Luiz Felipe Scolari Needs To Carry The Can Going Into The New Year

As the season reaches its halfway point, Alan McGuinness assesses Chelsea’s season so far and examines some problems that have began to emerge as the season has progressed.

Things are not going quite as Luiz Felipe Scolari had planned when he took up the Chelsea manager’s job in June.

After a blistering start to the campaign that saw his side bang in the goals and lap up the plaudits, matters have taken a turn for the worse.

Chelsea have only won four of their ten home league games this season - suffering potentially damaging defeats to title rivals Arsenal and Liverpool in the process - have exited the Carling Cup to Burnley and have seen their imperious early season away form unravel. The Blues have drawn their last two games on the road, to Everton and Fulham.

Weaknesses are also beginning to emerge in the team’s overall play.

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea were not always impenetrable in the air, but they made damn sure that conceded goals from set plays was a pretty rare occurrence. Under the Brazilian's regime, they seem as frequent as a British high street chain going into administration.

Both of Fulham’s goals yesterday came from sloppy marking from set pieces. Craig Bellamy put West Ham ahead at Stamford Bridge earlier in the month from a dead ball situation. Goals were also shipped against CFR Cluj and Bordeaux as a result of balls into the box.

Whereas under Mourinho it seemed like a set in stone certainty that Chelsea would hold onto a lead once they gained it, under Scolari that assurance just isn't there.

Arsenal came from a goal down to win 2-1 in November, and Bordeaux and Fulham have managed to battle back and gain draws. Chelsea’s defensive steel has disappeared along with the 86 match unbeaten home record.

At the other end, an inability to finish their chances has seen the club drop points that they shouldn’t have. This hasn’t always proved fatal, but when combined with another attacking problem, it definitely becomes so.

When faced with defensively resolute sides, the Blues seem to lack ideas. If the goals don’t come (mainly as a result of the wasteful finishing mentioned above) a Plan B doesn’t appear to exist as a fallback option.

This has come with a more attractive brand of football. The debate is forever raging about what matters most, good football or simply winning trophies, and at the moment it doesn’t look as if Scolari’s Brazilian blend will deliver silverware.

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea could mix things up. The Portuguese tactician had players who were adept with the ball at their feet, such as Arjen Robben, Damien Duff and Eidur Gudjohnsen, who could change a game with a moment of skill or genius.

But his Chelsea side could also go route one, spearheaded by Didier Drogba, whose strength and ability in the air won Mourinho a number of games in his time at the club.

Scolari is reluctant to go down this road - as is made evident by his reluctance to play Didier Drogba - and tactical rigidity could cost him in the long run.

Things haven’t reached crisis point just yet - Chelsea are second in the league and through to the knockout phase of the Champions League -  but jitters and uncertainty hang over the club heading into 2009.

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