Buzzin Football

Chelsea touched down in Rome this week for their Champions League game with Roma. After checking in at the luxurious Cavalieri Hilton hotel on Monday, Luis Felipe Scolari expressed his desire to book the hotel for the last week of May as he expected Chelsea to be back in the Italian capital for the Champions League final. Based on last nights evidence a return to Rome seems a long way off.

After putting eight goals past Sunderland and Hull in their last two games, Chelsea would have been expected to beat opponents who had lost their previous five games. In reality Chelsea’s usually sound game plan of steam rolling the opposition was usurped by the effective counter attacking on display at the Olympic Stadium.

The second half brought more questions than answers. It brought Scolari no closer to solving the problem of how to play both Anelka and Drogba. The second half also highlighted the obvious need for a Chelsea plan B. After last nights problems, the journey home may be a long and arduous one for Scolari, however, it certainly wont be as arduous as the road to Champions League final for Chelsea if last night’s inept and toothless performance is anything to go on.

The overriding question left for football fans to ponder is how Chelsea will cope once the knockout stages begin. For all the flamboyance and exuberance brought with the Scolari regime, the efficiency and ruthlessness of the Mourinho era seems worryingly absent.

During these times of financial uncertainty and following the cost cutting culling of Chelsea’s scouts, I hope for Scolari’s and Abramovich’s sakes that the Cavalieri Hilton didn’t ask for too much of a deposit.