Scolari Blusters As Southend Show No Fear of Chelsea
Southend's stoppage-time equalizer again exposed Luiz Felipe Scolari's tactical mistakes and the Blues' weakness at home
The most shocking thing about this result, perhaps, is that it was not a shock. Despite the gigantic disparity in wealth and status between the Premier League aristocrats and the League One interlopers, Chelsea's curious impotence at Stamford Bridge, where this season they have laboured in the league and lost to Burnley in the Carling Cup, meant many saw this result coming. Certainly Southend's players, like their 6,000 fans who brought increasingly rare levity and volume to the stadium formerly known as a fortress, traveled with an optimism that attested to their hosts' recent tribulations.
"No disrespect to them but they've been stuttering at home recently so we thought that if we come here and keep them quiet, or at least don't let them score early on, their fans would get a bit restless and it would work in our favor," explained the Southend goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall. "That's how it turned out. We know what it's like because in the first round we struggled to get past a non-League side [Telford] when we were expected to win easily but were taken to a replay."
Empathy from Southend was not what Luiz Felipe Scolari needed from this match. Following a week in which he had earnestly pooh-poohed reports of dressing-room discontent and pleaded for patience from fans pining for the ruthless efficiency of Jose Mourinho's heyday, the Brazilian yearned for an emphatic victory. His starting line-up reflected that requirement as the manager recanted his pledge to blood youngsters such as Michael Mancienne and instead fielded a side that, with the exception of the deliberate omissions of Petr Cech and Nicolas Anelka, was as close to full-strength as injuries and suspensions permitted.
It looked at first that Scolari's wish would be granted as his team tore into visitors who, for all their diligence and discipline, seemed dangerously out of their depth. After the first 20 minutes, in which Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Joe Cole and Ashley Cole were all presented with explicit invitations to score, it seemed highly unlikely that the Southend centre-back Peter Clarke would later be allowed to celebrate his 27th birthday by helping himself to a last-minute equaliser.
In an only recently bygone era that scenario would have been reclassified as an impossibility as soon as Salomon Kalou profited from uncharacteristically shoddy Southend defending to head a Lampard corner into the net on 31 minutes.
The Southend manager, Steve Tilson, however, was obviously aware of even more recent history and resolved that a one-goal deficit was still retrievable so he sought to maintain that scoreline by ordering one of his two strikers, Alex Revell, backwards to condense midfield. It is a ploy that has worked for Chelsea's opponents too frequently for Scolari's liking yet countering it still appears beyond the Brazilian and his charges. Rather than serve as a knockout punch to Southend, the goal and Southend's subsequent reshuffle sent Chelsea into a daze and the hosts fumbled through uninspired motions for the remainder of the first half. And, to the audible consternation of the jittery home crowd, most of the second period too.
Joe Cole twice trotted to the sidelines for instructions from Scolari and as time ticked down Drogba sought to find space by removing himself to the left wing only for the manager to order him back to the center. Yet Chelsea remained bereft of creativity and penetration. Scolari insisted afterwards that the answer lies in more training rather than in the transfer market. "I have strikers and I don't expect to work with any players other than the ones I have now," he said. "When I arrived I asked the club for only one player — Deco."
Deco was missing and so too was John Terry, in whose absence Southend exposed yet another Chelsea frailty. In the 85th minute Johnny Herd hoisted a high ball into the box and Clarke out jumped the defenders and goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini to loop a header on to the bar. Then, in the 90th minute, Herd flung in a long throw-in that Ricardo Carvahlo could only head backwards to Clarke, who nodded into the net from five yards. Again Scolari insisted there was no problem. "So we missed one header, but we won the other 99," he said. Others did no agree with that calculation. "They did look a bit vulnerable in the air," said Tilson. "With that in mind we went for the long throw and we scored. They missed Terry at the back, he's a leader and wins things in the air, there's no doubt about that. Everyone can see that."
There was still time after Clarke's goal to ensure most of the focus remained on Chelsea's shortcomings at the other end. In a frantic final few seconds, Lampard lashed in a cross to the substitute Franco Di Santo, who met it firmly with his head five yards from goal. Mildenhall prevented a reprieve for the home side by plunging to his right and acrobatically turning the ball away with one hand.
"Lampard told me afterwards it was a good save," said Mildenhall. "He popped into the dressing room too and gave the lads a couple of jerseys they'd asked for. Premier League players are made out to be monsters, but the Chelsea lads were gentlemen to us and very gracious despite the pressure they must be under." Yes, times have changed since the Mourinho reign.
Man of the match Steve Mildenhall (Southend)
Chelsea's wayward shooting meant the goalkeeper had only a few saves to make but he did need to be commanding to claim set-pieces and regular long balls towards Didier Drogba.
Best moment: His acrobatic one-handed save from Franco Di Santo in the dying seconds kept his team's FA Cup dream alive.
"No disrespect to them but they've been stuttering at home recently so we thought that if we come here and keep them quiet, or at least don't let them score early on, their fans would get a bit restless and it would work in our favor," explained the Southend goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall. "That's how it turned out. We know what it's like because in the first round we struggled to get past a non-League side [Telford] when we were expected to win easily but were taken to a replay."
Empathy from Southend was not what Luiz Felipe Scolari needed from this match. Following a week in which he had earnestly pooh-poohed reports of dressing-room discontent and pleaded for patience from fans pining for the ruthless efficiency of Jose Mourinho's heyday, the Brazilian yearned for an emphatic victory. His starting line-up reflected that requirement as the manager recanted his pledge to blood youngsters such as Michael Mancienne and instead fielded a side that, with the exception of the deliberate omissions of Petr Cech and Nicolas Anelka, was as close to full-strength as injuries and suspensions permitted.
It looked at first that Scolari's wish would be granted as his team tore into visitors who, for all their diligence and discipline, seemed dangerously out of their depth. After the first 20 minutes, in which Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Joe Cole and Ashley Cole were all presented with explicit invitations to score, it seemed highly unlikely that the Southend centre-back Peter Clarke would later be allowed to celebrate his 27th birthday by helping himself to a last-minute equaliser.
In an only recently bygone era that scenario would have been reclassified as an impossibility as soon as Salomon Kalou profited from uncharacteristically shoddy Southend defending to head a Lampard corner into the net on 31 minutes.
The Southend manager, Steve Tilson, however, was obviously aware of even more recent history and resolved that a one-goal deficit was still retrievable so he sought to maintain that scoreline by ordering one of his two strikers, Alex Revell, backwards to condense midfield. It is a ploy that has worked for Chelsea's opponents too frequently for Scolari's liking yet countering it still appears beyond the Brazilian and his charges. Rather than serve as a knockout punch to Southend, the goal and Southend's subsequent reshuffle sent Chelsea into a daze and the hosts fumbled through uninspired motions for the remainder of the first half. And, to the audible consternation of the jittery home crowd, most of the second period too.
Joe Cole twice trotted to the sidelines for instructions from Scolari and as time ticked down Drogba sought to find space by removing himself to the left wing only for the manager to order him back to the center. Yet Chelsea remained bereft of creativity and penetration. Scolari insisted afterwards that the answer lies in more training rather than in the transfer market. "I have strikers and I don't expect to work with any players other than the ones I have now," he said. "When I arrived I asked the club for only one player — Deco."
Deco was missing and so too was John Terry, in whose absence Southend exposed yet another Chelsea frailty. In the 85th minute Johnny Herd hoisted a high ball into the box and Clarke out jumped the defenders and goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini to loop a header on to the bar. Then, in the 90th minute, Herd flung in a long throw-in that Ricardo Carvahlo could only head backwards to Clarke, who nodded into the net from five yards. Again Scolari insisted there was no problem. "So we missed one header, but we won the other 99," he said. Others did no agree with that calculation. "They did look a bit vulnerable in the air," said Tilson. "With that in mind we went for the long throw and we scored. They missed Terry at the back, he's a leader and wins things in the air, there's no doubt about that. Everyone can see that."
There was still time after Clarke's goal to ensure most of the focus remained on Chelsea's shortcomings at the other end. In a frantic final few seconds, Lampard lashed in a cross to the substitute Franco Di Santo, who met it firmly with his head five yards from goal. Mildenhall prevented a reprieve for the home side by plunging to his right and acrobatically turning the ball away with one hand.
"Lampard told me afterwards it was a good save," said Mildenhall. "He popped into the dressing room too and gave the lads a couple of jerseys they'd asked for. Premier League players are made out to be monsters, but the Chelsea lads were gentlemen to us and very gracious despite the pressure they must be under." Yes, times have changed since the Mourinho reign.
Man of the match Steve Mildenhall (Southend)
Chelsea's wayward shooting meant the goalkeeper had only a few saves to make but he did need to be commanding to claim set-pieces and regular long balls towards Didier Drogba.
Best moment: His acrobatic one-handed save from Franco Di Santo in the dying seconds kept his team's FA Cup dream alive.
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