Hiddink to asks Phil for lowdown on Chelsea's rebel players
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Now fill me in, Scolari! Hiddink asks for lowdown on Chelsea's rebel players
Two jobs: Hiddink takes his Russia team through a training session and he will be heading to west London next week
Guus Hiddink will take the unusual step of consulting Luiz Felipe Scolari to discover the extent of Chelsea’s dressing room disunity before meeting the players in London tomorrow.
There was yet more evidence of unrest yesterday when it emerged that goalkeeping coach Christophe Lollichon faces a club fine for airing his views on the dismissal of Scolari.
The sacked Brazilian boss will no doubt tell new manager Hiddink he was undermined by Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and Petr Cech who, it has been alleged, delivered a damning verdict on Scolari when they spoke to Roman Abramovich at the training ground last week.When he was asked if he would speak to Scolari, new manager Hiddink said: ‘I haven’t done it yet but I will call him in the next day or two.’
Yesterday the players who have been implicated by skipper John Terry tried to distance themselves from Scolari’s sacking, with Ballack and Cech insisting they were not responsible. But Cech’s position was undermined by an interview Lollichon gave to a French radio station, when he said the club ‘had to react’ to their faltering position in the Barclays Premier League.Sportsmail understands the Chelsea hierarchy are furious with Lollichon for his outburst and will react accordingly.
Lollichon was at the centre of a dispute between Cech and Scolari that developed after the Brazilian brought in Carlos Pracidelli as his goalkeeping coach. Cech and Lollichon, who is seen as the keeper’s mentor having first worked with him at Rennes, resented the appointment.
The situation became so bad that Lollichon was banned from the dressing room for last weekend’s goalless draw with Hull City.
Scolari dispute: Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech had a dispute with former coach Scolari over the club's goalkeeping coach
Hiddink has experience of dysfunctional dressing rooms, never more so than when the morale of the Holland team disintegrated because of an extraordinary race row that blew up during Euro 96 and ended with Edgar Davids being sent home.
But Hiddink will still need to be at his diplomatic best when he discovers the rival factions that appear to be developing, not least in the wake of Terry’s astonishing comments while he has been on England duty in Seville. Terry said Scolari could only count on the support of ‘two or three players’ before admitting Chelsea’s stars had let the coach down.
Amazingly, Ballack dared to suggest that he was among the minority who supported Scolari. ‘It’s a shame because he had not been with us for a long time,’ Ballack told a German website yesterday.
‘Of course there was some criticism and we did not get the results we all would have wanted, but that is not the manager’s fault but the team’s. Something like this is always uncomfortable.’
The team's fault: Michael Ballack has claimed he supported Scolari and that it was the team's fault they did not get the results needed
Hiddink will be at Chelsea’s FA Cup tie at Watford on Saturday as an observer — Ray Wilkins will take temporary charge — before being officially unveiled next week ahead of what promises to be a fascinating Premier League clash at high-flying Aston Villa.
The appointment, as Chelsea confirmed yesterday, is for what remains of the season but there is already evidence to suggest Hiddink will continue as manager beyond the summer.
His move to Stamford Bridge has not been welcomed by Russian football officials and even Hiddink can envisage his temporary role becoming permanent.
‘There are two scenarios,’ he said. ‘If it goes bad and they say, "Go back east" or it goes well. But I’m not thinking that far.’ The response of the Russians could result in them telling him to stay in the west
Dream team: Hiddink with his friend and new boss Roman Abramovich
Former Manchester United and Everton winger Andrei Kanchelskis said: ‘To combine the two posts is wrong. It will inevitably be bad for the Russian national team. A serious manager should only concentrate on one team. Why didn’t Chelsea ask Fabio Capello to split his time between their club and England?’
Former Russian and USSR team manager Anatoli Byshovets also complained that his country would suffer following the decision of Chelsea owner Abramovich to recruit the Dutchman.
‘In combining the two jobs I see more negative than positive aspects,’ said Byshovets. ‘I know it from my own experience. I managed the Russian national team and Zenit St Petersburg at the same time.It was a complicated situation for me as I had to constantly switch my attention from one team to another. It was impossible to concentrate on achieving any specific goals. Any bad result of one team directly affected in a bad way the state of affairs in the other.’
He also complained of the power and influence Abramovich clearly has. ‘No Russian coach who worked with the national team previously was given so many privileges or enjoyed such special conditions as Hiddink does now,’ he said.
‘The Russian Football Union is effectively allowing him to neglect our national team by leaving it in the hands of his assistants.’ Hiddink insists he is simply acting out of loyalty to the man who already pays his wages with Russia.
‘Abramovich does so much for Russian football that I wanted to do something back,’ said the Dutchman. He said he would not, however, be rushing to appoint a right-hand man at the club. He needs his Russian assistants, Igor Korneev and Alexander Borodyuk, to run things in his absence from his national role. -
It could be gd for Chelski or it cud get worse... Either way, they need to get rid of a few deadweight in the summer like Drogba, Deco, Ballack and Malouda. And Cech himself has not shown the kind of form tat made him Best Goalkeeper in the past few seasons...
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Cech probably won;t leave.
I believe he was only mad with Scholari's goalkeeping coach, which probably caused him to concede quite a few defensive goals(especially the "POST DONT SCORE GOALS" stubborn reason by Scholari).
Even though Cech has suffered a dip in form... I believe he will bounce back :) Hes still 1 of the best keeper in the world.
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the blues the blues
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chelsea player die liao..
i heard hiddink very strict 1..
lol imagine bring a cane to the field