Deco enjoys dream debut as Scolari’s Chelsea make impressive start

Chelsea 4-0 Portsmouth

Former Portugal boss Luis Felipe Scolari got his new career at Chelsea off to the best possible start, as his team crushed Portsmouth 4-0 at Stamford Bridge.

In his first competitive game since the Euro 2008 quarter final loss to Germany, Scolari fielded a strong team that played with an attacking mentality and gave debuts to Portuguese stars Jose Bosingwa and Deco.

Deco was instrumental in the sides’ impressive display, earning himself the man-of-the-match award and topping an impressive debut with his side’s fourth goal from 25 yards out.

The 10m euro signing from Barcelona in the summer started the game with fellow attacking midfielders Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack and perhaps Scolari was showing his intended formation for the season with his team selection.

Deco master class

The former Barcelona and Porto midfielder hardly misplaced a pass all afternoon and the fans and pundits seemed to take a shine to him in his first competitive outing for the Blues.

Scolari thus sent out a message to the rest of the Premier League, that his team will not sit back and have the ability to take anyone apart on the day.

Joe Cole opened the scoring on twelve minutes, and when Deco miss hit Bosingwa’s cross it was Nicolas Anelka who benefited with an easy header into the open net to make it 2-0.

A Frank Lampard penalty made it 3-0 going into the interval, but rather than sit back and get complacent on the lead Scolari’s side pushed on in the second half always looking for another goal.

Ricardo Carvalho started in centre defence and fellow Portuguese international Paulo Ferreira made a brief substitute appearance towards the end of the match.

Chelsea’s superior goal difference means they are top of the league after the opening round of matches, earning an early psychological advantage over bitter rivals Manchester United who could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Newcastle United.

Scolari will be looking for his team to improve on last season’s performance which saw them go close in both the league and Champions League, and with performances like this afternoon’s Chelsea must be a good bet to pick up silverware at the end of the season.

Chelsea:
Cech, Bosingwa (Ferreira 83), Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Ballack (Malouda 38), Lampard, Obi, Deco, Joe Cole (Wright-Phillips 78), Anelka

Portsmouth:
James, Kaboul, Campbell, Distin, Hreidarsson, Johnson, Diarra (Mvuemba 68), Diop, Kranjcar (Thomas 73), Defoe, Crouch
Yellow Card: James

Goals:
[1-0] Joe Cole, 12
[2-0] Anelka 26
[3-0] Lampard, 45 (pen)
[4-0] Deco, 89