Luiz Felipe Scolari lays claim to making Chelsea great !
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I made Chelsea great! Luiz Felipe Scolari lays claim to the improvements of Drogba and Co
It was me: Luiz Felipe Scolari lasted just seven months at Stamford Bridge
Luiz Felipe Scolari insists Chelsea are reaping the rewards of his turbulent reign at Stamford Bridge. The Brazilian was axed by Blues owner Roman Abramovich in February last year - just seven months into his debut season in English football.
Scolari admits he found it impossible to work with some of the Chelsea players loyal to previous boss Jose Mourinho, but insists he should be thanked for the fine form of stars like Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole.
‘Look at (Nicolas) Anelka,’ he told FIFA.com. ‘He wasn’t getting a game and then all of a sudden he was Chelsea’s top scorer. Ashley Cole couldn’t use his right foot and later he even scored with it.
'All (Salomon) Kalou could do was run fast. He couldn’t dribble very well, so we taught him to dribble round poles. OK, I know they were only poles in the ground but it helped him to start dribbling round opponents, which is something he does now without any problem.
‘And then there’s Drogba, who had a serious knee injury but is fine now thanks to the work I did, not just the club’s doctors. I refused to let him play with an injury and I had problems with him because of that.
‘But in 20 or 30 years’ time, there’ll be two or three of them who’ll still be walking absolutely fine. They’ll remember me then, for sure.’
Improvements: Scolari claims he improved the careers of Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole
Scolari came to Stamford Bridge as a World Cup-winning coach with Brazil only to be sacked at great expense with more than three years left on his contract.
Chelsea players hit out at his training methods and the 61-year-old has previously singled out Drogba, Michael Ballack and Petr Cech as those who caused him the most trouble.
Now in charge of Brazilian giants Palmeiras and dreaming of leading his country on home soil at the 2014 World Cup, he insists he has no regrets.
But he admits: ‘There were one or two issues with some of the top players. That’s because I took a stance that other coaches wouldn’t have taken. I didn’t have total control.
Top man: Scolari wants to lead his country at the World Cup in 2014
‘There was this resistance to me, mainly because there were two or three players who tried to impose their authority in a way that wasn’t right.
‘I wanted them to get back to their best, not just for Chelsea but for the rest of their careers, and they couldn’t see that. They wanted to play every game.
‘My working methods were not the kind you’d usually associate with English football. In South America we do a lot of work on the basics.
‘When we have a whole week of training sessions, for example, we get the first-team players and the reserves together, and that doesn’t really happen over there.’
Despite being previously seen as a disciplinarian with a fierce reputation, Scolari struggled to assert his authority in England - in part because of his poor command of the language.
He now admits: ‘It would have been much easier for me (if there hadn’t been a language barrier).
‘You have to think hard about which words to use and that stops your thought processes. And even then it often comes out wrong.
‘If I’m talking in Portuguese though, I’ll say what I want to say and add a bit more if I feel like it. Then I’m done.’
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The only good player he signed was Bosingwa who was signed even before he came.
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and he was the only who dont fancy playing nicolas anelka.
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SCREW-Lari made Chelsea great alright..............a great laughing stock...........
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Scolari might have improved the gameplay for a few individuals (or so he claimed), it was Mourinho who laid the foundation for the structure and formation of the team play, which is 4-3-3. Managers who took over subsequently all found success retaining the formation and key players, including Ancellotti who had briefly experimented with his favorite diamond formation when he first took over, with less success.
This Chelsea team should go on to dominate the domestic league at least for the next 3 years. Their main problem now would be scouting for suitable replacements for Drogba and Anelka in the near future, which is no mean feat. The other departments look strong, especially the midfield.
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he is a winner at the reds