GUANGZHOU, China (AFP) - Luiz Felipe Scolari refused to be drawn into a war of words with Manchester United's Alex Ferguson over the age of his squad, but insisted Chelsea's experience could win them the Premiership.
Scolari sidestepped Ferguson's verbal salvo after seeing both youngsters and veterans star in the 4-0 win over Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, his first match in charge.
"I don't answer this question," he said. "Sorry, but this is not a question for me."
But Scolari said Chelsea had both youth and experience with Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard and Deco lining up alongside John Mikel Obi and Salomon Kalou.
"I think that I have players with experience and I have some young boys in my team," he said.
"But you know with my team that we have enough experience for the Premier League."
The straight-talking coach was expected to come out swinging after Ferguson kicked off the pre-season mind games by suggesting there was little room for improvement in the Chelsea squad.
"It's hard to see where there's going to be a big improvement with a team that's really very experienced," Ferguson said.
But Scolari, who came up through the ranks of South American football before winning the World Cup with Brazil, swatted aside the salvo and calmly suggested he was under no more pressure than any other coach.
The 59-year-old is Chelsea's third manager in the past year after Avram Grant was axed despite reaching the club's first Champions League final.
Jose Mourinho, who assembled much of the current team, left under a cloud last September after delivering six trophies in three years and remaining unbeaten in home league matches.
"I have the same pressure that any other coach has in the world -- it's normal," Scolari said.
"For me it's no different than the other teams I have coached, the clubs and national teams."
Lampard netted a spectacular lob and Argentine teen Franco Di Santo scored on his debut as the Scolari era got off to the perfect start in front of 30,000 fans here.
Kalou pounced in the first half and Shaun Wright-Phillips was on target late on to complete a rousing win.
New signing Deco lasted just over an hour but there was concern for fellow Portuguese Jose Bosingwa, who went off with a thigh problem after 20 minutes.
"It's always good to win the first match, even if it doesn't matter very much," Scolari said.
"The team was relaxed, we had some problems physically but nothing we can't sort out."
Chelsea play in Macau on Saturday before heading to Malaysia and then to Russia for the Railways Cup tournament.
Comment 1 - 11 of 11
HAHA COMMENT no 10, Fergies lack of ambition LMAO. Why would u want a new challenge when uve won everything under the sun that there is in club football? Scolari has not achieved jack in club football. International teams and club teams are so different its not funny. Club teams are 24/7 management, international is like 2 week training break for 1 month etc... SIR ALEX is not scared of Scolari its called mind games. If im not mistaken SA is the undisputed king of mind games, the only person who got the better of him was Mourinho. Mind games try to unsettle the players at the other club very rarely does it affect the manager cause they are the ones doing the mindgames.
Alex Ferguson is scared of Scolari and so wants to unsettle him by making ming-bugging comments. But the Big Fil is a more matured and experienced coach than Ferguson, who has not encountered any pressure in his coaching life. Scolari had encountered pressures both on national and club fronts. So he knows all tactics fellow coaches use to unsettle their counterparts. That is why I love Arsene Wenger. He is a "let's do it" manager - one-on-one, no politics - and not the type to use crook means to disstabilise other coaches in order to have his way. No, Wenger is not Alex's type. My message to Alex Fegurson is that he should keep quiet and plan how to defend his titles. He should not be scared at the instance of Filipe Scolari. After all it's the players that will do the job and not himself.
So whats fergie saying that Manure were held to the wire on 2 fronts last season by a bunch of pensioners? Running scared or knows Manures reign is over!
Fergie has showed a lack of ambition by staying at the same club for a quarter of a century Big Phil has managed Brazil but now he has gone on to manage an even bigger club with Chelsea now thats ambition Fergie can stay with SCUMCHESTER UTD and rot
MUDCHESTER UTD MUPPETS PUT UP AND SHUT UP!!! YOU ARE SCARED CAUSE SECRETLY DEEP DOWN YOU KNOW THAT CHELSEA ARE STEALING YOUR FIRE...AND WE WILL ALREADY HAVE IN THE PAST FEW YEARS AND AS WE IMPROVE, WHICH WE ARE, THEN TWATS LIKE YOU ARE NATURALLY SCARED SO AS I SAID CHELSEA WILL CONTINUE TO IMPROVE SO CHANGE THE RECORD.....CHELSEA ARE ALL ROUND BETTER THAN YOU MANKY NORTHERN MUPPETS....CHELSEA WILL WIN PREM, FA CUP AND OF COURSE CHAMPIONS LEAUGUE 2009.... CHELSEA WE LOVE YOU....CHELSEA!...CHELSEA!....CHELSEA!....CHELSEA!....CHELSEA!
silent assasins - Fergie is running scared?!? Of what exactly? Another double? Chelsea's 4th manager in the last 5 years?? Or the fact that he has to spend another season dispatching muppets like you rather than chilling at home with his wife and a glass of scotch? And if he is humiliating 'himself and his pathetic excuse for a club' then what the hell has ambramowich, mourinho and the gay trio of terry, lampard and ashley cole done for your circus down at Stamford Bridge. Sore losers, still waking up sweating every night thinkin of MOSCOW!! Remember that?!? When we became EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS for the third time? How many have you won again? MUFC the greatest team in Europe, Chelsea bunch of prima donna muppets. UNITED WE STAND
September 21 will tell when the blues host the Red evil or devil sorry!!!!!!!!! Hahaha...
Last season Benitez tried to play mind games with Drobga, by claiming he was a diver. Personally I do think he goes down a bit easily for a big man. BUT HEY, in reality do u expect anyone is capable of pulling him down? NOT A CHANCE.... thats y he goes down, to earn his team free-kicks.... too bad he's not a good actor as someone like a gerrard. Anyways, we all saw what hapnd in the CL semi-finals. Benitez had to bite his own words....
And now Fergie is doing the same with the entire Chelsea team. I dont think he shud have done that. Coz I think chelsea are at their best when someone tries to write them off. Just like last season, when we were without a host of important players. Everyone said the gap between us and the leaders is gonna widen. But we actually moved up closer.... So was this the wisest thing for Fergie to do???? Only time will tell.... :-)
you chelsea fans bite very easy , by the comments you have stated says a lot for your character , a good fan dont need to bite but you have so fergi is the winner , say no more ,
big phil has more class in his little finger than fergie has in his over sized gob, of course he wont get drawn into it, his not running scared like fergie for a start and isnt as childish. maybe fergie should stay of the whiskey for a while, the drunken bum is humiliating himself and his pathetic excuse of a club.
SIRSERSARSUR FERGIE,KEEP YOUR FARTING APETITE FOR
YOUR GLAZERS...!!
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