There has obviously been a lot in the UK media recently about Chelsea's management after the dismissal of Luiz Felipe Scolari and the subsequent hiring of Guus Hiddink. As I continue to read articles in favor of or against Scolari, it makes me wonder about the expectations that go along with a job that massive.
Clubs like Real Madrid in Spain, or even the New York Yankees in Major League Baseball, spend so much money that the only expectations they can meet is immediate - either win now or be replaced. Apparently Chelsea is also now in that exclusive club.
Scolari mentioned in this Reuters interview http://football.uk.reuters.com/premiership/news/LD152601.php that he was lacking a difference maker on the pitch - a player who can run at defenders and take them on to create scoring chances. While attending the Manchester United 3-0 thrashing of Chelsea last month, I also thought it was strange that Scolari opted to play with five midfielders, one striker (Drogba) and really no attacking support on the flanks. Knowing that he had Abromovich at his disposal, and that he was given free reign to purchase whomever he wanted - he was able to buy up the likes of Deco, Quaresma or Bosingwa while at the reigns of Chelsea- it leads me to believe that maybe Scolari's demise was less about not being able to have the right players at his disposal, and more about the expectations being too great for him to manage.
As the national team manager of arguably the most colorful countries in South America (Brazil) and Europe (Portugal), he had the most creative players in the world at his disposal. It was less about coaching players, but rather managing them in preparation for a tournament. It is certainly unfortunate that Scolari was not given more time to make his imprint at Chelsea, but given the fact that he was able to spend as much money as he needed to put together the team of his choice, he must have understood that with those amazing benefits were tremendous responsibilities - maybe Abromovich is unrealistic and unreasonable to think that any manager could put together a team to compete at this level in only 7 months, but if that was the case, Scolari shouldn't have accepted a position with this kind of responsibility.
I worry in some regards about one of my favorite players from the past - Mark Hughes - and his ability to meet the expectations that go along with the spending spree taking place at Manchester City. Where I worry in some cases, I also know that he is financially secure in his massive salary to deal with whatever road his team (and his chairman, board and ownership) take him down.
I know that there were also questions within the team about Scolari's training methods - putting together a training rhythm for a marathon-like EPL season is much different than a sprint-like tournament you find in a World Cup or European Championships. I know while I was over there last month, there was a lot of talk about how light the training sessions were - which is not uncommon to find while you are preparing/competing in a tournament, where you are trying to pace yourself and keep your players fresh over a very short duration of time. There were also questions about their ability to practice or prepare for defending set pieces. At the game I attended, there was certainly support to that- United scored twice on corner kicks (one being disallowed) and on a service off of a free kick. I'm not there in training every day - and I always tend to be sensitive to the manager from the standpoint that unless you are on the training pitch or in the locker room, it is hard to be critical about what a manger does or doesn't do - but they certainly looked a little disoriented on defending restarts.
I have been happy to see players like Ballack or Kalou taking some of the responsibility - it certainly seems easier to fire one manager than to fire 11 players - which is unfortunate...ultimately, Scolari can't play for his players. Perhaps if there were more key players who were willing to share some of that responsibility, maybe Scolari would still be at the helm.
Was Scolari treated unfairly? Respond back and let me know your thoughts.
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