Anelka cost me my job at chelsea-Scolari

Luiz Felipe Scolari has claimed that Nicolas
Anelka's refusal to play on the wing was the
primary reason for his sacking by Chelsea in
February 2009.
Scolari was dismissed by Roman Abaramovich
after just eight months in the job with Chelsea
fourth in the Premier League, and the club saying
in a statement that "the results and performances
of the team appeared to be deteriorating at a key
time in the season."
Chelsea remained in the Champions League and
FA Cup, but had exited the League Cup on
penalties to Burnley and failed to win any of their
six Premier League matches against Manchester
United, Arsenal and Liverpool, amid reports of
tensions with senior players and claims that
Scolari's poor grasp of English was undermining
his effectiveness.
Scolari, however, says that it was his unpopular
instruction for Anelka -- who had started the
season impressively as a No. 9 -- to play from
the left once Didier Drogba had returned from
nagging knee injuries that ultimately sealed his
fate.
"I had Anelka playing as centre-forward. Top
scorer in the league," Scolari told ESPN Brasil.
"The players return, I make a meeting, and in the
meeting I say: 'Look, now that the players have
all returned, Drogba is back after two months, we
will try to work a situation involving the two
strikers playing one by the side, one in the centre,
changing positions.'
"Then Anelka, the league's top scorer, who had
been a reserve all the time but had started
[during Drogba's absence] said: 'I do not play on
the wing.' Well, that's when I said: 'You don't
play on the wing, you are surplus, it's over. I'm
not going to stay here arguing with you guys. I'm
trying to come to an understanding and you are
unwilling.' And there began a series of other
things.
"I left there and our team was third in the league,
three or four points behind the top. Qualified for
the semifinals of the [FA] Cup and round of 16 or
quarterfinals of the Champions League. But there
was this bad environment, that situation.
"I don't know if I had continued what would have
happened. But it was interrupted. There, I got
upset."
On the suggestion that his limited English played
a role in his demise, Scolari added: "They'll say:
'Oh, because you didn't speak English perfectly.'
Of course, I did not. I didn't speak English
perfectly. But they understood me perfectly.
"We understood, with my English, and the English
that was spoken there, we understood perfectly."
Guus Hiddink was chosen as Scolari's interim
successor and led Chelsea to a third-place finish
in the Premier League and the brink of the
Champions League final before a controversial
defeat over two legs to Barcelona. He did,
however, claim silverware in the form of the 2009
FA Cup.
Scolari has not managed a European club since
Chelsea, his most high-profile job coming in the
form of a second spell in charge of Brazil heading
into the 2014 World Cup on home turf, where they
were humiliated 7-1 by eventual champions
Germany in the semifinals. He had previously
guided his country to World Cup glory in 2002.
ESPN FC's Spain correspondent Adriana Garcia
contributed to this story.