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Hamlet always had a trick up his sleeve to exacting revenge against evil Uncle Claudius who slayed Hamlet's father in the Shakespearian play. Feigning madness and creating that false disposition unnerved his opponent.
It is therefore a shame that Luiz Felipe Scolari has not found the permanent solution to his evolving problems he is constantly enduring at Chelsea.
SW6 is becoming more of a Fawlty Towers farce at the moment, with Manuel-like characters creating hap-hazard chaos in full view of their boss, who has even less control, or seemingly less passion and persona than Basil Fawlty, to deal with such stress. Even employing Alan Partridge to sort out Chelsea doesn't look a bad idea at the moment, as surely even he cannot be any worse than Scolari.
Chelsea's recent form has been non-existent in a positive sense. Three wins in their past nine league matches represents a far worse run than the one Jose Mourinho was removed by "mutual consent" for in September 2007 (three matches, two draws and one defeat) by impatient owner, Roman Abramovich. One wonders whether that if Abramovich can relinquish the duties of a hero who won six trophies at Stamford Bridge in just over three years, as to exactly how long Scolari has in the job with no trophies as yet and poor form simultaneously.
Yesterday's desperate display against Stoke City, still represented an improvement from the one against Manchester United last Sunday and so it should. Sufficient tinkering against a markedly inferior side intent on producing a five man midfield to deny Chelsea width in West London eventually paid dividends. Removal of the out-of-sorts Didier Drogba and Deco vastly improved the side, with the egotistical deadwood shipped out to sulk in the reserves.
But for all of Scolari's Rafa Benitez and Claudio Ranieri-esque tinkerman application, Chelsea lacked application themselves against Stoke. They have become too easily found-out after a frenetic first three months in the Premier League. Jose Bosingwa's marauding wing-back runs have been extinguished in recent weeks, with the Portuguese ever reliant on cutting inside rather than taking on his opponent which had been common place earlier in the campaign.
Whilst zonal marking at the back has lead to catastrophes Mourinho would surely simply rectify by deploying men on the posts and by not marking zonally. Zonal marking requires the defence to meet and attack the ball and clear it. Chelsea stand and stare and prefer to allow their opponent to sneak in for an easy headed goal. Man marking meanwhile, if done properly, does exactly what it says on the tin. Unspectacular, but efficient. It is not difficult Mr Scolari and players.
Stoke came to Stamford Bridge and almost got their reward in the second minute through slack defending and then capitalised in the second half through sluggish defending from Alex and Ricardo Carvalho to allow James Beattie and Rory Delap to move past them at a snails pace before the latter dinked a shot over Petr Cech for 1-0. Admittedly John Terry's absence lead to defensive frailty, but players of Alex and Carvalho's ability need to combat more fervently to remove such inadequacies.
Thankfully however Scolari's second half substitute brainstorm proved he might just have some sort of Plan B; for the moment at least. The blooding of striker Franco Di Santo and winger Michael Stoch proved potent and both soon caused chaos. Di Santo's cross found Juliano Belletti to head in the equaliser and Stoch's involvement in the second goal was crucial, with his dangerous cross eventually cleared back to Frank Lampard's path for him to drive home an emphatic injury time winner.
But not every opponent will be Stoke and while thanks go to substitute Belletti (another wise choice from Scolari and one of the first substitutions he has made who has made an impact this season) and Lampard and company for their determination and team spirit, tougher opponents including Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool will prove mightily more difficult for Scolari to overcome. Seeing as how the Brazilian manager has yet to defeat any of the remaining "Big Four", one wonders whether Chelsea can become title challengers if they cannot either beat their nearest rivals, or gain a consistent run of form in the process against the lesser-weights.
Chelsea had a Plan B under Mourinho. Drogba's strength and ability to hold the ball up-front and anchor the side between midfield and attack and flick on for players including Lampard, Damien Duff, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Arjen Robben provided the Blues with a rescue plan. In return it brought goals and trophies. Scolari needs to adopt a similar strategy.
More worryingly despite Chelsea's third place in the league at time of writing, Scolari's league record before Stoke City represented the worst league campaign in terms of points (42) recorded since 2002/3 under Ranieri and pre-Roman Abramovich. Despite his initial entertaining football and supreme away record, both have become dented by teams exploiting neglegent defending, a lack of width and careless egos insufficiently managed by Scolari.
Hopefully this win, like the toppling of Southend in midweek, may prove to be a turning point for Scolari. But his lack of ideas and reliance upon the stalwart mainstays, Cech, Terry and Lampard to dig Chelsea out of an ever widening hole has resulted in desperation.
It is all very well playing like Arsenal at times, with a plethora of possession and passing perfectly and incessantly between the midfield, but if there is no end product as Arsene Wenger's side knows, then there are no goals, no wins and no trophies for nearly five years.
Somehow Scolari needs to resolve his squad's humbling home form and quickly. Chelsea's five wins from 11 home league matches is worse than any of their previous campaigns under Ranieri and Mourinho and even Avram Grant, who looked like a mesmeric winner in comparison.
Although, the Stoke win will go a long way to giving Chelsea spirit and determination that they can become a force again at home. But how often will he and his players receive the get-out-of-jail-free card that Stoke handed them once Tony Pulis' side had tired after 87 minutes of heroic defending?
Albeit Chelsea did create chances in the first half on Saturday and were unlucky not to take them. But worryingly Nicolas Anelka again seems to have resorted to missing them, with his purple patch of November a distant memory and Salomon Kalou's erratic shooting needing desperate target practice.
Better players, better width, better defending and better tactics from Scolari are required. Otherwise Chelsea might feel the same painful death Emperor Claudius of Denmark felt in Hamlet after being struck by Hamlet's poisoned sword. One feels Scolari might be axed rather than slain if results continue to disappoint.
