Luiz Felipe Scolari defends his record at Chelsea
Former Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari has said that although his unconventional training methods weren't accepted at the club, he credits himself with improving the all-round game of several of the team's players.
Scolari took charge of Chelsea ahead of the 2008–09 season, but was sacked in February 2009 after a disappointing run of form in the Premier League.
Prior to the goalless draw with Hull City that preceded Scolari's exit, Chelsea had only four wins from 11 league games, and had slipped to fourth in the table after the draw.
"The board were worried because we hadn't beaten any of the big teams," Scolari told
FIFA.com about the reasons for his sacking. "I can understand that, but we were only two or three points off the lead."
Prior to the game against Hull, Scolari's team lost their league games against Manchester United and Arsenal, while failing to collect any points in their two encounters with Liverpool.
The 61-year-old claimed the club's senior players never afforded him their full confidence, adding that his training methods were foreign to English football and therefore not accepted by the club.
"My working methods were not the kind you'd usually associate with English football. In South America, we do a lot of work on the basics. When we have a whole week of training sessions, for example, we get the first-team players and the reserves together,
and that doesn't really happen over there. That was another of the reasons why I didn't stay."
The Brazilian cited language difficulties as another reason for his failure, but also said that he is proud to have witnessed several Chelsea players make progress in recent years.
In addition to helping left-back Ashley Cole train his right foot and improving striker Salomon Kalou's dribbling, the manager said his medical team helped Didier Drogba regain full fitness.
"And then there's Drogba, who had a serious knee injury, but is fine now thanks to the work I did, not just the club's doctors. I refused to let him play with an injury and I had problems with him because of that. But in 20 or 30 years' time, there'll be
two or three of [Chelsea's current players] who'll still be walking absolutely fine. They'll remember me then, for sure."
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