Scolari calls for Chelsea improvement

Only 14 days into 2009 and Luiz Felipe Scolari is describing the FA Cup third-round replay away to Southend United FC tonight as Chelsea FC's game of the year. When last season's UEFA Champions League finalists and the third division side were pitted together in the draw the outcome looked a foregone conclusion. Following a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge in their first meeting and a crushing defeat by Manchester United FC on Sunday, it is looking anything but.

Tough times
"For Southend it is the game of the year and the same for us," said Scolari, who is desperate to arrest a slide that has seen Chelsea win just once in their past six games. Former manager José Mourinho was in the stands to witness the loss at Old Trafford, and though many of the players remain the same from his era, the performance could not have been more different. Morale is low and Scolari has concerns over the number of goals conceded from set-pieces, with the Brazilian set to switch from man-to-man to zonal marking to rectify the problem. "In the last three of four games we have lost many points by set plays, by mistakes," he said. "We need to change our system at set plays."

Old faces
The problems appear to run deeper than that. The summer arrivals of Deco and José Bosingwa aside, Chelsea have been quiet in the transfer market and have been selling not buying this month with Wayne Bridge moving to Manchester City FC. "This is a team that Chelsea built five years ago," Scolari said. He has not been helped by the fact that a key component of the club's success since then, Didier Drogba, has hardly featured this season and has just one Premier League goal to his name. In his absence Nicolas Anelka has picked up the slack with a Premier League-leading 14 goals, but they have dried up recently as the Frenchman and Drogba struggle to combine as a front pairing.

'Everything is possible'
Scolari's cause has been hampered by a string of injuries with the long-term absence of Michael Essien in particular keenly felt. The Brazilian, though, is demanding a show of strength from the stars he does have available as Chelsea look to put this poor run behind them. "In the last five games we played at 50 per cent of our potential, no more than this," he said. "We have not been happy with some of our games. The positive point is that we are still on course for the treble. We understand it's going to be massively difficult, but everything is possible."