Scolari needs to change formation

Listen up: Luiz Felipe Scolari should be prepared to change his formation says Scott Minto

After a fantastic start to the season, the wheels have come off a little for Chelsea.

A lot of fans are asking what's happened to the team who were demolishing sides with ease in the early part of the season but are now struggling to qualify for the Champions League and have lost two games at 'fortress' Stamford Bridge in the League.

Luiz Felipe Scolari has enchanted everyone with entertaining football. But this is his first big test at the club, as he knows he can't afford to let this form continue.

So, despite being incredibly successful for the last few years using a 4-3-3 formation, I would like to see Scolari play 4-4-2 after Didier Drogba's three-match ban finishes.

It would be incredibly harsh to drop Nicolas Anelka as he's the Premier League's top scorer. This way you could accommodate the two and unleash them onto terrified defences.

The midfield could be set up as a diamond with John Obi Mikel at the base, Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack either side and either Deco or Joe Cole just behind the front two.

One of the keys for Scolari is to get Drogba out on the pitch. Sadly, he is still serving a suspension and won't play at Bolton tomorrow but, on his day, is as good as any striker.

But he has not been able to make up for what happened in the Champions League Final back in May when he was sent off.

He should definitely be thinking that he owes Chelsea, so to hear reports of a possible meeting with representatives of Inter Milan is disconcerting to say the least.

Drogba is a man who needs to feel loved and to think that he is one of the players who the team revolves around. With injuries, suspension and Anelka's form, perhaps he feels slightly unwanted at the moment.

His contract is up in 2010 so the club have to make a decision soon. Chelsea don't have strength in depth up front. This makes it even more imperative that Drogba stays, at least until the summer.

But Didier Drogba sitting on the bench for a long period of time might not be good for the team.

The fans know that every team goes through a bad patch and Chelsea are going through theirs without Drogba.

But with Manchester United closing in and Liverpool now at the top, Scolari might soon realise that if he can't change the game from the bench, he might have to change the starting formation.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in