I have this unusual habit f reading the newspaper backwards, starting from the sports section, moving to business, followed by International, Editorial and finishing it off with National and State and City.
So one of the first headlines that I read earlier today was the firing of Chelsea’s manager Luiz Felipe Scolari from his job!!! It really came as a surprise to me. Just last night I remember visiting a particular sports website which I regularly visit for the Football updates and one of the headlines on the website was the sacking of Portsmouth’s manager Tony Adams and addressing him as No. 31. The 31st manager in the EPL to be sacked from his job. But there was absolutely no mention of Scolari being fired from his job, even as late as 10.00 pm in the night. So, imagine my surprise when I realized that Scolari was No. 32.
As a fan of EPL and also Chelsea in particular I was and still am a big supporter of Luiz Felipe Scolari. I have admired the skills and attacking attitude of Scolari since the time he coached Brazil to their World Cup victory in 2002. He followed it up with an impressive show with Portugal
in the next World Cup in 2006 where Portugal was eliminated in the semi-finals. The Euro 2008 campaign with Portugal was also pretty successful considering that Portugal was one among the final four. Scolari as a coach brings in a positive mentality into the team and has never been afraid of trying new things. He is one of those managers who keep pressing for more goals even after scoring a decisive first. He is not the one of those defensive types who tries to protect the lead than going in for the kill with more aggressive strategies. He is the 4-3-3 type than the usual 4-4-2.
When he was announced as the successor of Avram Grant in the middle of Euro 2008, I was so excited and imagined good times ahead for Chelsea in the current season. He did start off impressively by not losing in the first eight games going neck to neck with Liverpool. Scolari tasted his first loss in Chelsea colors when Chelsea lost at home to Liverpool. It was also Chelsea’s first home loss since 86 games. Stamford Bridge which was considered to be fortress was breached for the first time since the past two seasons. A remarkable run coming to an end. Chelsea have since lost couple of more games at the Bridge and have dropped more points at home than away. His task wasn’t made any easier with key players having to be rested due to injuries. Drogba, who started this season with an injury has been playing in fits and starts ever since being declared fit to play which was probably since late November, Carvalho has had sit out many games due hamstring injury, Ballack was out of the team at the beginning of the season and recently Joe Cole pulled out of the rest of season due to injury. Michael Essien is yet to make a return since the time he injured himself when playing for his country. Captain John Terry also had to take few games off due to back injury. Cynics might argue that injuries are part of the game – but losing key player’s game after game does not help a winning cause, moreover Scolari was not even given too many grants during the January transfer window and had to bring in Ricardo Quaresma on loan.
At the end of it all, anyone – player or coach should be given sufficient time to prove themselves and seven months is not at all close to being sufficient. Plus, the players also need to understand the coach. The coach and the players have to be allowed gel with each other. Abramovich has now sacked three coaches within a span of one and half years. How does he expect “anyone” for that matter to show convincing results? Jose Mourinho was sacked because he was playing too monotonously and his style of play wasn’t attractive enough for Abramovich. I still don’t know why Avram Grant was thrown away. I just guess it was because Chelsea could not bag any title in the last season and now Scolari has been sacked without allowing him even one complete season at the helm.
I am not the one who likes Manchester United or Alex Ferguson but I have to agree with him when he reacted at Scolari’s exit saying “The world has no patience”. Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have been with their respective teams since a decade, be it good times or bad. In the similar fashion I believe one of the past three coaches [including Scolari] should have been allowed to continue as the manager of Chelsea. If either Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger would have been fired based on one season’s performance, I doubt if Manchester United or Arsenal could have reached the heights that they have today.
The next coach of Chelsea better be ready to take over the team without any hopes of clinging to the manager’s post for far too long. He should know that his job is an insecure one, one which can be snatched without any reason and at anytime of the season, because success alone doesn’t guarantee a Chelsea manager’s job security, there are lots of other things that go into it, one of which is Roman Abramovich itself.
So one of the first headlines that I read earlier today was the firing of Chelsea’s manager Luiz Felipe Scolari from his job!!! It really came as a surprise to me. Just last night I remember visiting a particular sports website which I regularly visit for the Football updates and one of the headlines on the website was the sacking of Portsmouth’s manager Tony Adams and addressing him as No. 31. The 31st manager in the EPL to be sacked from his job. But there was absolutely no mention of Scolari being fired from his job, even as late as 10.00 pm in the night. So, imagine my surprise when I realized that Scolari was No. 32.
As a fan of EPL and also Chelsea in particular I was and still am a big supporter of Luiz Felipe Scolari. I have admired the skills and attacking attitude of Scolari since the time he coached Brazil to their World Cup victory in 2002. He followed it up with an impressive show with Portugal
in the next World Cup in 2006 where Portugal was eliminated in the semi-finals. The Euro 2008 campaign with Portugal was also pretty successful considering that Portugal was one among the final four. Scolari as a coach brings in a positive mentality into the team and has never been afraid of trying new things. He is one of those managers who keep pressing for more goals even after scoring a decisive first. He is not the one of those defensive types who tries to protect the lead than going in for the kill with more aggressive strategies. He is the 4-3-3 type than the usual 4-4-2.When he was announced as the successor of Avram Grant in the middle of Euro 2008, I was so excited and imagined good times ahead for Chelsea in the current season. He did start off impressively by not losing in the first eight games going neck to neck with Liverpool. Scolari tasted his first loss in Chelsea colors when Chelsea lost at home to Liverpool. It was also Chelsea’s first home loss since 86 games. Stamford Bridge which was considered to be fortress was breached for the first time since the past two seasons. A remarkable run coming to an end. Chelsea have since lost couple of more games at the Bridge and have dropped more points at home than away. His task wasn’t made any easier with key players having to be rested due to injuries. Drogba, who started this season with an injury has been playing in fits and starts ever since being declared fit to play which was probably since late November, Carvalho has had sit out many games due hamstring injury, Ballack was out of the team at the beginning of the season and recently Joe Cole pulled out of the rest of season due to injury. Michael Essien is yet to make a return since the time he injured himself when playing for his country. Captain John Terry also had to take few games off due to back injury. Cynics might argue that injuries are part of the game – but losing key player’s game after game does not help a winning cause, moreover Scolari was not even given too many grants during the January transfer window and had to bring in Ricardo Quaresma on loan.
At the end of it all, anyone – player or coach should be given sufficient time to prove themselves and seven months is not at all close to being sufficient. Plus, the players also need to understand the coach. The coach and the players have to be allowed gel with each other. Abramovich has now sacked three coaches within a span of one and half years. How does he expect “anyone” for that matter to show convincing results? Jose Mourinho was sacked because he was playing too monotonously and his style of play wasn’t attractive enough for Abramovich. I still don’t know why Avram Grant was thrown away. I just guess it was because Chelsea could not bag any title in the last season and now Scolari has been sacked without allowing him even one complete season at the helm.
I am not the one who likes Manchester United or Alex Ferguson but I have to agree with him when he reacted at Scolari’s exit saying “The world has no patience”. Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have been with their respective teams since a decade, be it good times or bad. In the similar fashion I believe one of the past three coaches [including Scolari] should have been allowed to continue as the manager of Chelsea. If either Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger would have been fired based on one season’s performance, I doubt if Manchester United or Arsenal could have reached the heights that they have today.
The next coach of Chelsea better be ready to take over the team without any hopes of clinging to the manager’s post for far too long. He should know that his job is an insecure one, one which can be snatched without any reason and at anytime of the season, because success alone doesn’t guarantee a Chelsea manager’s job security, there are lots of other things that go into it, one of which is Roman Abramovich itself.
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