Scolari and Chelsea: Human After All

After all the plaudits of the way his team cut through Hull City and Sunderland, and the way in which Chelsea "bounced back" after losing the 86-game record against Liverpool, Luiz Felipe Scolari must really have been feeling the pinch on Tuesday night.

In the Stadio Olimpico, Chelsea gave a below-par performance that left all who watched scratching their heads. Despite dominating the first 25 minutes of the game, losing 3-1 to a poor Roma side was probably a fair result.

The question on everybody's minds will be: Was it a one off that every team in the duration of a season has? Or, was it very much the bringing down to earth for Chelsea, and the end of the honeymoon period for Scolari?

Not for the first time this season has a brilliant performance been followed by a damp, dull showing by the boys from the Fulham Road. After dispatching Portsmouth 4-0 on the opening day of the season in a performance that left observers drooling, Chelsea went up to Wigan and scraped a 1-0 win.

Similarly, after an under-strength team ripped apart Middlesbrough at the Riverside, they followed it up by struggling to beat a defensively minded Roma at Stamford Bridge. And after trouncing Sunderland, Chelsea gave another poor performance against the under-performing Italians.

Before Chelsea can be considered a great team, capable of winning everything, Scolari needs to introduce the consistency in his team to challenge on four fronts. He has everything at is disposal: one of the best squads in world football, a chairman willing to spend money (despite recent speculation), and a fantastic club set up. He just needs to install that final piece of the jigsaw into his players.

After the disappointing display in Rome, Chelsea need to bounce back against Blackburn Rovers on Sunday. The omens are good for the Blues: unbeaten in six against the Lancastrians and with key players such as Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack returning to full fitness, they really should beat Rovers.

Having said that, the inconsistency of late has cast a shadow of doubt over the belief of Blues fans that their team can win at Ewood Park—a doubt that hasn't been felt since the days of Claudio Ranieri.

Chelsea have seemed to have lost the "invincibility" factor that you felt about the side under Jose Mourinho and, dare I say it, Avram Grant. Chelsea have sacrificed the will to win for fluent, attacking football.

The day Scolari installs both of these factors into Chelsea, we might have a real force to be reckoned with.