Southend shock won´t prompt Scolari spending-spree

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari said he did not need to buy a new striker in the January transfer window after seeing his side begin their FA Cup campaign with a shock 1-1 draw at home to Southend.

The Blues, second in the Premier League, looked to be cruising into the fourth round of the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge here on Saturday until birthday boy Peter Clarke headed the Shrimpers level in injury-time.

Chelsea, who had lost ground to Premier League leaders Liverpool in recent weeks after draws with West Ham, Everton and Fulham, took a first-half lead through Saloman Kalou's header.

But they then squandered chance after chance against a team 55 league places below them to leave Scolari in no doubt where his problems lie.

However, the Brazilian said he did not necessarily need to bring in new faces to boost Chelsea's chances of winning both the Premier League and Champions League titles.

“I have a very good squad,” said the former Brazil and Portugal manager. “If the board want players then good, if not then I still have a good squad, but I don't need another striker.

“We need people to score more goals. We need to work on finishing in training. I believe in these players. I need to say what is not correct and maybe after one week, one month or one year, we will be better.

“I'm 100 per cent confident in what I am doing. I just try to do my best. Are we out of the competition? We need to play them again but other teams who played today are out.

“The result says it was not a good performance but we had 15 chances to score a goal. We were the boss on the pitch but in the last bit of the pitch, we did not get a goal.

“Southend made it difficult for us and they did not have a shot at goal in normal time – our mistake was we did not score another goal.”

Scolari was without suspended England captain John Terry, serving the final match of a three-game ban for being sent-off against Everton, but his team still contained several internationals.

It was Chelsea who had the first shot at goal through Frank Lampard but the England midfielder's free-kick was way off target.

However Chelsea continued to surge forward and their pressure told in the 31st minute when Ivory Coast international Kalou headed in a Lampard corner.

Wave after wave of Chelsea pressure in the second-half would have taken its toll on Premier League defenders, but still the third-tier Shrimpers — led by captain Adam Barrett — kept the Blues at bay with some last ditch defending, including Johnny Herd clearing a Juliano Belletti header off the line.

Despite the introduction of veteran striker Dougie Freedman, it was Clarke who, on his 27th birthday, was Southend's unlikely goal hero.

He climbed highest in the box to head in after Chelsea had failed to clear a long-throw to set up a lucrative replay for the League One team.

“We've had a good Cup run but I am more focused on our league game against Crewe now,” said Southend manager Steve Tilson.

“The Cup has been good for our finances, particularly while the money situation is so tight, so that could be useful in the transfer window.

“We wanted to stay in the game for as long as we could. We knew if we were going to try and open Chelsea up then we would have been trounced.

“But we got bodies behind the ball — which is not normally how we play — and needed a bit of luck. On another day we could have lost 5-0.”