WILD, WILD WEEKEND

As everybody were beginning to concede the 2008-09 Barclays Premier League title to the defending champions Manchester United, suddenly a big turn around took place during the weekend as Chelsea and Liverpool moved closer to the Red Devils making it a close fight among the three clubs with about ten games to go in the season.

The Merseysiders crushed Manchester United, 4-1 last Saturday in an awesome display of firepower. It was the worst defeat for Sir Alex Ferguson and his boys at Old Trafford in recent years.

Man-U actually started strong taking an early 1-0 lead on a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty conversion in the 23rd minute courtesy of a Pepe Reina tackle on Park Ji-Sung. But Liverpool immediately went back to work as they leveled the count five minutes later on a Fernando Torres breakaway from Nemanja Vidic. The Reds finally took the lead on a Steven Gerrard penalty shot off a Patrice Evra foul a minute to go before halftime. Fabio Aurelio gave the Merseysiders a commanding 3-1 lead on a free kick in the 73rd minute after Vidic was given a straight red card on a hard foul on Gerrard. Andrea Dossena closed out the scoring for Liverpool with a last-minute goal to make it 4-1.

It was really a crushing defeat for Man-U as their home fans were completely stunned by the unexpected Liverpool romp. With the win, Liverpool now shares the second spot over-all in a tie with Chelsea with 61 points, which is now a manageable four points away from Man-U.

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Over in Stamford Bridge, legendary mentor Guus Hiddink remains unbeaten with four straight victories for Chelsea as the Blues nosed out Manchester City, 1-0 last Sunday.

Michael Essien scored the only goal of the match in the 17th minute. Actually, Chelsea could have gone ahead as early as the first minute but the referee ruled Frank Lampard’s conversion an offside. Essien’s performance was seen as an encore of his heroics against Juventus during their Champion’s League match last week.

The pressure now is on Manchester United as both Chelsea and Liverpool closes in. Pundits are now expecting a one heck on a season finish with the title race now widely opened among the three clubs.

IS IT REALLY THE GAFFER OR THE SWELLHEADS?

Many were wondering why top-caliber mentor Luiz Felipe Scolari was fired by Chelsea despite leading the blues to the final 16 of the UEFA Champions League and is currently behind by seven points to Premier League pacesetters and arch rivals Manchester United, which is still manageable with 13 games left in their 2008-09 season.

Scolari’s replacement is current Russian National coach Guus Hiddink. Hiddink will be the third highly-profiled guru to handle the Stamford Bridge outfit in three years (after Jose Mourinho and Scolari). It seems that every coach, no matter how good and successful he is, will find himself in a very precarious situation at Chelsea. Mourinho, who piloted Chelsea to back-to-back EPL crowns, thought he had a steady job with the team, but alas, he was dismissed by team owner billionaire Roman Abramovich during the early part of last season. Next came Avram Grant, who temporarily took the cudgels from the fired Mourinho and led the club to a runner-up finish in last year’s UEFA Champions League. But like Mourinho, Grant was given his pink slip shortly after the 2008 campaign. The highly respected Scolari lasted only 25 matches with Chelsea and not even his successful international success can save him at Stamford Bridge. There were talks that some of the Chelsea stars resented the hard training regimen being imposed by Scolari and did not give their all-out performances resulting into Chelsea’s poor showing lately and Scolari’s head in return.

Maybe it is high time that Abramovich should take a close look into his spoiled brat stars like John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole. Their collective influence to the team’s other players are very strong. Hiddink, before he formally takes over the club, must sit down with Abramovich and the so-called “swellheads” and lay all his cards out on the table. He should make it clear who is in total control of Chelsea and Abramovich must likewise give his vote of confidence to Hiddink. If not, do not expect Hiddink to last that long with the once-proud London club.

UEFA CL PHOTO TRIBUTE: FINAL SIXTEEN

SCOLARI CLEARS THE AIR

Chelsea mentor Luiz Felipe Scolari did not expect that his first season at Stamford Bridge would be stormy. Losing the leadership board in the Premier league, talks of player revolt and a poor showing lately had made the Brazilian maestro the favorite target of the hard-hitting British media.

After dominating early in the EPL, the blues suddenly found themselves running second to Liverpool with 42 points and three points behind the reds in the over-all standings no thanks to an on-and-off form in their last six outings which saw them win twice, drew thrice and lost once. The speculation that everything is not good at the Chelsea camp even grew wilder with the news that the veterans of the squad led by John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole are not happy with the way Scolari is running the club. Then came the 1-all standoff with non-league club Southend in the FA Cup. But despite the seemingly never-ending woes that had hit Chelsea lately, Scolari had remain unfazed by all the bizarre happenings.

In an interview with renown football writer Henry Winter, Scolari finally opened up and bare his soul on the current issues with Chelsea:

"The players love me because I never, never say: 'You are wrong'. It is our mistake. The players love me because I defend them every day and I give my best for them every day. My players don't come into my office and say: 'I love you'.

But I feel my relationship with my players. Every day, in your house, your son does not come and say: 'I love you'. Every day, your wife does not come and say: 'I love you'.

No. You know she loves you. You know your son loves you. I know the players love me because we've had situations where it is possible to help them. In the training in the last three or four days there was a fantastic team spirit. Very, very good training -- different than before.

This season we have made mistakes at corner kicks three or four times. I accept one or two. Four? No. We need training so we don't make more mistakes. All the coaches in the world do this but at Chelsea, if you have one meeting, it's a terrible situation. I'm not here to fight against Jose. Why think about records? I think about winning the Champions League, Premier League or FA Cup."

So there goes Scolari, still in high spirits and full of fight in his battle for survival with the proud Chelsea Football Club.