Bridge in troubled waters as Scolari’s tactics failing to inspire confidence

WELL, the silly season is up and running . . . and I am not just talking about the results.

While Manchester City are being linked with the likes of Kaka for €65m, and Buffon at a million quid a week the papers are claiming we are after Emile Heskey, Kevin Davies and Kenwyne Jones — oh and that we will sell Joe Cole to Tottenham for €4.5m.

Why don’t they go the whole hog and claim that we are up for a swap deal with Hull — Windass for Lampard — and that we also have our people looking into whether we could tempt Bramble to our ranks so we can get rid of Terry?

Has every journalist hit the Christmas sherry earlier this year?

It is the season of giving, and the referees are being particularly generous to Liverpool this year. Hull can feel aggrieved as once again the man in black turns the other way allowing Steven Gerrard FC to avoid defeat.

Which leads me onto Stamford Bridge where, for the second time in a fortnight, an official has got a major decision wrong. But I don’t really want to talk about the West Ham game because it is likely to start me ranting with the risk of never being able to stop.

It was almost preordained that the failure of our three nearest rivals to gain maximum points from their games would herald a similar result from us as we have consistently failed to capitalise from the array of surprising scores.

What I did not expect was us to be so complicit in our own undoing. I’m very worried about Scolari and his tactics. His obsession with Deco will, if he is not careful, hand the title to Liverpool and could eventually lose him his job.

Why were we playing one up front at home to West Ham? Why did he not substitute Deco when it was evident to everyone inside the Bridge that he was ineffectual? Why did he substitute one of only two players who performed decently? No wonder Mikel looked disgusted as he headed straight for the tunnel as he was sacrificed for Belletti? And why, taking into account our injuries and lack of pace, did we opt not to have Stoch and Sinclair even on the bench?

I thought that the points dropped against United, Liverpool and Arsenal would cost us this title — which would be hard to take in itself. But our current home form is just shocking; 14 points dropped is simply not good enough and worryingly our manager does not seem to be doing anything to address it.

It’s not as if West Ham came and “parked the bus” and Scolari’s post match interview told us nothing. He seemed a little confused and, dare I say it, almost like Avram Grant.

Even more worrying for me is the body language of the team. It is difficult to compare these players with those who played under Mourinho. They look a shadow of their former selves. Two years ago they were warriors. They would run all game, through brick walls and flying tackles if they had to; they would go to places like Blackburn and Sunderland and be kicked, tripped and elbowed and would still not flinch from any challenge. They would be fearless and have the utmost self belief. They were a team the manager had made in his own image. They never fulfilled the prophecies of doom made by opposition fans and press alike – that they were mercenaries and that they could not/would not win anything.

Whatever José demanded, they fulfilled and had the board backed him instead of being threatened by his ego we would be looking at a dynasty. Now, sadly, I see a team going through the motions, without that fire in their belly, without that winning-is-everything mentality, without that sense of team spirit Mourinho instilled.

Many more days like Sunday and the wounds will reopen at Stamford Bridge in ways the board and the owner will not like. Thanks to those wonderful TV people, we have a Monday night hike up to Everton three days before Christmas where we will try and keep up our extraordinary away record. I’m not confident because if you can’t beat a very average West Ham side at home, you really can’t take anything for granted.

Scolari not only needs to win this game, but to have a good hard think about his insistence of playing one up front. This weekend was a watershed for him as far as the support is concerned, and many have already turned against the Brazilian. This is never a good thing for Chelsea Football Club because its supporters are generally disposed towards patience — just ask Robert Fleck, Kezman, and Shevchenko who continued to get generous backing long after their deficiencies had been exposed. Scolari may be a World Cup winner but for many of us our original fear concerning his lack of European club experience is coming to the fore. He needs to prove he can learn and that he is willing to re-think his ideas in a league very different to those which he has experienced.

Rant over…..for now.

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