Chelsea at the Crossroads, Part Two

Chelsea at the Crossroads, Part Two: Scolari's Fatal Flaw

The January transfer window presented Chelsea an opportunity to improve their squad and address the weakness plaguing it, but that was never on the cards. Prior to the window’s opening Peter Kenyon warned that Chelsea was unlikely to make any significant buys because players of the quality Chelsea seeks are either unavailable or cup-tied in January. Fans’ hopes that this was merely a smokescreen were not fulfilled. Indeed, Chelsea proved a selling club in the window. Substitute left back Wayne Bridge was moved to Manchester City for a reported 12 million pounds and long-serving second choice goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini was allowed to join Tottenham on a free transfer. Chelsea’s only incoming players were Turkish teenage prospect Gokhan Tore, Inter Milan flop Ricardo Quaresma, and 21 year-old defender Michael Mancienne, who returned from a loan spell with Championship front-runners Wolves. Quaresma would immediately get his chance to make an impression as Scolari, who managed him with the Portuguese national team, installed him in the starting XI against Hull City. Hull City, like Chelsea, ran out to a blazing start but of late the wheels have come off somewhat for the Tigers. Conceding goals, with alarming regularity, Hull seemed the ideal opponent against whom to revive the Blues’ flagging attack. However, Chelsea once again played lethargically and unimaginatively.

Quaresma, like Chelsea’s other wingers, proved uninterested in challenging defenders by driving to the byline and thus failed to add a needed dimension to the offense. Chelsea dominated possession but largely failed to create legitimate scoring chances. With the Blues desperately needing all 3 points to keep pace with Aston Villa and maintain distance over Arsenal, they instead limped to 0-0 home draw that arguably flattered them, for it was Hull who had perhaps produced the best chances. It was a game the caught Scolari out and marked him as stubborn and unimaginative. While Scolari had complained that his squad was too bureaucratic, he ultimately proved equally bankrupt of invention.

When Chelsea, at Roman Abramovich’s order, sacked Scolari, the move was largely greeted by surprise. The papers openly questioned the wisdom of sacking a manager after only 7 months on the job. Had not Scolari been hailed as a great success in the glow of his September returns, they asked? Frequently, it was pointed out that Scolari had not been given the resources in both money and talent that perhaps he had bargained for. On this reasoning, the sacking seemed the rash decision of impatient ownership who were reacting to a mere month’s worth of poor results. In fact, the poor results stretched back deep into the fall. Viewed in the lens of hindsight, it is apparent that Chelesa’s struggles were long evident and that Scolari’s termination was the logical and necessary conclusion to his uneven tenure.

The home match against Stoke City on January 17 provides perhaps the best example of the errors of Scolari’s ways. Stoke, like Hull City, is only freshly promoted to the Premier League. While Stoke has had considerable success inside the friendly confines of their home ground, the Brittania Stadium, they have struggled mightily on the road. Furthermore, they are heavily reliant on Rory DeLap’s long throws for consistent scoring opportunities. Having already beat the Potters 2-0 at the Brittania, Chelsea seemed sure to make light work of them at Stamford Bridge. That was not the case.

From the very beginning, Stoke gave the Blues fits. An early Rory DeLap throw was headed straight into the air by Alex who was fortunate that no Stoke player could get on the end of it. Petr Cech then failed to reach the ensuing corner kick providing another scare. Ultimately, Chelsea settled in and began to dominate the contest but a packed Stoke defense prevented the Londoners from claiming the lead they perhaps deserved. Scolari chose not to change tactics at halftime and it was the visiting Potters who netted first after the break. A Stoke counter-attack caught the Chelsea defense napping and DeLap coolly slotted by a helpless Petr Cech. With just minutes left, all seemed lost when suddenly Juliano Belletti headed in from point-blank range in the 88th minute to give Chelsea a lifeline. Then, in the dying seconds Frank Lampard, wearing the captain’s armband with John Terry a late injury scratch, lashed a 20 yard screamer into the top left corner of Thomas Sorenson’s goal to claim an unlikely win. Lampard, almost giddy with excitement, ran over and mobbed the embattled Scolari in a very public show of solidarity.

Lost in the thrill of victory was the truth of what won the day for Chelsea. While veterans Belletti and Lampard netted the crucial goals, it was the youthful vigor of two of Chelsea’s substitutes that put them in the position to do so. Little-used 19 year old Argentinean striker Franco di Santo headed across goal to set up an easy flick home for Belletti on the first goal. On the second goal, it was another 19 year old, Slovakian winger Miroslav Stoch, who made the key play in just his second first-team appearance. Stoch’s beautifully weighted cross led to the maelstrom from which Frank Lampard’s stunning winner ultimately emerged. Scolari, however, seemed not to recognize the contributions that the two young attackers made to the victory and neither of them saw an increase in pitch time subsequently.

Put in a nearly identical situation against Hull, Scolari left di Santo and Stoch on the bench and instead used his substitutes on the typically defense-minded Belletti, the chronically disinterested Drogba, and lackluster Deco. The Stoke victory should have been a turning point for Scolari’s Chelsea. It should have been the day on which Scolari discovered that his young prospects were ready to play a major role in Chelsea’s campaign. Instead, Scolari learned nothing and stuck to using the same players in the same system. How can Scolari honestly criticize his squad when he refused to use his youngest, hungriest players?

Ray Wilkins’ management of the team at Watford last Saturday further made a mockery of Scolari’s claims. Scolari steadfastly refused to pair strikers Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba. Wilkins, on the other hand, did just that against the Hornets. Drogba responded with perhaps his best effort of this season. In the early going, Drogba linked up with Anelka beautifully only to see the Frenchman unluckily hit the outside of the post with his shot. Still, Watford scored the first goal with Tamas Priskin’s delicate chip over the offside trap. It was an unfortunate for development for the Blues, who utterly dominated the game and surely deserved to be comfortably ahead long before Priskin’s 69th minute effort. Wilkins, unlike Scolari, responded with a deft tactical change. Holding midfielder John Obi Mikel was replaced with Stoch as Chelsea shifted to a 4-4-2 with Anelka and Drogba up top. The change paid immediate dividends. Anelka bagged goals in the 75th and 77th minutes to give the Blues the lead that they would not relinquish. At once, Wilkins shattered two of Scolari’s adamant beliefs. Not only could Anelka and Drogba play together but they could also do so in a 4-4-2, which Scolari refused to play.

Ultimately, it was not merely a bad run of form that doomed Luis Felipe Scolari’s tenure at Stamford Bridge. It was his inflexibility and refusal to try new tactics and play young players that proved his undoing. These characteristics made it abundantly clear that Chelsea would not come out of its winter slumber under Scolari’s watch. With crucial fixtures against Watford in the FA Cup, Aston Villa in the Premier League, and Juventus in the Champions’ League on the horizon, Roman Abramovich realized that if he was to save his season it was now or never. For a club struggling to slowly attain self-sufficiency, missing the financial windfall of the Champions’ League is a nightmare scenario. That is the scenario that was staring Abramovich in the face as he viewed a fixture list with Aston Villa and Arsenal away still to come and an unresponsive, unimaginative manager. Given the circumstances, Abramovich had no choice but to sack Scolari in an attempt to save his team’s season.

Chelsea at the Crossroads, Part One

Chelsea at the Crossroads, Part One: The Rise and Fall of Scolari

It has not been, it must be said, a banner year for Chelsea Football Club. The campaign began brightly enough. After dumping dour and unpopular manager Avram Grant, who brought the Blues to the very brink of Champions’ League glory, Luis Felipe Scolari was introduced to lead Chelsea into the future. “Big Phil” brought an impressive CV to Stamford Bridge, having reached the very pinnacle of footballing success as manger of 2002 World Cup Champions Brazil. His mission was ambitious: to bring trophies to South London and to play attractive football doin it. The early returns were encouraging. Chelsea shot out of the gate quickly, dominating all comers and racking up a gaudy goal differential. Scolari’s brand of football looked set to revolutionize or at least revitalize the often dull Premier League.

However, things were not what they seemed. As the English fall brought a chill over the land, Chelsea’s play cooled, too. First, Xabi Alonso’s deflected shot carried Liverpool to a 1-0 victory and broke Chelsea’s 4 ½ year Stamford Bridge unbeaten run. It heralded the demise of invincible Chelsea. Scolaris’ tactics had been found out. When opponents realized that fullbacks Ashley Cole and Jose Bosingwa provided all the width to the Chelsea attack, the Blues’ Offense was rendered stagnant, narrow, and predictable. Suddenly, Chelsea’s squad seemed to lack the dynamic players necessary to break down packed defenses.

It was an issue that first arose in the summer transfer period where Chelsea was, at least in comparison to previous years, not a major player. Scolari did not make the lavish expenditures typical of Jose Mourinho’s tenure. Instead, Scolari and Chairman Peter Kenyon set about downsizing the squad by offloading what were deemed unnecessary players such as Steve Sidwell, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Claude Makelele, and Hernan Crespo. Scolari’s only major purchase was a relatively modest 7 million pound outlay on aging Portuguese playmaker Deco who together with Jose Bosingwa, who signed before Scolari began with the club, comprised the whole of Chelsea’s significant summer additions. While the club’s decision not to bring more expensive, proven talent to the squad may at time have seemed a financially prudent declaration of faith in the team’s younger members, it came to seem a grave mistake as Chelsea began to appear a team that had grown old together and was sorely missing Arjen Robben and Damien Duff, who provided width and invention to Chelsea’s league-winning squads and who were never properly replaced.

As Deco and Bosingwa, who initially got off to dazzling starts in South London, became increasingly less effective, the acquisition that Chelsea failed to make, that of Brazil and Real Madrid starlet Robinho, was thrown into harsh relief. Robinho is the exact sort of young, dynamic, creative player that the Blues squad cries out for. The transfer had at one point been all but a done deal. Chelsea, indeed, had already begun to print up the shirts. However, at the last, Manchester City, newly backed by wealthy Abu Dhabi sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, swooped in and made an offer that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich declined to match. It was a clear indication of a new role for Chelsea. No longer were they the fantastically wealthy new boys chasing championships at any cost. Chelsea had become more sober, responsible, and determined to live nearer their considerable means. Yet they remain haunted by their past. Previous foolish expenditures, a tendency to acquire players who had already passed their primes, and the failure to build an effective and productive youth system has left Chelsea with a squad that, compared to the other “Big Four” clubs, looks old and thin.

Scolari plunged forward continuing to play his favored 4-5-1 system, claiming that his squad left him little choice. Even when Ivorian striker Didier Drogba returned to full fitness, he refused to pair he and his French counterpart, Nicolas Anelka, maintaining that the lack of defensively able wingers and a left-sided alternative to oft-injured winger Florent Malouda prohibited such arrangements. While Scolari doggedly persevered with his system, losses and costly draws began to pile up. Burnley saw the Blues out of the Carling Cup. Arsenal humbled Chelsea in league play at the Bridge. Cluj, Bordeaux, and Roma stymied them, allowing no wins on Chelsea’s Champions League travels. While management publicly maintained Scolari’s job was safe at least until season’s end, fan dissatisfaction began to grow and many started to question whether the Brazilian had the skills for club management in the Premier League.

So....My Weekend Sucked...

Since I'm not getting anything productive done like homework or applying for interships, I figured I might as well write some.

Now, if you'll recall (or refer to) my last entry, I was set to ask out this cute girl in my English class. Well, I did it Wednesday. The results? Not great.

I went into class with a greater eye on her body language and tried to figure out whether she might be interested in me. In doing so, I realized that she was betraying no signs of interest. She wasn't looking at me a lot or flipping her hair or doing any of those things typically associated with flirty behavior. On the other hand, she certainly wasn't closing herself off and once again things were very friendly between us. We chatted a bit before class and even whispered back and forth a bit during class. Having realized that she probably wasn't actively interested in me, I nonetheless decided to still ask her out. Maybe she hadn't been thinking of it herself but there was still the chance, I thought, that she might be willing to go on a date simply based on our friendship.

After class, walking out of Cobb, I asked her whether or not she might like to grab lunch on Friday or Saturday. At first, she didn't quite understand and explained that she was very busy this weekend but then I asked her again what she thought of the idea itself. "You mean like a date?" she said. I confirmed that's what I meant. She clearly was blind-sided and wasn't feeling it. To her credit, she was very nice about it and handled it remarkably well. First, she hesitatingly said, "I'm not sure if I want to date..." and then when I remarked that it was on the table and that there was no pressure she said "I'll think about it...".

Though the note she left off on gave me a slight amount of hope, I know that in reality there isn't much of a chance of things coming good for me. The tone with which she spoke indicated pretty clearly that she wasn't interested and was trying to make the best of an awkward situation. I never wanted to be the dorky guy who misinterprets girls' friendship and forces them to politely reject him, but it seems that is who I've become. Really, I'm left with no good options. If I try to remain patient and hope that a relationship naturally comes to me, I get disappointed when that fails to happen. If I try to be proactive and aggressive and ask girls I like out, I just get disappointed and depressed when they reject me. I don't know what it is about me, but I donn't seem to attract the interest of girls at all. I know that I'm too shy and that I'm not always personable, but I don't think I'm so overwhelmingly misanthropic that the occasional girl might not take an interest in me. I think the only girl that has ever been remotely interested in me is Laura and given the way I was unceremoniously and unexpectedly dumped by her it's hard to say how much she ever really fancied me.

I get a lot of advice from people who tell me to not worry about it and to enjoy my youth without being proccupied with girls, but honestly I'd like to know what it feels like to be in love and loved in return before I'm too old. Sure, I'm only 21 but most guys have at least had their first kiss by 21. Me? No. Moreover, I've been borderline depressed off-and-on at least since the beginning of college maybe even since the beginning of high school. The time I felt happiest? The three weeks that Laura and I were somewhat of an item. My self-confidence was better, I was happier, and I had a reason to get up in the morning. Now, life seems somewhat meaningless and empty. I don't have many friends in Tufts yet and many days I go all day without talking to anyone. It's a pretty damn lonely way to live.

I'm actually starting to get pretty worried about myself. I think about death far too frequently. I never seriously consider doing anything rash and I've never self-harmed, but I think about it enough to scare myself. What terrifies me is that eventually I'm going to graduate and I'll be even more alone than I am now. I guess I'm just a weak person. I need people around me to support me and prop me up. Now, there are at least still friends on campus and RAs and RHs that are pretty much obligated to talk to me if I need help. But when I'm out on my own it's going to be even lonelier and there will be even less support. There are thousands of smart girls on campus. If I can't strike up a half-decent relationship under these circumstances, what chances am I going to stand in the "real world?"

This is what I spent my Valentine's Day weekend thinking about. I was hoping that this girl would say yes and it might be the best Valentine's Day that I've ever had. Instead, she said no and it was the worst. Just as I know why Laura dumped me, I know why she said no. In fact, I went in fully realizing that there was a large chance she would say no. Still, the rejection brought all the old feelings of inferiority that I had carefully supressed after Laura rushing right back. It hit me harder than I expected it would and than it had any right to. This girl did nothing wrong, of course. If anyone did wrong, it was me in asking her out when she wasn't betraying any signs of interest, but that knowledge hasn't stopped my pride from being gravely wounded. It hasn't stopped me from being useless ever since and in a total emotional funk.

I had that class again today, but she was sick and wasn't there. It appears I'll have to wait until Wednesday or maybe Friday to see her again. I hope by then she'll have thought about it and I can settle this somewhat in my mind. There is a (maybe) 1% chance that she'll have thought about it and deemed it a good idea, but I know that in all probability it will come down with the 99% and she'll confirm that it's not going to happen. I just hope that things aren't awkward and it won't ruin whatever small friendship we had cultivated prior to me asking her out. I can't bear to lose another girl full stop like I did Laura. I just hope that things come around for me eventually and I can finally achieve some sort of contentment because I don't know how long I can go on like this feeling hopeless, lonely, and lost.

Time for the Next Phase

After the mess that was and is what happened between me and Laura, I've got that nervous feeling back in my stomach. It seems to me that I must initiate the next phase soon.

I've been sitting next to this really cute girl in my English class and I've developed a pretty healthy crush on her. She's really smart and insightful but not in a pretentious and typically U of C way and she's really fun to chat with. Normally, I don't socialize too much with people in my classes but she was super friendly and started chatting with me like we were old friends. Friday we walked from Cobb to Bartlett together after class continuing a conversation that we were having at the end. It felt really good to talk with a girl in that way again. It's just not quite the same talking to female friends as it is talking to a girl you fancy.

It's a dangerous situation because she seems like a super friendly girl and I don't want to mistake her friendliness for interest in me. In fact, I'm reasonably sure she has none. But at the same time, from the looks of her facebook she doesn't have a boyfriend either. I figure it can't hurt to ask her out. I just have to work up the courage to do it and figure what the best way is. If she rejects me out of hand, at least I tried. It might make class awkward if she's not interested, but that's a chance I have to take, I think.

Hopefully, this isn't just a set up for more heartbreak, but I'm really optimistic for the first time in a while. The odds may not be good but at least it gives me some hope and hope is an important thing, indeed. I really hunger for female contact and companionship and when I see such a cool girl 3 times a week, it's hard not to be excited about the prospects.

We shall see. It's time for the next phase to begin.

Song of the Day -- S Club 7 "Bring It All Back"

I haven't wrote anything on here in ages. That's mainly because I've scarcely had a chance to breathe lately. Between school, the sim league, trying to fix my computer, and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life it's been a full plate. I've got tons of decent writing ideas kicking around but it's hard to find time to sit down and write just for my own pleasure.

That said, I have a bit of time now before class so I thought I'd throw up a Song of the Day. Today's choice is "Bring It All Back" by S Club 7. S Club 7 was a seven person pop group consisting of Tina Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O'Meara, Hannah Spearitt, and Rachel Steven. It was created by Simon Fuller who also managed the Spice Girls and created "Pop Idol" and it's subsequent worldwide spin-offs, including "American Idol". Completely a formula pop group, S Club was Fuller's next idea after leaving the Spice Girls.

S Club 7 was propelled to success by their BBC children's sitcom portraying their ongoing adventures around the world. The theme song to the original series, set in Miami, was "Bring It All Back". Upon it's release, it shot to #1 in the UK singles chart.

I hadn't really heard much S Club until I was surfing youtube the other day and I hit upon this song. Wow! It's so saccharine that you almost want to fall over holding your stomach, but beyond the schmaltzy sweetness it's an amazing bubblegum pop song that is infectious. Plus, it helps out the kiddies by telling them to follow their dreams. S Club 7: Doing a service to the world by preventing kids from becoming emo. Of course, all the kids who listened to S Club in that era probably now hate pop and will only listen to Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend or whatever the vogue band is now, but at least they aren't hanging out at Hot Topic or slitting their wrists! Thanks S Club!

Have a look and listen: