Scolari Not Better Than Avram Yet?

It’s been a bit of an up and down season for Chelsea so far – from the media’s point of view at least. Because while the vast majority of us must be over the moon with the sort of football Scolari’s given us, even at this early, unpolished stage, the press have continued to blow a little hot and cold, depending on the results at the time.

This week it seems that following the 5-0 drubbing we gave Sunderland, we seem to be flavour of the month again. However, Luiz Felipe Scolari refuses to get carried away with the hype and when asked whether he considers this year’s Chelsea to be better than the side the hapless Avram Grant led to last season’s Champions League final, the Chelsea boss says “Not yet, no.  We have played well but we … need to arrive in more finals and win more finals and maybe after this it is possible to say we are better.”

Chelsea might well be topping both the Premier League and their group in the Champions League right now, but Scolari insists “We are not the best. We are very good but there are other teams that play very well. I am not a man who would say ‘we are the best in the world’.”

Fair play to the man though, he’s got Chelsea in some pretty good form and managed to do it without several key players so far and he’s hopeful things could improve even more with a full-strength squad at his disposal. The optimistic Brazilian says “We have played some very good games, but we didn’t play well in one or two and paid the price for that. Every day in training we try to do something more than before. Maybe in the future I will have more options because we will have Essien, Ballack, Carvalho and Ashley Cole back, and that will be good for me.”

Although usually not one to moan about Chelsea’s injury situation, however ridiculous it’s seemed at times this season, Scolari says “I am not happy at the moment because I don’t have all the players at my disposal. When I have these players, it is better for me because I will work and decide who will play and who won’t. That is my job as a coach. I need to talk and explain to them who is playing or not playing. When I have these players it will be very good for me.”

Although for those who find themselves dropped all of a sudden, I’m sure it won’t be so good for them!