Having made his mark with the media on Tuesday, Luiz Felipe Scolari has also impressed his players this week, as Joe Cole reports.
The Brazilian is Cole's fourth Chelsea manager since he arrived at the club in the summer of 2003, and the winger readily admits it is an appointment that leaves him desperate to get out on to the pitch after the summer break.
'I'm getting a good vibe from him. It is early days but he seems very approachable and has a huge football pedigree,' Cole said of Scolari.
'I'm really excited to play for him, I'm chomping at the bit to get fit and out there. The way he sets his teams up, I've been waiting for it my entire career - a manager who wants to play the right way. I'm nearly 27 now, and have been waiting for someone like him to come along.
'He already has the respect of the boys and has settled in nicely. I think it's going to be happy days for everyone.'
As both an England player and fan, Cole is no stranger to Scolari's methods and the way he likes to play, having witnessed him mastermind England's exit from three consecutive tournaments between 2002 and 2006.
He has also been receiving information from Chelsea team-mates more familiar with the Brazilian's methods.
'From what I know about the way he set up Portugal and Brazil, and watching them play it was beautiful football, there are plenty of players who like to get the ball down, I'm so excited.
'I spoke to Paulo [Ferreira] about him and across the board, people who have played for him have a lot of respect for him and say what a good manager he is. That's a good sign, because normally whenever you speak to people about a manager you often get mixed opinions, but everybody seems very complimentary.'
The first few days of pre-season have seen the players getting to know their new coaching staff, and taking part in a series of physical tests and fitness-building runs. Despite the hard work, Cole is content to be back among his peers.
'It's nice to be back amongst it all, and starting a new season. Everyone is optimistic and it is exciting for Chelsea,' the winger said.
It has been an unusually prolonged break from action, with only England's friendly victory over the USA for Cole to contend with since the Champions League Final on 21 May.
He was able to take full advantage of the rest period, and believes it could prove beneficial for Chelsea in 2008/9.
'I went to Barbados, Las Vegas and Florida, and had a really good break. I had four weeks off of doing nothing, which is a long time for any footballer, but for an international it is an awful long time,' he reasoned.
'When you look at it that way you expect all the English players to hit the ground running in the season, so that's good news for Chelsea, but also teams like Man United who have a strong English core.'
Posts
.jpg)
1 comment:
I'm happy for Chelsea fans that they have a proper manager again. It seemed to me that after Mourinho was fired the players ran that team. We'll see if their appraoch to football changes though. Despite all the talk about beautiful football I don't think that Scolari is much different from Mourinho. I think they are both win-at-all-costs guys.
Post a Comment