Graphic: blues brother not performing

Were it not for the small matter of a World Cup triumph, it would be tempting to accept Leo “The Lip” Durocher’s old line that nice guys finish last. Luiz Felipe Scolari came across as a decent man ill at ease with the cut-throat nature of the modern game as he discussed Chelsea’s rapidly disintegrating season at the club’s training ground yesterday, admitting his mistakes and expressing bewilderment at those of his players. Who else in the Barclays Premier League speaks with such honesty?

Until recently, Chelsea’s players valued such plain speaking, regarding their manager as a friend whose door was always open, but they may change their minds if they flick through the newspapers on the coach to this evening’s FA Cup third-round replay away to Southend United. Some things are best left unsaid. Scolari has risked further destabilising a dressing-room that is already sceptical about some of his methods in uttering the self-evident truths that Chelsea’s recent performances are not those of a side ready to be showered in silverware and that certain individuals are offering only a small fraction of their true ability.

Coming from anyone else, Scolari’s words would be viewed as a calculated attempt to lift his players from their torpor, but the Chelsea manager has little time for artifice. Rather, the Brazilian is tired of defending the indefensible and is happy to accept that all members of his first-team squad, himself included, are responsible for the worst run of results in the club’s recent history. Most managers accept the blame as a diversionary tactic or shift it on to the players in an attempt to shake them into line, but Scolari has done both.

Such unusual honesty is still a gamble, however, because many of Chelsea’s players will not have been subjected to such public criticism and are unlikely to take it well. In addition, a guessing game over the biggest culprits has already begun in earnest — Deco, Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda being the worst offenders in the eyes of most observers — with more clues to be provided at Roots Hall this evening.

Deco has absented himself with a thigh problem, while Scolari is considering dropping Drogba after his non-performance against Manchester United on Sunday.

“I have looked at many games with Anelka and I have looked at the last few games with Didier,” Scolari said. “I have my opinion and I will put my opinion on the pitch every game.

“If I have given players only one chance, then maybe some will complain that they have only had one opportunity. But when I have given four or five chances, there is no room for questions. It is my decision to play this or that player.”

Scolari admitted that some significant restructuring is necessary, which does not say much for the complex and expensive transfer network overseen by Peter Kenyon, the chief executive.

Chelsea’s past dozen signings since Ashley Cole arrived 2½ years ago have made little impact, with the possible exception of Anelka and José Bosingwa. Scolari would be on surer ground if the one player he has brought in, Deco, had not performed so poorly.

“This is a team that Chelsea built four or five years ago and in this season we receive only two new players, Bosingwa and Deco,” Scolari said. “This is a team that many coaches built before I arrived with these two players. It’s a team that was built before and was in good condition until now. I don’t want players, but maybe some clubs want to buy some players from us.”

Chelsea should not have to be at their best to beat a side fourteenth in Coca-Cola League One tonight, although a poor attitude could leave them open to punishment.

“For Southend, it’s the game of the year,” Scolari said. “If our spirit is not the same as Southend, we will lose. But if we have the same spirit, if we think the FA Cup is beautiful, we will be OK.”

Avram Grant uttered similar sentiments before last season’s Cup quarter-final defeat away to Barnsley that sealed his fate, which serves as another warning for Scolari. After witnessing the humiliating exit at Oakwell, Chelsea’s board concluded that Grant lacked the winning mentality to maintain the high standards set by José Mourinho.

Like “The Lip”, one of the most successful managers in baseball history, few would mistake Mourinho for a nice guy.