Scolari’s blue-bloods keep red flag flying high
The Brazilian watched his philosophy borne out to the letter in this routine, but hard-earned, victory and now wants his players to maintain momentum when they face CFR Cluj on Wednesday in the Champions League.
Goals from Jose Bosingwa and substitute Nicolas Anelka propelled Chelsea to the top of the table thanks to their fourth win in six league games since Scolari took over.
It was a gritty rather than glamorous performance and Scolari was pleased with the way his players bonded.
“My team is in good condition and we are keeping our shape well. We are now at our best,” he said.
“All my players know their position and how to cover for each other if necessary. If a player makes a mistake, another one helps him out and that is important.
“We have won most of our matches and drawn only two. We have confidence as we have good players.”
There was only one cloud on Scolari’s horizon, in the shape of an injury to Salomon Kalou. The striker did not appear for the second half after taking a knock on his ankle.
His fitness will be monitored ahead of the trip to Romania, as will Joe Cole’s. He was sidelined because of a slight tear in his thigh but is expected to join Deco (thigh), Ricardo Carvalho (knee) and Michael Essien (knee) on the casualty list.
Chelsea, though, have strength in numbers and a bright new recruit in Bosingwa, who arrived in the summer before Scolari.
The 26-year-old former Porto full-back made the breakthrough with his first goal for the club, and it was a special strike.
He cushioned a pass from Frank Lampard on his chest before rifling a shot into the corner beyond goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.
Florent Malouda saw his effort pushed on to the bar by Sorensen before Anelka made the points safe 14 minutes from time following a mistake by Leon Cort.
It was only then Chelsea could relax, according to Scolari. He said: “It was a good shot from Anelka and gave us a little bit of tranquility. It was fantastic to win a game like this 2-0.
“It is impossible to play beautiful football all the time and it was difficult against Stoke. Whenever we made a mistake they arrived and tried to put the ball in the box. We had to pay attention.
“We always want to play football but sometimes the other team does not think that way. They just want to live off your mistakes.”
Stoke suffered a blow ahead of the match when long-throw specialist Rory Delap was ruled out because of hamstring injury.
In addition striker Ricardo Fuller was limited to a second half run-out as he was suffering from a virus.
But they made a decent fist of it and Cort came close to equalising, his effort being cleared off the line by Mikel John Obi.
Manager Tony Pulis was pleased with the way his newly-promoted side went about their business.
He said: “We were more of a threat in the second half and even though Chelsea are on a different level to us we have to take positives out of the game. We cannot get too down in the dumps.
“The problem we had is we sat off them a little bit. It was just unfortunate the way their second goal came about as Cort just lost his footing. That killed the game.”
REFEREE: Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire) 7: The game was physical rather than nasty and Atkinson did his best to maintain what little flow there was.
MATCH RATING: *** Another quietly impressive performance from Chelsea, who are setting a formidable pace this term. Stoke suggested once again they will be no pushovers this season.
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