability of any players. Having a Robinho will change the match with an assist or a goal. but why would we need Robinho to play with more aggression and ruthlessness. In football, you have three key attributes – mental attributes, physical attributes and skill attributes. It’s possible that there is a highly skilled player but he is low on mental or physical attributes. We have a scoring example in front of us.
There could be players with high mental and physical attributes but with relatively low skill attributes. Someone like a Roy Keane comes to mind. These are players who would come with a prefix of ‘gritty’ rather than ‘skillful’. Someone like a Robben is high on mental and skill attributes but low on physical attributes. Any football team is bound to have players on various levels when it comes to these attributes. The first thing normally a coach does is to ensure that the mental attributes are taken care off. The physical side is always under care with the finess regime. The skill side is also under care with the training ground practices. Also, players of a top European club should be fairly skillful or skillful enough to carry out your plans for three points.
The mental attributes are the ones where the coach/manager needs to spend a lot of time on. See, these players are also humans. They might also go through all the instances of confidence blocks, depression, lack of self belief, ability to work with a team and all that. As the manager, Scolari or anyone should make them believe that they are going to be champions. If Scolari comes to the press and says that we are going to champions this season, it might sound arrogant but at the same time he would subtly put the pressure on the players to come up with the goods. Or he would have really made the players believe that it is possible after all. At the mom the conent, the team and the players do not have the confidence or belief. By bringing on Bridge on the 87th minute at a 0-0 scoreline, Scolari is not sending the right messages to the players. One is, he says that a draw is a good, acceptable result with just 5 mins to go. Another is, he says to the players, I don’t think you’re gonna score and win, at least I’ll stop you from conceding one.
I’ve said this too before. If you go for 3 points there are chances you might end with zero too. If a team like Chelsea goes for just 1 point, more often than not, they can get it. It’s upto the managers and players on whether they play for three points or one point. Also, if Liverpool had beaten Arsenal, we might have gone for all three points. That’s not the right mentality. We don’t want to be on par with Liverpool. We should try to put some daylight between us and Liverpool. This is a league where we should be leading the chasing pack by about 8 to 10 points, if we had taken our chances.
It’s quite easy to say we need new players. When we were very much in the race for all competitions (of which I think we won two finally), Roman did not sanction any new purchased in January. I don’t see why he has to do now too. Because, we have a great squad. How come we were notching all these 4-0 and 5-0 in the first quarter of the season and are now struggling to score and win at home? If I were Roman, my question would be whether I have got the best out of the players that we have already? Otherwise, I’m not buying any new players. I cannot buy new players just to make the job of my coach easy. If I give you all and more, why would I pay Scolari 6 million pounds a year? Some of the poor results we have got this season has nothing to do with the squad.
At least AG can claim himself unlucky because he was appointed in September and could not have had a say in the transfers. Scolari was appointed in early June but he too charge on the 1st of July. He had two full months of open transfer window at his disposal. Forget about the Robinho transfer. He wanted Robinho and we messed up the deal. Assuming we had Robinho and he injured himself in the first week and ruled himself our for 4 months, is this how we would be playing? Scolari was fine with retaining Malouda and Kalou. He had faith in them. He had a chance to offload them and he did not. So they become his players. Scolari chose to strengthen the already strong midfield with Deco. That was his choice. Why didn’t he strengthen the forwards? Why didn’t he buy a winger (apart from
Robinho) instead of adding Deco to the list of Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Mikel, Makelele, Belletti, Sidwell, Joe Cole, some of whom he had dispatched off. Bring in two more players. But that is not the solution. That is certainly not the solution. We would not have resolved the problem unless the mentality of the players and the team is sorted out. The teams should refuse to accept a draw or a defeat. A team would accept a draw as a good result only when they think they have played well. The underlying mentality should be that no matter how well we play, a draw is not an acceptable result. That’s how champions think. I feel sad to say that we are not playing like champions. I hope things do improve in the second half of the season.
Anyway, the question of the day is ‘has Chelsea become weaker under Scolari’? Start your response with a YES or a NO and go about explaining why? Keep this a very matured discussion based on ideas, opinions and logic.
Loading ...
112 Responses - Add your comment!
I’m afraid i have to agree with you BC. We don’t look like champions anymore.
Scolari really needs to change his tactics, or should i say tactic. You need a new system dammit!
Why isn’t Drogs in the starting XI? Why won’t you bench Deco? I like watching Deco play, but for the past few games he hasn’t been up to standard. I say keep him on the bench till he’s sure to perform. There’s no desire to win. We don’t push for the win or play with the intent of going for the kill. THAT’S NOT HOW CHAMPIONS PLAY.
On the bright side, there’s this huge room for improvement. Just hope scolari can make Chelsea stronger, if not as strong as before.
I think we have certainly weakened under scholari….he is another example of a perfect bloke who is not tailor made to suit the premiership. Its all come down to when would he leave chelsea…would it be at the end of the season or before that…..the chances of the latter happening are increasing by the day and unfortunately it would be a sacking….sad but its better he goes back to brazil and looks for another livelihood….
If I vote for chelsea becoming weak, then my decision is not influenced by the results we have been getting lately. But the way my team is playing the all important 90 mins.
People say that Scholari needs the time to inscribe on the players mind the system that we play in. Thats not the case, we were playing magnificently in the beginning and the performance has been degrading since. So, its proved that its not because the players haven’t been able to adapt to the new system. The reason for this debacle is the 1-dimensional game that we are indulged in. The managers now know that we are not going to change the way we play, its going to be the same lullaby passing in the midfield until our striker gets a one on one.
No game in football has ever been won by a team low in spirit. Its the thought ‘We are still the boss’ that remarked most of Chelsea’s comebacks. We were one of the teams against whom the opponents would never sit-back even after having a 2-goal cushion. Its this indomitable spirit that our players have lost in the LFS regime. This is my biggest concern. I plead LFS to re-inculcate this thought into the players.
I am again going to predict a draw in my IKTS prediction for the next match. But I want chelsea to rectify me.
C’mon Chelsea!!!!
Prove me wrong.
I think, you should give more time to Big Phill. This is only his first season in Stamford Bridge, and to see the improvement you need to wait couple of years. I dont think, changing managers frequently is a good idea. You need to set a legacy, one-off success does not help.
This present chelsea team is goin to to the cleaners………………!!!,,,,,,,The most shocking thing is it was almost the same team last year under an amateur coach tht almost won the premeir league and DOMINATED and i mean dominated a certain man u team in the champions league final………only for luck to defy us glory….
then how is tht with a few improved tweaks in the team structure we perform even more badly!!!!.we lost the grit toughness WIN AT ALL cost mentality……..
i remember tht fa cup quarter final we had against tottenham when we were 3-0 down…..and made it 33 in 2 nd half!!!..with a injury hit squad tht too!!!!……….can we even dream of chelsea making it1-1 anyomore??……average teams know hot to block..us ..god know wht will happen when they play juventus and barca ……….!!!!…………..
i guess if we could get steve clarke back…it would help the team recover tht mourinho instilled toughness in them…..cause i feel thts wht did the job last season under avram grant!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with most of your comments BC, my main concern is the apparent lack of commitment from a lot of the key players. Take Ballack, I don’t think I’ve seen a player making so many missed passes for a long time. Deco plays completely uninspired (admittedly some glimpses of past glory). But my biggest problem is that you hardly ever see any of the players chasing a lost ball as if their life depended upon it. Look at Liverpool and Man U, their players almost take it as a personal insult loosing a ball, you don’t get that feeling with the Chelsea players. Its more like ” I just can’t be bothered”. That attitude needs to change if Chelsea wants to become one of the big clubs in the world. And its not only up to Scolari to change the players attitude, the players themselves need to to pull their heads out of their arses and starts performing. It must be embarrassing cashing in £75000 a week ( for some a lot more) without delivering.
i miss AG : (
OUT SCOLAR :@ Come Back Mourinho
To be honest, chelsea has indeed become weaker under LFS. But we that is not because LFS is a bad manager. I do think he is a great manager but he needs to understand the dynamics of british football. If LFS had taken an appointment with a spanish team, things would have been different and all these lapses wouldn’t have been noticeable.
He is learning the ropes in england, not as a manager but as a premiership class manager. He needs time to adjust his samba tactics to a more premiership suited style. LFS is trying to inculcate the principles of brazilian soccer into a squad that was built typically for british football. That indeed is a daunting task.
Everything said in this article is quite correct except one slight detail……..Felipe’s squad would have been fine under the SPECIAL ONE or even the AVERAGE ONE(Mr. Avram) due to the way their teams play. But with scolari i indeed expected things to happen this way. We were having great wins at the beginning of the season because no one knew what chelsea was gonna do under LFS…..now everyone knows…..that’s why its much more difficult to bag 3 points.
However, as genuine fans we should try to learn how to support our manager irrespective of results. As a club, what chelsea needs most now is stability. With time LFS would get it right….yeah we are struggling but we can only get better….For LFS, Chelsea and all we great BLUE fans it is indeed a learning phase for us all.
But we will learn on time and get back to our delightful years…..btw did anyone remember a certain SAF who signed for Man Utd in 1986 and won his first title in 1992? How about Arsene who hasn’t won a title in 3-4 seasons? Lets be TRUE BLUES and trust in our team.
BLUES FOR LIFE Y’ALL!!!!
look when mourinho came he asked for some players and took them but scolari ask two players(deco,robinho) and he got one of them so if we sign a good winger scolari will show what he can really do…..
Very good quality, sensible matured comments guys. Let’s keep it this way.
I see there is a minority that say Chelsea have not become weaker under Scolari. Can some of you with this opinion make your comments substantiating your views?
Also, this is by no means a ‘sack scolari’ topic. I like Scolari and I want him to stay. I just want Chelsea to improve.
Sent from my Nokia N95 mobile.< \i>
@BC
Yes,we are weaker but somewhere we have to admit we have an overpacked,aged,immobile midfield with NO PACE………………….come to wings we have no quality and PACE………….malouda is USELESS,kalou is overrated but only by some CFC Fans……….joe just has 5-10 yards of burst of pace remaining…………..our team is seriously nearing a need for fresh blood……………….mikel has been a revelation……………..essien has pace and will inject the directness in our play………ballack and deco don’t last 90 minutes………………it’s near visible………………..we have to invest.
And yes as for Drogba-Anelka combo,someone on CFCNet gave a very valid point as to why scolari may be reluctant in going for a 4-4-2
“Its getting monotonous and tired repeating it, but to play Anelka and Drogba consistently over the second half of the season, we need a credible and decent level 3rd choice striker. Kalou and Di Santo don’t come close to that level. If and when we do get that 3rd striker, we can then think of playing Anelka and Drogba together consistently. Otherwise be prepared to see them start only in the big or perhaps crunch games (if its an option).”
@BC
Personally i feel these are some of the reasons……………
1.Overdependance on Bosingwa from right.
2.Predictable full back play
3.Lack of direct play but it’s more due to lack of essien and drogba[our most direct players]
4.Ballack and Deco aren’t lasting 90 min
5.Our wingers are pathetic…………..Kalou runs like a headless chicken.
6.The only outlet of decent pace playing in our side is Anelka………………Kalou’s pace is mythical……..moreover he runs around like a headless chicken with whatever pace he has.
7.Lack of wingers………….means overcrowded midfield.
8.Lack of Options on bench which can act like IMPACT Players
that’s a beautiful question. my answer is a resounding yes. i too don’t believe that the problem is with the players. if you say that the problem is with the players, then that means the problem is with the manager. what’s the use of the manager if he doesn’t get the best from his players. i’m tired of hearing people say we have a slow players. we had slow players under avram grant too. how did he manage? like bc asks, if speed was necessary why was deco bought and why not someone else? you can’t say the speed of the players is the reason why you get on one shot on target in 90 minutes? give me a break. you cans say that we are not scoring enough because we don’t have certain type of players but why do we have to play poorly with these set of players. with a team consisting of cech, terry, alex, bosingwa, ashley cole, mikel, lampard, ballack, deco, joe cole, drogba and anelka cannot be playing this poorly. so don’t try to put the blame on the players that we have or that twe don’t have certain players.
scolari has been poor so far. he is a very good manager. he can learn from his mistakes but the fact is the problem is with scolari and not with the players.
@Above
Pace is necessary caus AG/Mourinho’s football is entirely different to Scolari’s………………he likes a certain system………..jose likes a certain system……………….you can change your preffered formations but gameplay is something the manager plays it’s own unique irrespective of the formation…………….jose will use Cristiano in the same manner he has used Joe……………Scolari will use use Joe in the manner he had used Simao………….that’s the part we have to understand…………………..i don’t think scolari or any manager will change his gameplan to something entirely different to get the results………..jose never changed his bigger gameplan in his third or fouth season…………….wenger doesn’t changes it……………..lippi won’t change it……………………..
@All
Just went through the torture of watching highlights……………..i really symphatize with those who watched the match live in the early hours.
My Consolance
@All
Cech is back………………………………………the only positive
We have been weaker when it comes to breaking teams down AT HOME, undoubtedly, but I fail to see the importance of this too much. Our away form has been absolutely exceptional, and the Premier League has been won several times by teams winning more away than at home, usually by Arsenal.
Everyone knows how our start last season was not magnificent due to the turmoil going on, but contrary to what is the common feeling here at the moment, we are one point up and one place up in the table. By Boxing Day last year, we had already lost to United, Arsenal and Villa away. It is United and Arsenal (obviously) who are not as good as last season, as this article shows: http://www.thefootballnetwork.net/main/s379/st137771.htm
We may have been patchy since the start of November, but I believe I know the reason for this. Liverpool are a defensively minded side, more so than us. Once they got the first goal at the Bridge, we were never going to get back through without stretching them wide. The result against Arsenal was an absolute anomaly. We may have been poor but we deserved at least a draw from that game and if Van Persie’s first, offside, goal has been correctly disallowed our confidence probably would have remained. Newcastle, Everton and West Ham are decent sides improving after indifferent starts, and our away form in Europe is traditionally average. That’s our current form explained without looking at the deals.
Our main problem at the moment is getting through a congested central defence, correct? I would say this is a consequence of a. playing Deco out wide, a player who will naturally cut inside, and b. Anelka’s being forced to drop back in search of the ball due to this passivity, taking the pressure off defences.
Malouda and Kalou, however much people may get annoyed with them, are necessary for the balance of this side in their width and direct pace, dragging defenders out wide and allowing more space for players like Anelka and Lampard to sneak in. The fact is that Scolari cannot play Deco AND Ballack at the same time, especially at home. It must be one or the other, in the centre where they belong. For the first few months of the season, that’s how it was: either Deco or Ballack, due to the other being injured. Now they’re both fit, and… Oh. Do you remember our 1-0 against Wigan back in August? Exactly the same problem, and they played together then too.
It is obvious too that, in Drogba, we already know we have one of the best players in the world at the lone striker role. Unlike Anelka, he stays where he is meant to be up front, holding up the ball effectively and attempting to move it on. If he is fit, he should be starting there, without question, with Anelka dropped to the bench. It is impossible for us to play 4-4-2 without dropping Deco AND Ballack AND probably Essien when he returns from injury. We have too many central midfielders to start a game 4-4-2. Until they leave, it’s not going to happen.
I feel that starting Friday we will begin to improve. So far, we have been playing the difficult teams at home – United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle, Tottenham, Villa – all teams in Europe within the last two or three years. The next set of home games are inherently winnable: West Brom, Stoke, and Hull, the three promoted sides, average Middlesbrough and Wigan sides, and Manchester City, who are awful away from home. We have the ability to win all six of those before things get more awkward again with Everton, Bolton and Blackburn.
Equally, our away form is going to start to naturally dip. We have yet to play United, Arsenal, Liverpool or Villa away. If we get two wins and two draws out of that set, I will be ecstatic. Don’t forget Tottenham, Newcastle and Portsmouth, all of which are winnable if we play well.
There are two kinds of ‘weak’ teams in the Premier League – the sort you’ll beat easily at home and the sort that will give you a fight. That is what makes the league so brilliant. Draws are frustrating but winning every week doesn’t make you appreciate how difficult winning the Premier League is. If Scolari resolves these recent problems, I think we will be fine, especially with Essien and Carvalho to return.
For ‘deals’, read ‘details’! Sloppy editing on my part.
I voted yes. The question now is how to get that fire back:
1. Start Drogba
2. Pray for Essien’s healthy and quick return
3. Get a good winger or two
4. Put an end to the strategic predictability
I am a Mourinho man. I don’t need Scolari to be another Mourinho. I just want the man to lead in a way that get’s the best results. With Liverpool, Man U, and Arsenal misfiring, there is still time.
Yes, I feel we have become weak with LFS. LFS over the last six or seven years, have managed country and not clubs. Country play once in a month and he has the liberty to play the same team again and again. First and Foremost, he should change this attitude as this will work only if your players are not injured in a club.
Second, instead of going to the market, he should give more time to the reserve strength. Even during those glory days, 5-0,4-0 wins, we never substituted till 60 min and the person coming in would be belleti etc. Give these youngster enough time.
If we still don’t find pace etc in the midfield, lets go to the market as I feel the reserve team players are given a raw deal.
Adaptability to play different systems, till now I don’t know why we can’t play 4-4-2, have we even tried that in a carling cup game ??
All these action should improve our results and reduce the predicability with which the teams are selected .
I do believe that Chelsea has become weaker as earlier for the following reasons,
lack of motivation from manager: he´s too old, i can´t see that energy a manager of top team should have.
1) Predictability: Same formation, with Deco and Bosingwa´s place guarentted, and the whole tactics revovling around them.
2) Weakest set-pieces in past 7 years: How many of you can think we can score in freekicks or in corners?
3) Lone striker theory: Is it possible to break a defence of 11 men with a single striker? If Anelka cannot play with Drogba, try Kalou with Drogba!!! I like Anelka, but how many of his goals have been decisive? He is certainly not in the best form he should be!!!! Scoring 3 more when team was already 2 up doesn´t bring anything other than a better goal difference.
4) Old players: Deco and Ballack are old and they are lacking pace. I´d say they should be substituted for each other. Give Sinclair, di Santo, Kalou more chance, I tell you, once they hit their form they are gonna rock Primiership. They got pace, they can dribble, they have the potential to be the best, but only if they get enough games!!!
5) LFS´s inability to read games: don´t need to tell much about this, you already know. He lacks confidence that he can change the route of game.
6) low confidence, lack of interest from players, no fighting spirit: It seems they all are frustrated, or may be bored of doing same things again and again.
7) wrong substitutions: I thought only AG can do this, but it seems LFS has even won him in this matter.
there are lot more to tell, let me not get you all demoralised. But i really think its time to change a manager, we´ve still got chance to go top.
@All
I dont know how much this is true.
Next month
Scolari – out & Mancini – in
http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/105/main/2008/12/24/1027002/chelsea-to-sack-scolari-appoint-roberto-mancini
Had BC told me to vote for Scolari’s head, I would say no.
Not so early at all. Let the season be over, Roman should give him time. With all our glorious start of the season, it would be too harsh to sack the man so early. He deserves to stay for atleast a season.
Well BC, your next polling scheme should include this question.
hey blue-mates
My answer to the question is yes BC.
Do I think its totaly LFS´s fault? no I dont. I dont think LFS just gone bad. First of all he seem to have communication problem and that bigtime. I cant really understand one thing he says. he cant really get the message across to the players it seems. he have his gameplan and its very important to be on the same page wit ur players to start with. If you dont trust or believe in the system ur playing in, its not easy to do well. anyone that have played anykind of teamsport knows that. wit that bein said, I think also the GM should ask himself this questions; “is this what we have to go through inorder to entertain ppl, be loved by ppl and build up a beautiful image of chelsea”? The club got rid of the previous managers cause of they wanted to go in diffrent direction from what I understand. They werent feeling JM and AG was just a emergency solution. I think there were alot of politics involved in this two previous coach of bein sacked then just the obvious one, results.
Where am goin wit this one; they got LFS for a reason, to please RA and to make chelsea more likeable what ever that now means. I may be gettin things twisted lol but this wat I think.
I never understood when they appointed him, but now that he is a chelsea coach I cheer for him to take us to the promise land. He seem stubborn, but all great players and managers have huge ego, you guys think he gives a damn of what ppl thing of him not starting drogs for example? I doubt it, I think he wants to prove to drogs and the rest that he can do it his way. I mean why wouldnt you start a player like drogba specialy under the circumstance, where we have been poor. it would be one thing to make him a supersub if everyone is playing great upfront and we are winning, but we aint.
I really think he gonna stick to what he have been doing lately, I dont se any reason why he all of a sudden would change. I hope am wrong.
You guys know how we felt when we saw the starting lineup and he wasnt starting drogba agains everton, imagine how the players felt? to have ur best strikers playing gives u a boost, which we have seen a few times when he been on the pitch wit the lads. Further, I think most managers should have good relationship wit their top guns, LFS needs to work on that to get the dressingroom behind him. When AG was around, that didnt happen either but atleast we had S Clark then who took care of business.
@TBF
right now kalou aint the only one that runs like a headless chicken, we dont have a clue out there on the pitch.
I think a few simple changes will do us very good. A win for starters agains WB would be nice, that would boost up our confident. Another one is to play the right ppl, how hard can that be LFS?????
I think we will be alright and we are just gonna get better and better even thought nothing out there proves my point. but I have to believe that. I dont wanna go around wit this negative mindset.
last but not least, i think we have capable enought team and manger to win the championship. alot of things can and will happen come crunchtime. hopefully 2009 we can get over the hump and bring back the trophy.
Stay easy all chelsea fans out there and keep this blog alive=)
@ BC 200% correct you summed up everything i had in my head but counldn’t get out quite right
just to quote BC this paragraph touched me alot
“The Chelsea team had more self respect and a siege mentality. When we were hurt, we hit them back as a group. When we lost or drew, we cam back like a wounded animal. Chelsea’s wrath used to be too much to handle. Opponents may win or draw but cannot dominate Chelsea like they are doing now. Attack or defence, we normally have the game under our control. At their will, this team would attack or defend. Defend because we want to or we can afford to. Attack because we want to and we can. Believe it or not, we’ve seen the mid-tablers dominate us this season. We’ve become lot more subdued and submissive. We lack self confidence big time”
we dont think that way because that is the way the manager thinks…. you know this opponent is strong… fuck no…. west brom is not stronge, but the manager is weak thats the problem.
My point exactly BC the worst thing a team could do is score on us at the bridge!!! are you mad!!! you will die a slow and painful death!!! I used to be glad when a team scores first.. because i knew we would shift into gears “or kill mode” not so anymore… Im not living inthe past but thats our standard now!!! and we must not go backs… ooops too late!
like gooners sissy .. very skillful but very poor mentally… wait that now sounds like us?!
@iwasmissingjose
agree with majority of your point except
1.we have been as weak in set pieces from 3 years.lampard n deco are extremely poor in dead ball situations.
2.sinclair isn’t chelsea material yet…infact he lacks the decision making process at high level…di santo needs to be integrated slowly into the first team like mikel.
3.kalou isn’t fit to wear a chelsea jersey
@kuhulai
as per kalou,he does run like headless chicken right there from jose’s era.
He will complete his 3rd and praying to god tha t his last year at chelsea…he is poor n just a mistake on jose’s part
If I am not mistaken our play is supposed to be built around Mikel – the switch of play from left to right, the protection of the backline as well as the starting of our attacks. With this in mind I think the players are messing up the system, we are not willing to build the play through him play a few easy passes make the opposition work , our midfield sometimes are too deep in the opposition half and we end up gettin in each others way. Under JM we moved the ball well from maka to lamps to essien to ballack…each one being in close proximity and the ball moved smoothly now and we were patient, but now we aren’t patient we want to enter the box so quickly. The only time we did that and did it well this season was the aston villa game. Bosingwa is another problem, he has been awesome in some games but to be frank some times he tries to go past his man instead of playing a one two with the midfielder close by either ballack or mikel and most of our attacks are stalled.
YES, they’re weaker, BUT they’ll be fine with the return of Carvalho and Essien. Two of the highest-impact players in the world.
Frank will right this ship. He knows he’s on his last contract now and can’t afford to wait for trophies. A little extra time on the training pitch and this will all be worked out. As other teams fade, Chelsea will surge.
@19. Chris……… great points cris!! you have given me a bit more faith,
Quoting johnarejr
I voted yes as well
and I am also a respecter of Mourinho, I just want Scolari to stop being one dimensional, have more self belief, work better one set peices and just drive the team more.
23. IwasMissingJose .. love the points!!
I also want to add that .. why doesn’t scolari bring in stoch, sinclair and a few others to get a decent run out when we were winning teams 5-0 and 4-0, he brings on bellete mad man… bring a young play and watch him run at opponents
@27. TBF .. thats a bit hars on kalour.. you have to remember he is a striker not a winger…
why does he play so well with drogba with ivory coast then!! scolari must look at this combination!
Quoting @24 chesito
Bring in Mancini. Now that is a solution to our woes.
getting points ios not important now,we are playing very poor.he is world cup winner,he must prove he has something in his head.our great results had gone along time,i dont know what is happening in chelsea ?
@ everyone
where are the guys who said no(vote) ……you guys have no explanation…???????!!!!!!!!
i mean all the guys who said yes (vote) gave reasons for their vote….. the floor is wide open !!! please speak you minds
@All
I dont know how much this is true.
Next month
SCOLARI – OUT & MANCINI – IN
http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/105/main/2008/12/24/1027002/chelsea-to-sack-scolari-appoint-roberto-mancini
Had BC told me to vote for Scolari’s head, I would say no.
Not so early at all. Let the season be over, Roman should give him time. With all our glorious start of the season, it would be too harsh to sack the man so early. He deserves to stay for atleast a season.
Well BC, your next polling scheme should include this question.
DON’T YOU ALL HAVE AN OPINION?
We’ll have to see what January looks like. I’d seen sites where Cech defends Scolari, Roman is going to let him get players, Roman ain’t going to spend any more money, Drogba wants to leave, Roman is going to hire Barak Obama (okay, I made that up). The only thing we can do is take the rumors with a grain of salt and one game at a time.
I want Podolski!!! to kick manure up their asses!!
Hey guys , when someone changes style, with players that have been 4/5 years used to one system, is not easy.
The thing is Chelsea now wants to implement a brazilian type of footbal, constant attack, with the so called football “bonito”, obviously it leaves some areas uncovered. I dont think Chelsea became weaker, AT ALL under Scollari, the thing isn that the opposition is getting better. Last year with that amateur manager, Chelsea was playing absolutely rubbish football, but with the extraordinary LUCK, was winnings games, thats all.
Scolari came and is trying to implement a different type of footbal, and to a certain extent it is achieving it, with the lack of a dribler, what Chelsea needs, in my opinion, is a wingerb that can drible and open defenses, a kind of Simao, Messi or Ronaldo, or even Roben. The only guy that comes anywhere near is J Cole, but he isnt of the same calibre.
It is not by chance that the other 3 teams are losing points too, the oposition is getting better, but I still believe Chelsea will win the EPL, not so sure about the CL.
So stop bashing Scolari, and to compare him that clown we had last year, is a joke.
Couple of topical articles from vitalchelsea:
Whom to blame
Unchanged side, unchanged situation
We are not alone after all! TBF – You told me that I’m all alone with my views and opinions on the game! I see that you were disappointed after watching the highlights. Most of us watched all 90 minutes and that too live match at ungodly hours! Add to that the expectation of topping the league! I suggest you watch the full match replay and see what is the real problem. And see if Scolari could have done something to improve, on or off the pitch.
Why is that nobody is speaking up on “why Chelsea have NOT become weaker under Scolari”? 21 votes and no comments? C’mon guys, you can do better!
It is apparent that no one is completely satisfied with Chelsea now. Maybe that is because we have been accustomed to the great success we have been ecperiencing in recent years, so the expectations at Chelsea are obviously very high, and the pressure to deliver is high as well. There is no manager on earth that can do what mourinho did, and thats what makes him unique and special, however that does not mean that he is the only manager then can lead us to silverware (at least I hope not). What I find frustrating is that Chelsea has one of the best squads in Europe, and plenty of youthful talent, but none of that is put to good use. We need to rotate our squad, change things up, become unpredictable. We certainly have the players to do it. We could try a 4-3-3 one day with malouda/kalou and joe cole as wingers and drogba up top one day, or a 4-4-2 with drogba and anelka another day. It doesn’t really matter as we need to change our style. By doing so we will become more unpredictable, we will have a constantly fresh squad due to the rotation, and players won’t be upset at being benched for so long. Another point is the incredibly talented youth we have at our disposal, the other day when arsenal played liverpool, Rafa brought on the youngster Nabil el Zhar. Now forever reason he did this I don’t care, but he put faith in him and gave him a chance, and that was in one of the biggest games of the season. Now im not suggesting that we play youngsters against arsenal or man united, but we need to give those boys a shot, as they are considered the future of this club. I hope we see some of this soon especially as we have a tight schedule of games coming up. Blue4lyfe……
I certainly don’t agree on a couple of excuses as our problems:
(i) we have slow players: If they are slow, how did we win matches until August? We were better last season and even until August we were notching big wins and suddenly they have become slow? The core of our squad has remained the same in 06-07 and 07-08 but we never brought up this point of us lacking pace. Why now? Even if you call them slow that cannot be a problem if you play good football. Just like the way teams observe Chelsea and find a tactic to get a draw, we should also be studying the opponents, their strengths and weaknesses and try to have a plan to unlock their defence. This need not necessarily mean we need pace. Again, my point is to get the best of what we have instead keep complaining about what we don’t have. Certainly the so-called ‘lack of pace’ cannot be a reason why we had only one shot on goal against Everton.
(ii) we have old players: Milan won the champions league with older players. In Jose Mourinho’s words, “there are no old players or young players, there are only good players and bad players”. I believe in that. Are they good enough to play for Chelsea? If the answer is yes, why care about how old they are? Either they are capable or incapable.
Didn’t Scolari say that his squad is complete and he is very happy except for a certain Robinho who ditched us in the last second? By buying new players we wouldn’t resolve the problem. The real problem here is that of mentality and not of player abilities. Would you swap our midfield for the Arsenal midfield with Diaby, Denilson, Song and Fibreglass?
What has got Liverpool on top this season (despite just a point but that’s a massive improvement for them)? It’s not the player abilities, they have almost the same players except one or two new signings. This season they have more belief in themselves. What got them champions league – just self-belief, nothing else. Rafa had a problem in maintaining that mentality for a long season because it’s lot more difficult than it sounds. To keep your multi-millionair players on their toes but keeping them on the ground throughout a long season is a massive task. You need real man manager to be able to do that effectively. Love him or hate him, Jose Mourinho could do that. He could ruthlessly drop a player, blast a player in public, substitute a player in just 20 mins, fine a player a couple of weeks wages, send a player to the reserves, scream and shout at the players from the dugout to shake them up, make the players take very single match very seriously as if they are playing some cup final, make the players never underestimate any opponent etc. Basically he would all that that’s required to keep Chelsea successful. He worked his ass off for all the money he got.
Let this not be another pro-jose vs anti-jose argument. All I’m trying to say, Scolari should be much more tough with his players. He must demand more and he would be fully justified in demanding more from these players for two reasons – one, they have the potential and capabilities and two, they are paid some obscene sums of money.
It’s midnight over here in India. Merry Christmas to you all!!!
YES! I want the yes to resound from Brazil through England to Russia and India. So I’ll say again, YES.
The first problem here as BC rightly pointed out is mentality. I have mentioned this in my point severally, how Scolari thinks like a bad Wenger. The only difference is at least Wenger knows how to give the players a kick up the bum at halftime. Seriously guys, apart from the Man City game, we have not seen any sort of response when our players go one down. I mentioned after the Man U game how the players have not been hitting the ground running. Now, most of these players were around during the JM time and no one could ever fault their response to going a goal down, so what has happened since then. Scolari happened. And on the side Steve Clarke left. This is definitely one thing scolari has taken from us our fighting spirit. Someone said about Liverpool having a great defence and so after our one goal down the only way we could have beaten them was … The thing is on that day after the half time pep talk, Liverpool actually played the 2nd half like they were at home and a goal behind. This is the point.
Of course, his management is also off. I continue my wenger analogy. Only a coach like Wenger could have given the Captains band to a new member of the club, when old work horses like Gilberto were available, only him could have let Flamini’s contract end before starting discussions. Only he could have got a ManU reject and place him in the heart of his defence while sending a young, promising, hardworking CB on loan. To bring it home, can anybody deny that if given half a chance, Scolari will make Deco Captain of Chelsea. He actually doesnt have to hand him the band, the way he treats him everybody knows.
Lampsthe Tank, I have news for you, Lampard is not going to steady the Chelsea ship this time around. How would YOU react if a player is brought into your team and given you tactical position. I’ll give you your range of reactions; if u’re a church goer u would act in love especially if that player is at least as good as you. But what if he is a crap player, you would lash out but because that is considered unprofessional, u’ll sulk and let things right themselves.
I dont need to talk too much about his shortage of ideas. However, like i have done before, I beg to differ on one point from the majority of the house. We do not need to play 2 strikers. One of them- and you know who- will become redundant. I have a theory, Arsenal is the only team among the top 4 that plays 2 strikers. See where they are now. The game is won or lost in the midfield and we need to pack it. The only way i think a 2 striker formation can work is if we play the mythical 4222. Mythical because nobody seems to want to play it. To add to this. Notice that Liverpool are right now playing with 2 defensive midfielders and look where they are on the League. And all this with Torres out most of the time. We just need a fit Drogba to be given a consistent run.
Ok. I need to stop nw.
I cant resist posting again. I need to chip in something for Scolari. There used to be this picture circulating of a certain Big Phil trying to slap one of his players. the image many of us had of him when he resumed duties was of a feisty old man like ‘Sir’ Alex. What happened to him. when did he lose the fire. How did he lose the fire.
Its always nice to read your mid-week discussions BC i must say and this time too the topic is bloody interesting ! Sadly, it is true that we’ve lost that killer instict that was synonymous with Chelsea FC a few seasons back. We seem content with a ”decent” result, we surely have dropped our standards. The possible reasons you gave for it are completely right. Although there might be one thing that may add to this:
Our Hatred towards aerial balls .
Its true, we dont send long balls, lofted passes into the D (except maybe a Bosingwa cross) any more at all. I mean, arent these the kinds of things our Didi Drogba wud love to feed on, he can convert these chances into goals almost always ! And ‘killer-passes’ and ‘through balls’ are overdone by our midfield. its always Lampards–>Deco—>Lampard–>Ballack–>Bosingwa–> (failed cross) times 100 !these things were amazing when we started..5-0, 4-0 nall bt now, the opposition is used to this..they can read it easily..we need new tactics..we def. do !
I wonder if chelsea become weaker how come arsenal and mu are behind us……….
Arsenal have been behind us in the last 2 seasons and we cant really say we are ahead of Man U this season. If they win their 2 home matches…
I voted No, in hindsight of my original comments (19 and 20). We are no weaker than we were last year, just going through a small transitional phase. As the article I provided up there suggests, we’re actually slightly better off, especially in goal difference terms. I’m sure we will improve over the next few games if/when Scolari starts figuring out the right team selection.
@ BC 42, just to clarify my ‘lack of pace’ statement was only in terms of out wide, and not addressed to specific players. Our play on the whole is slower and more predictable at the moment as a result of the centre of midfield being so congested. That is what I think is our main problem.
And Merry Christmas!
yes even if mu wins last 2 games…. they are still behind , and btw how come chelsea fans are such spoiled kids , want avram grant again? to win what NOTHING? cuz last year he got lucky he got fenerbace pana and liver , so want him back u spoiled kids , u have much luck to have scolari
Hey Guys, its better for us to look at the statistics rather sooner than later, I personally beleive that the problem lies with the mentality of the players as BC has suggested. Nothing has changed overnight, were still the same Chelsea that went 86 Games unbeated at the bridge. Chelsea has been known for its “Never say Never” philososphy under the special one. But it seems to me that since Scolari’s appointment and the whole beautiful game fiasco Chelsea has rather gone weak on the knees weather u beleive it or not. Im not here to inforce my views on anyone, but I think the main topic Scolari needs to focus on is player mentality, which seems to be degrading day by day. When Scolari was appointed, I had my doubts, but the only thing that convinced me was the attitude Scolari was known for “Pre-Chelsea”. He was known as a manager willing to punch the opposition player for his team, and that is the kind of fire we all saw under JM. As it has been stated out before Mourinho wasn’t afraid of discipling his players, he always knew how to get the best out of what he had. Most of my friend’s are Liverpool and Utd supporters but one thing they all agree on is the fact that JM was the real deal. His formations, his style of play, his attitude is what struck fear in the hearts of our opposition. Most of them lost the game against Chelsea before it even started because they knew there entering the lions den and chances of them leaving with 3 points is next to none and our squad refelcted this very well. But under Scolari we seem to have lost that charisma, sure we were playing beautiful football at the beginning of the season, but that football was only beautiful because the opposition didn’y know what to expect and now that they do the result is clear. If Scolari is to succeed he has to bring back that fire in his players that made our squad feared not only in EPL but even in Europe. Chelsea needs to get back on track and the only way we can acheive this is if we beleive in ourselves and in our strenths and make the most of them. I don’t think we need to buy 2/3 players in Jan to make our squad strong, we need to promote our talent like wenger does, we need to change our formation from time to time and make ourselves more unpredictable. I want Scolari to starve certain players such as “Deco, Malouda, Kalou” to get the best out of them when he does bring them on and that is the only way Chelsea can go on to be champions, if we cannot acheive this then quite frankly speaking the future looks very grim, hopefully Scolari will prove me wrong and I would be the happiest person on the planet when he does!! Chelsea4Lyf
@50
The moderator said to keep this respectful.
Quoting chelsito
Personally, I don’t like Mancini . Inter on record won 3 Scudeto, but the first was awarded to them because all teams above them were relegated or points were stripped. In the second/third season, there was no Juventus to play also or a recently promoted Juventus with no money to spend and Roma was the only challenger .
This season, AC Milan has spend ( not much in dollars) but have bought in a lot of players, Juventus has also spend.. I wonder how Mancini would have performed then.. His record in Champions League is quite dismal, with exits in 2 rounds.
Good Post, after a long time.
My answer is neither yes nor no. I dont accept if you ask that Chelsea has become weaker in physical attributes or skill attributes. Common, its the same squad and a few extra players and we have been playing with this squad for years. Is Scoalri himself weak? my answer is yes. I think it has to do more with the vision of the manager. The ability of the manager to inspire players, and for that , firstly, the manager should have the aim of winning EPL or UCL for himself. Only, then can thou inspire the rest. Self confidence and self motivation is the greatest power that homosapiens posses. I see scolari is just not having enough ambition.
Honestly, i was neither happy nor sad at the appointment of Scolari. I remember voting at many places last summer, who should chelsea appoint for the new season? My first choice had always been Laudrup. The options we had were Rijkaard, Laudrup, Scolari, Lippi etc etc. Why Laudrup? He was great as a player and i am really impressed how Getafe were playing under him. I just voted him bcos among the above list , he is the only one who has not won anything. So, obviously he will have greater energy levels. Alas, but the world lives on reputation.
For whatever reasons, we have scolari in now. Sacking scolari now is a very bad decision. I prefer sailing along with him till the end of the season at least, and yeah i agree with BC. We have more than enough what is needed to win UCL and EPL and we dont need extra players. Common, we just cannot buy trophies every year. I see a critical gap in the vision and execution of the long term goal that Roman needs. His vision is to make CFC a top global brand by 2010. His vision is good, but I just don’t think the execution is right. Who has to take the blame? Kenyon, Buck, Frank, Roman? Promoting the academy should be the number one priority at any time. How many chances did Sinclair gets? Why is he not getting chances, bcos of Deco , Ballack, Kalouda? Oh Common. Our Strategy should be placed in between Arsenal and Manu. Arsenal has great youth system and no one can deny this. But they loose their kids once they become men. I see my chelsea with lot of kids in between our messieurs ie Lampard , Terry, Essien, Drogba, RC and rest. Its lucky that we dont loose our men like Arsenal. We should be proud of this. There is no place for Deco, Ballack, Anelka or Shevchenko in my chelsea. We have made horrendous decisions starting last season with the arrival or Ballack and Sheva. We just ignored our long term goals for short term benefits. Look at Rafael or Evans in Manu this season? They are getting the chances. Why not in Chelsea?
And yeah, Merry Christmas. Bonnes fêtes. Buenos fiestas.
(1) We have improved on where we were this time last season – we have 1 point more, are one place higher than we were and 1 point away from top spot as oppossed to 6 points away this time last season.
(2) Man Utd and Arsenal are performing even worse then us and much worse than what they were doing last season. Liverpool have improved by 3 points.
(3) Scolari has only had 4.5 months of match time in charge. During that time he has generally transformed our style from one to another. You do not achieve the transformation without hiccups – these have to be accepted or are we demanding a seamless change whilst sweeping away all before us?
(4) Scolari did not receive his most important transfer target in Robinho – he still would have come up with Plans B and C that he said he wanted for us right from the off but has been hampered by key player injuries.
(5) Key players are coming back now so NOW is the time to start judging Scolari – he NOW has many of the tools he requires for the job.
(6) Dissappointing about the lack of youth being used considering Scolari is reknowned for doing this. However, Scolari says that even though there have been occasions when we have had comfortable leads he has preferred to give playing time to senior players coming back from injury. Also bear in mind that Brendon Roger recently said before leaving for Watford that we should be looking at 2010 before the crop of kids start getting used in earnest. Now he has players back and gaining match time perhaps we will NOW see Scolari give the likes of Stoch, Di Santo etc a chance.
(7) We will only get stronger now.
Basically, a little bit of persepective is required. Instant packet soup solutions do not exist. It´s far far too early to judge Scolari still.
I missed off a couple of snippets:
This time last season our goal difference was +15 – at the moment it´s +29 (almost double).
This season we have scored more and conceded less than everyone else.
@above
hats off mate..
@BC
How difficult it is for you to accept that our squad except for defence has detoriated…except for essien,mikel our whole midfield and forward line are either detoriating due to ageing(13,8,20,11) n their best years are behind them,39 is playing at it’s peak….,21,15 are crap and not chelsea standard n 10 lacks pace n dribbling.
I hope kenyon n scolari have firm plan for summer if cfc is reluctant to spend in january due to unavailability of desired targets.
weak, weaker, weakest, weakliest? none of it. it is ‘lost’
despite having a strong set of players, we have only ‘lost’ that siege mentality, versatility, winning mentality. all this can be ‘regained’ as the reasons are mainly due to the return to ‘full fitness’ of Ballack and deco and only hope that the only person (LFS) that can change it, can see it? same happened when sheva came and though JM dropped him, it cost him his job.
new players will not regain it for us, but a new mentality…..i think that is changing as against everton, we went direct with our long balls for the first time under LFS (at least let us see some more tactics on the field). tactically he was able to get that right, however, i believe its the older players that enforced that on him during half time.
be that as it may, LFS can surely work under pressure and we need to pile it more so that he can change the tactics. he cannot afford to be a bad wenger by sticking to a non productive approach.
i seriously dont know on what basis are ppl saying that we have a very able squad and we dont need anybody?? is Ballack looking like a player for every match?? he has lost his legs, plus with the coming of Deco he is always confused, when i see the matches, during every attack Lampard and Ballack keep looking across to see who is going upfront as Deco has the license to do this at his will, Ballack is a man who thrives when play is centralized through him, if Slorai wants Deco for that(and shockingly admits he wants a playmaker) then i dont think there is any point in keeping a 32 year old man in the middle.
Deco, the more i see him the more i understand why Barca conned us, he is getting on(over 30), is such an arrogant head its unbelieveable, he might get one on one with the keeper but he wld think himself so god gifted that he wld try a top spin lob, every pass that comes thru him has to be a killer, amazing pass, he cannot move the ball around and play ppl in, rather he wld twist, turn and backheel the ball, which cld have been a straightforward pass…
Lampard, though i have really liked the guy for his tremendous service to Chelsea i think his time is coming too, how many matches it has been since he scored?? like Ballack he too likes to be the centre of every attack, and likes getting in the box, in Jose’s time he had the license, he was the only one, not anymore, he is expected to pass it around, wait for runs, and look around at Deco and Ballack, his game is getting killed, plus he is getting over 30, he was amazing in his prime but sadly the only way he will go now is down…
Malouda, do i need to say anything more than that clowns name?? he is even pushing on 29
so our midfield lines like this:
Lampard 30+
Ballack 32
Malouda 28+
Deco 31+
Essien 26
Miniero 33
Belletti 32+ (Only Mikel and Essien have a lot of career left)
is this ur future for Chelsea BC?? i am amazed that ppl can even think so, this is our attack:
Anelka 29+,
Drogba 30+ and Disanto 19 (i wont even count that clown Kalou)
Ferreira 30
Carvalho 30+
A.Cole 28 (no longer even the shadow of the Cole who scared the shorts off every EPL team)
Terry 28 (Bridge and Alex(or Ivanovic) most certainly will leave this winter or the coming summer)
Does it not scare anybody that these oldies are all gonna go around abt the same time, they are ALL on a decline from the pedastals they were on in their Prime, Scolari needs the money and he has to spend now, we need new players all over the pitch(except maybe centre defence), if we dont get in young players and gel them in the team as soon as possible then get ready for quite some years for the transition period at Chelsea…
@joeblue
agree with majority of what you say except for
ashley is still good enough…he is a athletic full back n will do better with a proper lwm…like he had pires at arsenal
Joeblue & All
Read my this comment too.
Quoting BlueChampion
We have a great squad and I stand by this statement. Let’s say we don’t even need to talk about the goalkeeping position and defence. Let’s talk about midfield. Obi Mikel has been fantastic and he is world class already. Lampard was in brilliant form until recently. At 29, Chelsea FC offered him a 5-year contract. Unfortunately, you cannot blame this on JM. It was Kenyon and Scolari who thought it’s fit. So they thought Lampard has another 5 years in him.
Ballack is a very good player but it is upto the manager on where to use him, with whom to use him, when to use him and how often to use him. Same goes for Deco too. It was Scolari’s decision to buy a 30-year old Deco. If Scolari wants to play Lampard, Ballack and Deco in the midfield and if it doesn’t work he has no one to blame on. Why can’t Scolari play Mikel, Lampard and Belletti in the midfield and drop Ballack and Deco, until they impress him in the training ground? Wayne Bridge has also played in midfield but is Scolari bold enough to try these options? While we played Hilario in goal and Essien in Centre back and almost Drogba as a centre back, Belletti can certainly play in the midfield.
Also, why can’t we play 4-3-3 with Drogba as the striker and Joe Cole and Malouda on either sides? I’m sure I’m all alone but I think Malouda is a good player worthy of a starting place in Chelsea. Remember, he was the French player of the year before he signed for us. It was Drogba who influenced Malouda to join Chelsea. Drogba and Malouda were suppused have a good chemistry on the pitch, something that we could never test. Drogba and Kalou are a fantastic pair for Ivory Coast. We could never try this pair as well on the pitch. Joe Cole was supposed to be blue eyed boy whose flair was curbed by evil Mourinho. After JM’s exit , Joe Cole has become a poorer version of Joe Cole that we know.
Like someone said, ageing and experience are two sides of the coin. If this Chelsea team wins the premier league, all will hail the experience of the team and if it doesn’t win, that’s because we have an ageing team. See, our goal keepers are young enough. Our defence is young enough considering the shelf life of defenders. In midfield, we have a young Mikel plus a 26-year old Essien. For experience, we have a 30-year old Lampard. Joe Cole sometimes plays in the midfield in the England team. He is young enough for a midfielder. In attack, Drogba has atleast two more good years of football in him. Anelka is 29 but if he can score 15 goals in 18 matches, why bother? Kalou is young and in my lone opinion, is a very good player. He is a striker by nature but we have mostly played him in all positions except the striker, because we have better strikers. He certainly has potential. Scolari was enquired by Wenger about Kalou. Scolari said NO which means he wants Kalou so it was his decision to retain him. He had an option of selling Kalou to Arsenal and buy someone else with that money and he chose not to do that.
The way I see it, if you say there is a problem with our squad, the blame squarely falls on Luiz Felipe Scolari. It is his team, his squad. The squad that he has is a result of a combination of various decisions that he had taken over various points of time. If we have the perfect squad and everyone’s playing to their potential, I wouldn’t need a world champion Scolari to be the expensive manager of my team. For a moment, allow to me to believe that John Terry buried that cursed penalty into the net. We must have been European champions. We handed over a team that is European champions, to Scolari. And, Scolari had two months to improve the European champions team and settled on his squad. Stop blaming the squad, see who needs to sort the problem out. It is Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Important Disclaimer: This is not a ‘Sack Scolari’ cry. I want Scolari to stay. I like this man. He is a great footballing personality. He is not a world champion for nothing. I want him to continue as the Chelsea manager for many years. But that doesn’t mean I need to be blind about the problems that I see in him.
@dixon9
It was great of you to have 7 or 8 points supporting your choice, when people are finding it difficult to get 1. But I don’t agree with any of the points. Replies corresponding to all your points
1) Yes we were scoring freely and winning comfortably until this predictability crept in. In the previous season we started on a low (37 points) and went on to improve in the second half of the season(48 points ———total – 85 points) . With this predictability & our ‘axiom’ formation we would only be making our life difficult from now on.
2) That by no way states that we are stronger now.
3) That statement supports my claim ‘Chelsea has become weaker’.
4) That point is better explained by BC in his 2nd last para of his post.
5) I believe you have written that because you too think chelsea has grown weaker and needs Essien to lift them up.
6) Thank you.
7) Which means that we are at our weakest state.
HINT FOR OTHERS who are not able to support their claim that chelsea hasn’t weakened.
Contradict our points with valid reasons.
@BC
I think neither joeblue or me is saying Scolari has been perfect….infact he has many flaws which others have elaborated on.
I have said in many posts lampard is the only player among ballack n deco that is lasting 90 min…malouda was french player of the year..sheva was ballon d’or n cl top scorer…who gives a fck as to what they did before….kalou is a poor player n wenger enquiring about him won’t change the fact…it’s the same wenger who has eboue in his squad and has won sweet fck all since quite some time.
Drogba doesn’t have 2 years in him…he will be moving to serie a and we have to accept the fact.
Look no farther than barca,they changed their squad which contained ronaldinho,deco n look at them now…i hope you get my point.
BC, did u see Joe in that match agnst Villa??
we all know Joe is an excellent player, and talent is something no coach can give, not even god Jose, i cant blame Scolari for his numerous injuries he has had this season, but when he is fit and in full flow there is hardly an english player who even comes close to his talent…
when are u gonna understand that no one gives a crap if Malouda was the French player of the year, all said and done its a substandard league where only one team has the players and the money to win it, and its Lyon, its very hunky dory playing for a team with Juninho, Diarra, Keita, Govou, Toulalan, Benzema etc when the rest of the league hasant even one player that comes close to any of these, a team that has won the title what is it now 6-7 times in a row?? and now to play for Chelsea is a much much tougher prospect…
Kalou, lol, he is the biggest overrated crap buy i have seen in a Chelsea shirt and thats something when Jose Mourinho is ur manager, he is over 23 now, the question i wld ask: is Kalou anywhere near another 23 year old prospect of a top team?? Barca have Messi and Bojan who are much much younger to him, is Kalou fit to wipe their boots?? Madrid have Higuain even he has had as much time at Madrid i think as Kalou has had at Chelsea, infact he is younger, can Kalou even iron his shorts?? or Rooney and Tevez of United?? or Torres of L’pool, or even Adebayor of Arsenal?? Pato of Milan?? or Balotelli of Inter??
NOBODY has a god given right to get his own damn place in the team, when u play for big clubs like Chelsea u must be good enugh to snuff ur chances when u get the opportunity, or be ready for a kick on the way out, do u even realize BC that all the players i have mentioned above are either as old or mostly much younger than Kalou?? its not like Kalou does not get his chances, what is his scoring record?? can he score wonder goals?? can he beat quite a few players for dead?? can he get in vicious balls?? can he take freekicks??
lets start by what is is that this clown can do except for aimlessly running around and giving the ball away…
Do u think Kalou owns the team that he wld get in at whatever position he wants?? Messi played bits and parts role, and had to acomodate to the manager to even get a snuff of the team ,now look at him, Bojan even after having so much talent cant even get on the pitch, Pato scored on his debut for Brazil, he had been brilliant in his debut season for Milan and is now a definate starter, very player has to make his own place in the team and at big clubs even that is no garuntee for first team football,
this is exactly ur problem BC u jst wont see reason even if it stares u in the face with a thousand facts…Scolari has an old and weak squad which wont win anything unless new blood comes in, thats that…
oh and BC another FACT for u, after Barca won La Liga, the Champions League and the Supercopa in 2006 they are yet to win any of them after almost three years, and this year they are running away with the league, NOTHING is a garuntee ok, having CL winning team does not mean u have god given right over titles…
I referred to Wenger’s query on Kalou not to convey that Kalou is a good player (but I think so). I mentioned it to convey that Scolari had a good chance to offload him if he wanted to. Scolari needed Kalou and that’s why he did not release him and even said it openly. If Malouda was so bad, why wasn’t he sold in the last transfer window? There were takers too.
We are facing the worst financial crisis of our generation. I won’t blame Roman, if he can’t sanction funds in January. He didn’t sanction funds when we were missing a goalkeeper and a centreback. I think Roman will be consistent and not sanction anything this January.
Suppose Roman does not sanction anything this January. What happens then? We fail and put the blame on the squad that were European champions? (let’s JT didn’t slip) What is the Scolari effect then???
I’ll say it loud and clear. The problem is with Scolari and NOT with the squad. Why is that we have so many matches where we can’t even get 5 shots on target, so many matches where we absolutely don’t even test the opposition goalkeeper? How can we possibly put this blame on this superb squad?
Use him appropriately, Drogba has 2 years in him.
Quoting joeblue
LOL . . I never talked about titles or results here. As always, I’m worried at the way we play. Even when Barca did not win anything, they were not dominated, they did not succumb or get subdued. If you read my article, you’ll know what my problem with the situation is. It is not results or tables. I don’t mind even if we are third or fourth. I’m more concerned about the way we play.
BC, above u have written
“Suppose Roman does not sanction anything this January. What happens then? We fail and put the blame on the squad that were European champions? (let’s JT didn’t slip) What is the Scolari effect then???”
what do u mean by fail?? not getting titles?? then in the next coment u say u are not bothered about winning titles but the way we play, so where is the failure?? we are 1 point behind the leaders with such a crap squad, the manager has been here all of 5 months, get this straight if its title u want then this team cant win the big prizes of football and if u are looking for good football then let the manager do the transition of the team…again i say stop saying ‘Scolari cld hav had champions of Europe’ , it dosent mean crap ok, it dosent matter if we had won that or not, it has no bearing on this season, as they say last season will always be last season, and i proved u that from Barca…
i am still waiting for that Kalou defence to spring up BC…
@BC
Please take scolari out of the equation…he has his flaws,he isn’t a tactician n every one agrees on that…so what’s the point of discussing scolari…probably he thought kalou n malouda would be decent backups if we get robinho…n another thing the whole of last season your favourite term used was “luck” n how we were getting teams like olympiakos n fenerbahce n how were we lucky throughout the season n suddenly u find that season good enough to be a benchmark to prove how good our squad is…last two seasons manure’s have been undoubted better side…honestly you don’t think our squad needs changes to sustain it for present n future.
And barca were as poor as we are now during their last 2 seasons.
@joeblue
the good old days are back…lol
we are back to one man vendetta
That was from your point of view. If we don’t win anything this year, you’re all prepared to point your fingers on this squad, yes, the champions of europe squad.
I’m not talking about titles or good football. I’m talking about showing some passion and spirit on the pitch. I’m talking about playing like winners. I talk about playing like champions. For starters, talking about troubling the opposition keepers.
You call this a crap squad???? For this reason, I think there is no point in talking further. We have a huge fundamental difference of opinion about our team. I can’t believe you call this a crap squad??? Do you mean it? Should we run a poll – “Is our Chelsea squad a crap squad”? Tell me!
Quoting TBF
How can you take Scolari out of an equation that’s about Chelsea? How can we possibly do it? You seem to agree that Scolari is not doing all that great. That’s my very point. By putting the blame on the squad, we’re forgetting the real problem! Sir Alex has confirmed that there won’t be any purchases from his side in Jan. Probably, only Real Madrid would be spending this January. All I’m saying is, stop blasting the squad because Scolari has a job to do which he hasn’t done well enough.
Does anyone think that no other manager would have done better than what Scolari has done over the last 5 months?
And yes, the good old days are back. We always need something to disagree, don’t we? LOL . . .
hahaha, polls, polls, polls, dont mean a thing BC, according to polls Bush became the president not once but twice, i am surprised how u manage to duck the issues we are discussing(Kalou, Malouda, what do mean by fail etc) and change it a to a completely different topic, u put the blame on Scolari but isint playing like winners a menatlity of great players, shld Scolari be teaching these 30+ men to play like ‘Winners’?? oh and a squad that dosent look like winning titles in the near future and the way they play without any commitment or passion for the blue jersey is not worthy to be my Chelsea’s squad…
leave it i can see when a debate is over u want a lane change not a full face off…
@BC
we take scolari out of equation caus
1.neither of us wants him to go
2.we agree that he has his flaws n needs to improve on them
3.like it or not he hasn’t spent…bosingwa isn’t confirmed either ways…deco is his only signing n he has a completely different definition of football as compared to jose n rainieri from who he has inherited his squad…even jose has bought 3 of his own signings to inter which has been running away with league for 3 years.
I am looking at it from both ways…scolari has his fault n so has our squad.We just can’t blame it on scolari n let our multi million pound players who need to be motivated(wtf) go scot free…
And just to piss you
This post has been sent by Nokia 6030 with a 5 rs/24 hrs Airtel NOP connection…lol
your takiing of last year by calling us champions….if u want ag back..i will think somethings wrong with you..
and remember all transitions take time..take man utd for ex:5 years without a title and then they come up with 2 titles and the ucl…BC you are looking at the smaller picture of football…its because of ppl with thoughts like u who are making the shed silent these days…..you say this was the team which won the league 3 years ago….wait a sec..players age and ability dont stay the same for 3 long years…in 3 years our attack and midfield have become old and now we can see the decay….if u want to compare jm, ag and scolari….shoot yourself…..they hav their own speciality or in case of ag- no speciality……hope u remember that the best things in life are got with patience and not immediately.. wait for one or more years to run and see what happens…probably ull see something even more amazing than your dream cfc team…u never know!!!!and mancini…o please not another ag as the boss of chelsea
@above
brilliant points mate.
My initial reaction was a resounding yes, Chelsea have indeed become weaker under Scolari. But when I think about it I don’t really believe this squad has become weaker, but the problem lies within the players’ self belief. We have been exceptional on the road, a +29 goal difference 18 games into the season in arguably the strongest league in the world, we certainly still have the capabilities but we aren’t playing anything like champions. Think about it, are Chelsea really a weaker team? I think if a few minor tactical changes were made it would cause a significant difference. First of all, I don’t think Scolari is sending the right message to his players by declaring to the media that he has players that can shoot but cannot dribble. If I’m Joe Cole or Frank Lampard and I hear this that would not do wonders for my confidence. If I’m Deco and Scolari says he needs a playmaker on this team, I would question myself whether I’m capable or not. If I’m Didier Drogba, one of the best strikers in the world when in form, and I’m healthy and I just spent the first half on the bench yet again, then I probably wouldn’t be too happy. Especially if I’m trying my best to get a late goal at Goodison Park but my coach just brought on Wayne Bridge so lets just take our point and go home. Do you think they feel as if they’ve earned a point, or lost 2? It is all about how you perceive certain things in your mind, and Mourinho was a master of making these players believe they are champions. Right now, I think they have lost that belief.
A lot of fans are going into panic, people are calling for Scolari’s head, but this is the way things are. Scolari shouldn’t take it personally, but certain changes need to be made or he won’t last very long. This is Chelsea F.C., anything else besides becoming champions means we have failed.
Quoting joeblue
I think he brought up polls because he knows the majority would disagree with you. Calling Chelsea a ‘crap team’ gives me a lot of doubt about your knowledge of the game. So if you want to be taken seriously I think you should construct logical arguments that make sense. Feel free to use the spellcheck as well.
true blue in L.A, u dont need to jump in between, we had a debate between us, if nobody is interested in having debates with u dont jump in like a little kid, pls mind ur own business, we were talking abt something and if BC wants to respond we will see there was much more to that discussion than just that word ‘crap’, stop acting like a kid and going bawaa over a word in a dabate u werent even a part of, , it seems its pretty lonely up there in L.A that u have to find ppl, quote them and put ur own nonsensical points when u are not even involved…
Very typical of you joeblue! I’m not surprised though.
1. The Chelsea squad is not a ‘crap’ squad as you call. It is disgusting see a Chelsea fan say this. I would take this point seriously because, this expression does not come that spontaneously to fan to call his team a crap? May be you have an explanation.
2. Why do you think 30+ players do not need to taught to play like winners? Of course they have to be. It is a psychological thing. It has nothing to do with age. Bad argument. Think again. Also, if we have this European champions squad and Roman gets him couple of players in the last summer and is going to get him couple more players in january and if all players play to their potential and if the senior pros need to self-motivate themselves to play like winners, what is Scolari exactly doing? What is that 6 million pounds being paid for? Any manager (AG proved it) can keep this Chelsea team in the top three. So please don’t keep saying that we’re second in the league.
By the way, most of us have stayed on topic. Credit to them/us. The question is simple. Have Chelsea become weaker under Scolari or not? If you say yes, you agree with the majority (of the voters in this blog) that yes, Chelsea become weaker and Scolari has a big responsibility and job on hand to get us back on track (I believe Scolari would be able to do this). If you say no, you agree with the minority that Chelsea have not become weaker than it was in the last season. As simple as that.
BC, u always seem to divert the real topic dont u??
what happened to ur Kalou?? French player of the year Malouda??
or ur statement “what if we fail”?? what failure are u talking about, or the fact that u keep making pointless comments like “Scolari wld have CL winning team” when i tore every one of ur arguments above to shreds, but lets just forget abt all that, lets take out the word “crap” from all of joeblue’s comments and put that as the focus of the debate…typical BC…i am not too surprised tough if from all those comments, that word there was the only one u thought we shld have a debate abt, a poll abt, i am sure until u put that in 5-6 coments and tell everybody else “look joeblue has called our team crap” that was all he was talking abt, since u already got True blue whatever, the others wld be waiting for potshots anyway, very typical of YOU BC i shld say…
Joeblue all I said was if you want your opinion to be taken seriously then you should create a response that makes sense, which I understand is difficult when your ideas are filled with nonsense. That was a typical response based on previous entries I’ve read from you, I wasn’t expecting anything less than a poorly constructed paragraph filled with spelling errors.
But rather than comment on Joeblue grammatical issues and to stay on topic, I’ll re-post my answer to BC’s question.
Quoting True Blue in L.A.
oh look its the grammar police, True Blue from L.A. , English is not my 1st language, but i can get my point across to the other person at least, on the other hand i doubt you can even pronounce a syllable of my mother tongue, its pretty high of u to be talking about the grammar of a language that your society has borrowed from another country in the first place, but then L.A what can one say my society and its heritage is far far greater than you can ever even deem to imagine, and never in your lifetime experience, if you have so much difficulty in reading what i write then it would be pretty noble of you to just ignore my comments your highness…
oh and instead of responding to this comment you can copy paste your previous comments once again, after all plagarism is a very well versed art on your side of the globe…
Joeblue
I’ve taken the crap out of my comment. You can now respond to this.
Why do you think 30+ players do not need to taught to play like winners? Of course they have to be. It is a psychological thing. It has nothing to do with age. Bad argument. Think again. Also, if we have this European champions squad and Roman gets him couple of players in the last summer and is going to get him couple more players in january and if all players play to their potential and if the senior pros need to self-motivate themselves to play like winners, what is Scolari exactly doing? What is that 6 million pounds being paid for? Any manager (AG proved it) can keep this Chelsea team in the top three. So please don’t keep saying that we’re second in the league.
By the way, most of us have stayed on topic. Credit to them/us. The question is simple. Have Chelsea become weaker under Scolari or not? If you say yes, you agree with the majority (of the voters in this blog) that yes, Chelsea become weaker and Scolari has a big responsibility and job on hand to get us back on track (I believe Scolari would be able to do this). If you say no, you agree with the minority that Chelsea have not become weaker than it was in the last season. As simple as that.
@65. joeblue
I gotta agree wit you on two things, Joe cole when he´s fit and have his A-game on is really good and makes a different in our team. he wins games for us. Just like the way he played after he just got back from injury agains sunderland (I think it was sunderland not sure thought).
And the other one is, Kalou, I cant really feel that lad, and for all of you who said he played great for his nationalteam, well from what I have seen (last years African Cup of Nations) he wasnt that great. he blow soo many chances and even thought he did score once beatin like 3-4 players agains nigeria I think it was, he is not good. I think TBF said it perfectly, “he runs like a headless chicken”!!!
For he moment, they way we are playing now I cant se how one player (Robinho) would have changed everything. Those of you who said LFS didnt get him so thats why he is stuck, Come on, you guys think he would have solved everything? I dont think so.
Its not like we dont have ppl capable of doing good thing on the pitch. I think its do to the team selection, trust in eachothers (players + gameplan + coach) that is making it really touch right now. I really think a few simple changes would get us back on track. I say play the right ppl LFS and show the team that u are a winner and make sure to bring back the swagger. We are still in the game and we can just get better. and most importantly no one is running away wit the title.
Looking on the big pitcture, Chelseas future, I gotta agree wit you who wants to renew the team. Not a total makeover but successive by implementing young and talented lads into the first team more often. thats something u have to do short terms and longterms. shortterms to give the old fellas some needed breaks and to give the young rookies some experience. Longterms cause eventually every lad have to hang their boots or get the boot lol.
We dont need a big overhaul cause I dont wanna se a building from scratch, there for lets start doing that and still be successful. Since we do have interesting prospects, why not give them a chance once in a while to se if they can cope wit it? If you dont shot for a goal u will never score! I know we got a huge squad, but even if they rookies dont get a start or get some min let the others play, rotate. We will need the biggest players to play in the end when things get really tight, so hopefully we can do that. LFS if you know what you want and u want it badly enought you’ll find a way to get it. (I manager switch now would cause problems, how big aint easy to anticipate)
Would LFS ofload alot of players and get on a shopingspree if he got the green light? I think so, but at the same time its not like someone forced him to take over at chelsea, he knew the history of chelsea (recently) so he took the challange and he should deal wit the situation. I hate when he whines and blames everything but himselfs after a draw or a lose. Even if its not his fault when things get ugly, he is the Boss so he gotta take the responsibility. Thats the name of the game like it or not.
I dont know what orders he got from the board when they employed him and I dont know the masterplan of chelsea FC, so I aint gonna make it easy on ma self like some to just bash and blame everything on him. His main job is to help us win but maybe he isnt running the show. I know very lil of all that so just assuming and guessing here folks. But the visual thing that is happening on the pitch he is mainly responsible.
Its really annoying all this Jose talk here, as much as I loved him when he coached chelsea, I care less now. He wont come back, not anytime soon. as someone pointed out he is not stupid. I thought he would take over in liverpool if the dubai company had bought it but that dont seem happen, maybe he will take ova man u if he comes to EPL again but who cares. Anyway lets focus on what we do have here. It´s our attitude now when things are gettin difficult which, more then anything else, will affect its seccessful outcome. so come on blues lets all strive united.
BC am waiting for the WB review!
Stay well all
2/3 of the readers are saying we´ve indeed become weaker. With this kind of majority a parliament can declare emergency or even rewrite a new constitution. Now guys who were against this plz don´t call it a coincidence. Majority want Chelsea to win titles. No one goes to a war without a hope of achieving a glory, and morever they are paid millions for it, they aint doing a social service.
http://www.oleole.com/blogs/chelseablog/posts/a-chelsea-carol-part-i-of-ii
For those who thought, Mourinho was interested in defensive play
http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2008/12/20/1020559/comment-clarkes-influence-shining-through-west-hams-back-line
His movement was the last nail in the coffin.
Will Roman allow to buy players if we offload some ? Why is Scolari then not selling Kaluo and Maluda. I would also add Alex into the equation, because we have 4 quality center backs and good budding reserve team player – Man U seems to be playing with just 3 of them.. Why is he adamant on not selling these three ?
Guys I believe that in some ways a draw again Everton is perhaps what we needed to finally shake things up a bit, I mean surely things should fallen into their right places the min we drew to Man Utd, or when we lost to Liverpool and Arsenal but i think now is the right time for Scolari to come out and make a statement that Chelsea are not going to be pushover’s anymore. I think when we lost to Arsenal we saw a glimpse of Scolari who is Portugal told a ref “lets settle this in the parking lot” lol and i think Scolari has finally come out of the whole “Mr. Nice Guy” image after the draw against Everton. Not speaking to the media and the players not allowed to do the same can only mean one thing, no more “Mr. Nice Guy” I think a storm is brewing behind the scenes and if im correct then we are going to see a new style and attitude towards our play in the coming games and if that is the case then Chelsea can certainly get back to their winning ways. Fingers Crossed!!
Chelsito: Thank you for taking the time to reply to my earlier post.
My reply:
Dixon9
1)We have improved on where we were this time last season – we have 1 point more, are one place higher than we were and 1 point away from top spot as opposed to 6 points away this time last season.
Chelsito
1) Yes we were scoring freely and winning comfortably until this predictability crept in. In the previous season we started on a low (37 points) and went on to improve in the second half of the season (48 points ———total – 85 points). With this predictability & our ‘axiom’ formation we would only be making our life difficult from now on.
Dixon9
Not being funny here, but your reply doesn’t take anything away from the fact that we have improved upon where we were this time last season. We are one place higher up the table, have almost doubled our goal difference and have one more point. Whether we are more predictable is neither here nor there for this point in particular – despite how “bad” we are at the moment, we are better than last season.
Dixon9
(2) Man Utd and Arsenal are performing even worse then us and much worse than what they were doing last season. Liverpool have improved by 3 points.
Chelsito
2) That by no way states that we are stronger now.
Dixon9
No it does not (although we have achieved more points, goals and placing than last season so far – ergo, we are better off). What this point DOES address is that our main rivals are doing even worse than us UNDER THE SAME CONDITIONS for this season. This is important as it is they we are competing against if we want to win the title. I suppose in a way, I’m suggesting that we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves as we are actually “not as bad” as our rivals (with the exception of Liverpool).
Dixon9
(3) Scolari has only had 4.5 months of match time in charge. During that time he has generally transformed our style from one to another. You do not achieve the transformation without hiccups – these have to be accepted or are we demanding a seamless change whilst sweeping away all before us?
Chelsito
3) That statement supports my claim ‘Chelsea has become weaker’.
Dixon9
No it does not as the statement “Chelsea has become weaker” is untrue – it is a fact that we have one more point, are closer to the leader (1 point off the top as opposed to 6) and have scored more goals (goal difference almost double). To finally prove my point, I would ask you a question; would you prefer to be where we were this time last season? The only answer is no.
What this statement IS trying to convey is that we are where we are despite generally changing our style of football (which is what Roman and some fans want) which would normally suppose a few glitches and stutters on the way. It’s also trying to convey a measure of how Scolari is doing whilst putting the squad through a transformation.
Dixon9
(4) Scolari did not receive his most important transfer target in Robinho – he still would have come up with Plans B and C that he said he wanted for us right from the off but has been hampered by key player injuries.
Chelsito
4) That point is better explained by BC in his 2nd last para of his post.
Here is the nub: The way I see it, if you say there is a problem with our squad, the blame squarely falls on Luiz Felipe Scolari. It is his team, his squad.
Dixon9
That point is correct – of course Scolari is responsible. But at the same time, should we not take into account that for Scolari to live or fall by his own sword we should take into account what he felt we needed for his vision to come to fruition, he was deprived of?
Dixon9
(5) Key players are coming back now so NOW is the time to start judging Scolari – he NOW has many of the tools he requires for the job.
Chelsito
5) I believe you have written that because you too think Chelsea has grown weaker and needs Essien to lift them up.
Dixon9
No I haven’t. I’ve written that because Scolari has been saying right from the off that he would like to have at least 3 different systems for us (Plans B, and C) but he has not had the full squad to do this (most notably not having Drogba fit to work in training with Anelka). This is also why we have become a bit predictable.
Grown weaker? Well Scolari´s “bad” is actually an improvement on Mourinho/Grant’s performance over the first 18 games last season (incredible as that may sound).
Dixon9
(6) Disappointing about the lack of youth being used considering Scolari is renowned for doing this. However, Scolari says that even though there have been occasions when we have had comfortable leads he has preferred to give playing time to senior players coming back from injury. Also bear in mind that Brendon Roger recently said before leaving for Watford that we should be looking at 2010 before the crop of kids start getting used in earnest. Now he has players back and gaining match time perhaps we will NOW see Scolari give the likes of Stoch, Di Santo etc a chance.
Chelsito
6) Thank you.
Dixon9
Don’t mention it!
Dixon9
(7) We will only get stronger now.
Chelsito
7) Which means that we are at our weakest state.
Dixon9
Hopefully yes – but for this season – NOT compared to last season. Our weak this season is better than where we were this time last season. We will only get stronger now because we have key players back/coming back and the squad will have had more time to assimilate Scolari´s ethos and systems.
…….and talking of the god JM, hear/see his comparison of a chelsea team….
http://www.skysports.com/video/clips/0,23791,12602_4694408,00.html
‘a winning machine’ (reminds you of the German machine). as he said it was mentality that you have to win. It surely did take time to get the team there and there was a trend.
@dixon9
Now that was a long comment. But I am still not impressed. Why do you always compare the 1st half of the previous season ? The second half of the season is actually the state before the LFS regime.
I like LFS (comment @24). I want him to succeed at Chelsea like BC. I hope that I am wrong and you are correct dixon9.
@ALL
Now, this is for all the JM BOYS in the blog.
JM IS LOOKING FOR A RETURN TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE.
http://www.skysports.com/video/clips/0,23791,12606_4694408,00.html
The reason I compare the first half of last season with the first half of this season is that conditions (time for the team to settle under new manager, other teams to settle etc etc) are the same for everyone.
ARSHAVIN TO ARSENAL DONE?; FUCK
Lets hope for a great year for our club.Maybe 2009 is chelsea year.Nothing happened yet , just have faith in players and our manager,i know he will pay our confidence in him.
100. BlueChampion (Everton article)
Just a question… in terms of how you always seem to address when I react to comments by those three whose names I shall not refer as I have NO respect for their opinions being that their stature within the club and knowledge of the club is not up to par…
WHY IS IT THAT YOUR COMMENTS ON MY OBVIOUS LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF WHY THOSE THREE IN PARTICULAR KEEP BRINGING UP MOURINHO WHEN HE ISN’T HERE IS A PROBLEM AND WHEN THEY LEAVE THEIR NEGATIVE COMMENTS YET YOU NEVER DICTATE ANY OF YOUR SPEECHES TOWARDS THEM?
I’ll reason to this point… they stop running their mouths towards myself or any other person who questions them on why they keep bringing up Mourinho when it doesn’t help our situation and I’ll stop responding! Simple as that!
@IwasMissingJose
It is also immature to assume that age dictates anything because elderly status often has nothing to do with wisdom! My father taught me that a man that has travelled the world is just as educated as a man that practices his scholar. I am an avid reader and you can tell by the way I write and the manner in which I speak I am on par with some of those beyond my years! So please, do NOT go there and test me when you have done nothing but attempt to solve the problem of this open wound we have by throwing salt on it! You’ve said nothing constructive as I said before and this will stop when you act your age (since you seem to believe you are older and wiser than I) cause you are just as immature as I for responding to me every post you can get your fingers to haha. KEY WORDS IF YOU’RE SO MUCH MORE WISE…
A WISE MAN DOESN’T ARGUE WITH FOOLS!
PS – Love how you still avoided my two basic questions though… guess that means the Mourinho reveling is pointless then as I continued to state from the very beginning of this blown out of proportion “argument”!
Now onto whether we are weaker or not… simple answer is yes! New manager, new strategies, new tactics (some might say lack there of), the works! What I have been saying since the beginning of Scolari’s reign at Chelsea is that we should STOP jumping to the conclusion that we will have instant success! SUCCESS IS A PROCESS! It is not going to happen… so in reality, for the Mou lovers, I’m sure you’ve noticed that he is only one man! There is no other like him! So don’t expect a spectacular season straight off the bat! It takes time for a coach to implement his own mold on the club to do as he sees fit. And I find it even more incredible that some if not most of you are calling for the sack of Scolari. At that rate, we will average about two managers a season haha if it were up to you lot! The most important thing in order for us to get back to success is to first establish STABILITY! Terry has come out and quashed the rumors of unrest in the locker rooms which is nothing but tabloid bullspit and needs to be disregarded as the CAPTAIN of Chelsea has deemed them false! Bottom line is like Dixon9 has explained before me… we are not in a bad state at all. As the situation is in reality, we’re only 1 point off of first and “virtually” tied with United for second… but being that we have a SUPERB goal difference ratio, we have the most clean sheets I believe in the league!
Scolari is a world class coach and I’m sure he hasn’t won a World Cup and made Portugal into a European force without reason. We are not in a panic and we are far from our best. We will get there because we are a team with experience and we have made the right acquisitions over the summer that haven’t taken away, but rather given us more tools to advance on what we can do last season! WE WILL END UP WITH TROPHIES AND MY GUT FEELING IS WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE TO GO TOP AS BOLTON MAY PROVE A STERN TASK FOR LIVERPOOL!
http://www.goal.com/en/news/1711/chelsea/2008/12/25/1028115/scolari-ready-to-hand-drogba-chelsea-start
CALLED IT LOL!
The man himself might use this game as a way to see if a strategic change is really what is in order and a perfect game to do it in as I’ve said before in a previous comment. Hope its the two man forward line!
http://www.goal.com/en/news/1590/west-brom/2008/12/25/1028127/west-brom-boss-tony-mowbray-chelsea-can-score-goals-at-will
yet another valuable article based on someone who is indeed within the business of football management!
look an mourinho at Inter.. he brings in Quaresma who is not perfoming now. For Christ sake!!!!, we know Quaresma’s abilities but as he is not performing, he has dropped him. Why can’t scolari for Christ sake drop Deco and play Drogba. Tell me guys, which team won’t drogba start – - – Madrid, Arsenal, Inter , AC Milan, Barca , Man. Utd, Liverpool. Can the same be taught of our leading scorer???? Think again Scolari.
I say no
scolari has brought a different set of strengths and weaknesses.
He was commended at the start of the season for what he was making chelsea do but now, we are slating him for failure to achieve results. At the end of the day, can you blame scolari if kalou makes the wrong pass, if bosingwa is halfway up the pitch when the opposition scores, no, that isn’t right. Blame scolari for our deco issues, for his refusal to start drogba. We have conceeded the least goals in the premiership so the team is still defending well, I get nervous on set pieces as generically in every sport, an organised defence does not cope well with individual brilliance from the opposing team. We are dominant in possession but unless we are crossing the ball in, we dont seem to do a terrible lot more, we are missing something in the final third. all our strikers have height with all of them being 6foot and above. our strikers have pace so the problem is not there, they all bring different qualities so that is something worth thinking about. Drogba is on the decline, the ability is sill there but he doesn’t carry the same speed and momentum that used to flatten an entire defence, di santo will pick up those traits soon so no worries there, i think we are missing that pressure between the strikers and midfield
we are missing some aggression, we dont push players off the ball like we used to, but I think we are just in a rut. Our playing style has not changed since the start of the season, the opposition has and we are having trouble adapting
tbf has the problems in a nutshell, maybe we should offload players like ferreira, malouda and kalou and look for more dimensional players that are going to bring instant change. Ballack obviously wants to retie on a high so id expect to have him until the end of the 09-10 season, but his leaving can open up alot of doors
@ Vinton Lindo,
my friend, i don´t want to argue with you. So lets discuss. And i hope you agree that in discussions both positive and negative sides have to be weighed.
P.S.
what 2 questions? If you could adress those 2 questions in short, i would´t have to waste time searching it. Coz´you know, normally your posts are as big as an esaay, and they are full of you´re this and you are that stuff that i skip most of it.
It’s time to say “I told you so”!!!!!
I told you: the 1st day AG came that the man can bring nearly 100% of his teams and that’s what he did!!!!!110% I say
I told you: LFS is coming for the $$$$ and he is way over the hill!!
But I told you one more thing:
LFS has luck that AG lack
The way Man U, Arsenal & Liverpool play, Chelsea still has great chance to win it!!
As usual here are some stats I always like to give you
After 26 games as Chelsea manager LFS is behind AG in about any parameter
Wining %
LFS= 57.69%
AG = 66.67%
Losing
LFS= 11.54%
AG = 9.26%
Average points per game in the EPL
LFS = 2.11
AG = 2.31
For any other stats just ask and ill provide
at above
sad to see a blue telling us that ag was beeter than scolari!!!
could u giv me the stat of how many players came out openly against ag and scolai???????
u like apples????
apple that muppet
ha ha . . joeblue is back at it again. he nevers answers the question being asked. never participates in the discussion. deviates the topic to something of his choice. and in the process abuses one thing or the other about chelsea. he called lampard a cement sack. he racially abused our own african players. and in now, he calls the chelsea squad a ‘crap squad’. you guys still believe this guys knows anything about football at all? even if he knows can he be a chelsea fan/supporter? i don’t know even one chelsea fan who would call this chelsea squad a crap squad? we’ll never forget his crap comment joeblue . . you are a disgrace . . please buzz off . . we are all chelsea fans here and this is a chelsea blog. your blog is here.
BC – you’re wasting your time on joeblue. he will never respond to your questions. he has no sense of logic at all. if he has nothing to say, he will slowly disappear and re-appear after a few days with the same nonsense.
on the fantastic topic, yes chelsea have certainly become weaker under scolari. i would even say scolari has weakened chelsea. that’s the right way to put it. if scolari can’t make chelsea play decent football with this squad, then there is no point is having a scolari as the manager. if we have a team full of top players, why do we need scolari at all? i’d rather have good, young success-hungry manager for less than half the price we pay for scolari.
Quoting niks
it’s even more sad to see a self-proclaimed blue calling the chelsea squad as a crap squad. you’re right sammy. i’m never going to forget this line from joeblue as long as i visit this blog. lack of football knowledge from casual fans who claim to understand the game is what’s killing such online communities.
it’s just yuck . . .
I think…the problem is….now under LFS, Chelsea has lost all creativity. There is lot of possession in 90 mins, but where ? MIDFIELD. Chelsea keeps passing the ball left and right and left again with NO INTENT on scoring a goal. Sometimes (means whenever the have the intent) the pass the ball to Bosingwa-den he has his HIT-N-HOPE shot (somebody plz head it in !) – that nobody finishes. I guess thats the only way Scolari thinks Chelsea can score a goal !!
Under (highly critised for his lack of emotion) AG, Chelsea were SURE, that nobody can score against them and whenever they find scoring chances (there always be some chances), they would score. Now I even see our defense collapsing (compared with earlier standards) even with the slightest of creativity by the other team.
LFS can learn from other teams HOW TO ATTACK with some CREATIVITY. Mid table teams can surely defend well if they know, only attack from chelsea would come from Boswingwa’s HITnHOPE shot. And about Anelka, unless he’s presented an easy ball, an open goal, no defender- he does nothing. He doesn’t has pace, no physical strength (I don know why does he start !!). Even Joe Cole or Belletti have better IQ to be a forward !!
Deco, apart from Chelsea’s initial 3 4 games, has gone useless. He hasn’t been able to deliver accurate passes (people who watched West Ham match would know it), forget the CREATIVITY.
The real test would come in away matches with the top 4. Lets see if LFS can change the things around.
Quoting joeblue
Just saw the above comment now.
I would insult or ridicule that he is not even fit to wipe the boots of other players and all that’s. That’s another disgusting comment that can come from a fan. Okay, let’s say Kalou is the worst player in the Chelsea squad (if that’s make you happy). So what? In a squad of 28 players, you tend to have 4 or 5 players who just are not of top quality.
If we have team full of Lampards, Essiens, Terrys and Drogbas, why would we need Scolari?
Kalou is not as bad as he is made out to be. I’m comparing here the END PRODUCT of Kalou and Joe Cole, ONLY to prove that Kalou is not as poor as joeblue calls him. Some of Joeblue’s comments on Kalou have been downright nauseating. I would never speak about a Chelsea player like that. I know why Kalou is being treated like this by some. Anyway, here are the stats:
08/09 season
Joe Cole – 2 goals & 3 assists in 11 starts
Salomon Kalou – 2 goals & 3 assists in 7 starts
07/08 season
Joe Cole – 9 goals & 7 assists in 42 starts
Salomon Kalou – 9 goals & 7 assists in 31 starts
06/07 season
Joe Cole – 2 goals & 0 assists in 9 starts
Salomon Kalou – 9 goals & 10 assists in 25 starts
05/06 season
Joe Cole – 11 goals & 4 assists in 34 assists
04/05 season
Joe Cole – 9 goals & 2 assists in 34 starts
03/04 season
Joe Cole – 3 goals & 3 assists in 25 starts
Overall
Joe Cole = 36 goals & 19 assists in 155 starts | 35%
Salomon Kalou = 20 goals & 20 assists in 63 starts | 63%
And now, don’t try to deviate the topic and try to say I’m comparing Kalou with Joe Cole or trying to say Kalou is better than Joe Cole or something. I’m NOT trying to say that. All I’m trying to say that is, going by the end product, Joeblue’s account of Kalou is completely WRONG and UNFAIR!
[...] more demanding now. Trophyless seasons are fine as long as we show some promise. Under Scolari, we have lost all we’re known for, we’ve got into all the bad habits that we’re never known for. No one fears Chelsea anymore. [...]