When Luiz Felipe Scolari, or 'Big Fil' as they'll be saying on the terraces at Stamford Bridge, took over as Chelsea manager he already had a squad that most managers could only dream of assembling, they were and are, until May this year, the second best team in Europe. To think that this team have been knocked out of the Carling Cup by Championship side Burnley and forced to replay their FA Cup tie against Southend is surely, for all connected to the club, a sign of worrying times.
Add to the equation a dressing room with the likes of John Terry, the England captain, Michael Ballack, the Germany captain and Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast captain, and you instantly have a mix of strong characters who will, inevitably, speak their mind. Indeed it has been reported that Ballack and Drogba have been the supposed protagonists of the recent dressing-room 'fall-out' having questioned Scolari's continuous inclusion of Deco, the Portuguese midfielder, despite a string of poor performances.
This is, though, merely the tip of the iceberg of the problems at Chelsea. This is a side who seemingly everyone was touting for the title before a ball was even kicked back in August, partly due to the players bought in and partly because of the new manager installed to win the silverware. Having managed a host of clubs in Brazil and the national teams of Brazil and Portugal, winning the World Cup in 2002 with Brazil, Scolari arrived in England with a glowing reputation with many predicting that he'd be the one to De-throne Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United's dominance.
This was back in August though and, with hindsight being the wonderful thing that it is, things clearly haven't gone to plan. In Scolari's defence, Deco started the season spectacularly with a goal on his debut against Portsmouth and scoring the only goal against Wigan with a sublime free-kick which started to justify the superlatives that were being lavished on the midfield playmaker upon his arrival. But since then Deco's performances have been ineffective and, having missed a month early in the season due to injury, his confidence has evidently dipped and his team-mates have noticed.
In addition to the players' opinions of Scolari's support of Deco there has also been reported criticisms of his use of substitutions, particularly in the 1-1 draw at home to West Ham United when some players had sarcastically reminded their manager that they were looking to win the match rather than settle for a draw having gone behind to a Craig Bellamy strike in the first half.
When there is speculation of this kind, when players are almost mocking their manager, then there is surely cause for concern. There does seem, though, to be a huge respect for Scolari and why wouldn't there be? He's a World Cup winning manager after all. But as with many players from the continent, manager's aren't immune from adjusting to the demands of the Premier League and, of course, the Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich. And you need look no further than Avram Grant, Scolari's predecessor, who had the envious job of maintaining the high standard set by Jose Mourinho and the back-to-back league titles he won as Chelsea manager.
If the truth be told Chelsea haven't replaced Mourinho and they have subsequently struggled as both Grant and Scolari have failed to get a grip on the characters in the dressing room and have failed to channel their frustration in the right way. But the players getting on their managers back isn't helpful to either the club's title ambitions or the manager's confidence.
Add to the equation a dressing room with the likes of John Terry, the England captain, Michael Ballack, the Germany captain and Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast captain, and you instantly have a mix of strong characters who will, inevitably, speak their mind. Indeed it has been reported that Ballack and Drogba have been the supposed protagonists of the recent dressing-room 'fall-out' having questioned Scolari's continuous inclusion of Deco, the Portuguese midfielder, despite a string of poor performances.
This is, though, merely the tip of the iceberg of the problems at Chelsea. This is a side who seemingly everyone was touting for the title before a ball was even kicked back in August, partly due to the players bought in and partly because of the new manager installed to win the silverware. Having managed a host of clubs in Brazil and the national teams of Brazil and Portugal, winning the World Cup in 2002 with Brazil, Scolari arrived in England with a glowing reputation with many predicting that he'd be the one to De-throne Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United's dominance.
This was back in August though and, with hindsight being the wonderful thing that it is, things clearly haven't gone to plan. In Scolari's defence, Deco started the season spectacularly with a goal on his debut against Portsmouth and scoring the only goal against Wigan with a sublime free-kick which started to justify the superlatives that were being lavished on the midfield playmaker upon his arrival. But since then Deco's performances have been ineffective and, having missed a month early in the season due to injury, his confidence has evidently dipped and his team-mates have noticed.
In addition to the players' opinions of Scolari's support of Deco there has also been reported criticisms of his use of substitutions, particularly in the 1-1 draw at home to West Ham United when some players had sarcastically reminded their manager that they were looking to win the match rather than settle for a draw having gone behind to a Craig Bellamy strike in the first half.
When there is speculation of this kind, when players are almost mocking their manager, then there is surely cause for concern. There does seem, though, to be a huge respect for Scolari and why wouldn't there be? He's a World Cup winning manager after all. But as with many players from the continent, manager's aren't immune from adjusting to the demands of the Premier League and, of course, the Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich. And you need look no further than Avram Grant, Scolari's predecessor, who had the envious job of maintaining the high standard set by Jose Mourinho and the back-to-back league titles he won as Chelsea manager.
If the truth be told Chelsea haven't replaced Mourinho and they have subsequently struggled as both Grant and Scolari have failed to get a grip on the characters in the dressing room and have failed to channel their frustration in the right way. But the players getting on their managers back isn't helpful to either the club's title ambitions or the manager's confidence.
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