Hiring Scolari was somewhat done on the crest of a wave of ecstasy, it represented a fresh start after what many felt was a protracted sacking of Jose Mourinho. Avram Grant, whilst never explicitly confirmed as such, was clearly a club stop-gap trusted by Roman in steadying the ship in the wake of our title winning favourite’s tumultuous end.
Grant’s own sacking after the ill-fated Champions League Final in 2008 represented a time in which speculation could mount about which man would take us forward – who would take a stiff broom through the club and help us gain closure.
Many applicants were speculated over, Guus Hiddink – then Russia manager. Carlo Ancelotti, the AC Milan manager. Roberto Mancini, the man ousted to make way for Jose. All of the above joined Scolari on the list of men the club would bring in.
It came as a surprise, really, that the final decision was to go with the ageing Portugal national manager Scolari. A man with no European club coaching experience, the risk was stated and clear – however this was balanced by success in South America’s version of the Champions League, numerous title-wins around the world and perhaps most importantly – winning a World Cup.
There’s no real need to pick over the bones of Scolari’s time at the club. It started well, it got confusing, it ended badly. A main characteristic of that period though was the perceived slowing of our older players. Ballack no longer looked imperious, Carvalho looked ponderous, Drogba was alienated and the team in general was disjointed. Although Scolari was sacked after failure to defeat Hull City at Stamford Bridge, the damage to his tenure was epitomised by his record against the ‘Big Four’.
Chelsea 1 – 1 Manchester United (Poor, but not unforgiveable)
Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool (Home record sequence ended. The equivalent of losing the Queens Colours in battle.)
Chelsea 1-2 Arsenal (By this time the rumblings were loud, clear and deadly)
Manchester United 3-0 Chelsea (the most embarrassing performance and result of the Abramovich era. And yes, Avram, that includes Barnsley.)
Liverpool 2-0 Chelsea (f**k sake)
The ‘rot’, then, was most evident in Scolari’s Chelsea being unable to compete against their title rivals. The accusations of not having a Plan B were spot on, the players looked mentally and physically unfit and we were in danger of throwing away Champions League qualification to a handy looking ‘Villa side.
Thus it came to pass that Scolari was sacked. Roman flew in, did the deed, installed Hiddink – and righted some wrongs.
Guus’s tenure was always temporary. Always until the end of the season. He changed little in terms of approach compared to Jose and Grant, the way the squad was built to play – 4-3-3. He won an FA Cup, won the respect of the players and the hearts of the fans. Then left again back to his day job. He was the likeable temp teacher.
After comfortably despatching Arsenal 2-0 we can ask; where are we now?
Carlo Ancelotti – the man unwilling to terminate his relationship with his former playing side AC Milan when we hired Scolari – came in to occupy the vacant managerial position.
Unlike Scolari, who got Jose Bosingwa, Deco and very nearly the poisoned chalice that is Robinho – Ancelotti received no support in terms of his own signings in the transfer market. Long term club targets Daniel Sturridge and Yuri Zhirkov followed bosman signing Ross Turnbull through the door to herald a new era in terms of overt confirmation that (as with Milan) Carlo would manage the players he was given by the club. The recruitment of playing assets would no longer be the remit of the manager – perhaps Jose’s longest lasting legacy for this club.
Scolari vs. Ancelotti.
Objective: Give the club ‘personality’.
Scolari: Failed. The start was promising; the end was a personality of weakness and lethargy. One dimensional.
Ancelotti: compact, fluid, resilient, free-scoring. A series of high scoring games and some of the best football seen at the club for a long, long time confirms success thus far in giving us a new footballing personality.
”Plan B”
Scolari: One of the main reasons ultimately he was sacked, the tactics lacked depth and flexibility. Once we were ‘worked out’ there was no going back.
Ancelotti: January. Need I say more? Stripped of key personnel the Italian reverted to a 4-3-3 formation and strung together a sequence of fluid, cohesive and emphatic results outside of the formation he had imposed on the club up to that point. Carlo’s general management tends to show that his half time changes are for the better. This man knows his apples.
Record against Rivals
Scolari: P5 – W0 – D1 – L4. Pitiful.
Ancelotti P4 – W4 – D0 – L0. Masterful.
The conclusion? There’s no point wasting more words on it. Whilst it remains to be seen if Ancelotti is a success in terms of silverwear, our latest long-term manager is head and shoulders above his predecessor and perhaps most importantly has given us our dominant edge back when facing off against our rivals. It would take a shocking downturn in form for us to be looking at a ‘Sack Ancelotti’ scenario come the end of the season – and thank god for that.
One year on from sacking Scolari and we seem to have finally shaken the Jose blues and stretched our legs out into a future full of opportunities.
Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal – Age vs. Youth, ‘New Money’ vs. ‘History’ – whatever you want to call it. We won. We will win. And Carlo’s Chelsea is something to be proud of.
Ancelotti’s Blue and White Army.