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.’