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.