Chelsea 0-0 Hull City: Time Up for Scolari?

It's beyond doubt that Scolari’s not the man for this job. We are out of the title race and it’s February. He is in sackable form. If he is sacked, even he himself should not be surprised.

We’ve got to a point where it really does not make too much sense to discuss the games in detail. It’s the same routine every single match. I had said in this blog before that we don’t play better or worse. We play the same way in every match.

Which is why this season any opponent that shows more desire and determination than Chelsea is bound to get something from the match. We simply don’t raise our game. We don’t raise our game or react to situations.

Chelsea players don’t feel insulted anymore if they concede. There is no urgency because there is no belief that urgency can help. The way I see it, all players as a team have come to the conclusion that they cannot win the title.

It shows. And it’s worrying.

This match against Hull City started brightly. I even thought we were going to batter them. Quaresma was impressive. Bosingwa was disastrous. Anelka (Premier League top scorer, my foot) was anonymous. Drogba was hopeless. Deco on the pitch is not so different from Deco on the bench. Mikel was tired, well the whole team was.

Lampard and Kalou looked like they wanted to win this match. Hilario was always shaky and looked like a midfielder put on goal. Two positives—we did not lose and we did not concede from a set piece.

Second half, Hull raised their game and we were just mediocre. Scolari got his substitutions wrong yet again. Hull were growing in confidence. Getting past our defence was never that difficult for Hull. They must have scored. In fact, the chances created by them were closer than ours.

Phil Brown says that he’s disappointed with a 0-0. Sad.

In just around six months time, Scolari has transformed Chelsea. The Chelsea I see now is an entirely different team. The football we play and the attitude we show on the pitch represents the No. 7 to No. 10 teams in the league.

It is that bracket of No.7 to No.10, the objective is very simple. End up in the top half, you may not get Europe but just a top half finish. There is not a big difference between a No. 7 or No. 8 or No. 9 or No. 10. That’s how we play. We don’t seem to be too concerned about the table standings.

I remember Essien scoring that extra time goal against Valencia at Mestalla in a Champions League match and saying in the post-match interview, “We deserved the three points”.

It was a joke then that he said “three points” talking about a Champions League knockout match. But the thing is, everyone had the "three points" mentality so very well etched in their minds.

Too many things have gone wrong under Scolari. I’m not even prepared to listen to his side of the story. In a sport where managers are judged by their results, he has failed. There is too much to see that helps me conclude that he has failed.

He didn’t get the results, he has certainly not improved the way we play, he didn’t show any signs of developing any player and he hasn’t improved the team morale. That’s not the full list of negatives and I’m struggling to list the positives under his reign. Scolari has undone Chelsea.

I’m convinced that he should go. Most of us are with me. I think we could differ about the timing of his sack. Some say he should be out by now. Some say he should be sacked after this season. If you say his sacking now would impact the team morale and all that, I don’t the team morale any good as it is. I don’t see how it can go worse.

We may not get an ideal replacement at this stage though unless we try to lure someone like Rijkaard. Whatever Chelsea FC does with Scolari, I’m only looking for a Champions League spot now. And that’s under threat.

Stop talking about Man Utd or Liverpool or even Villa. Let’s be No. 1 among Arsenal, Everton, and the like. The next time anyone from Chelsea talks about being in the title race or showing confidence that we’d catch up Man Utd, I’m gonna scream.