Alan Hansen was a colossus on the pitch for Liverpool and Scotland, becoming a true Anfield legend and collecting a host of medals in a glittering playing career. And since hanging up his boots he's become a giant of football punditry too, renowned for his forthright views and analyses which are eagerly anticipated by millions of viewers of BBC TV's 'Match of the Day' every week.  

Hansen reckons a divided dressing room became the damning legacy of Luiz Felipe Scolari's brief reign at Chelsea, but that his replacement Guus Hiddink will benefit from having a fit Michael Essien available for selection...

Sharp Reversal Of Fortune

"Big Phil Scolari was replaced at Chelsea this week with Guus Hiddink taking the managers position until the end of the season. It has been an amazing turnaround for the Brazilian and the team from September/October time, when he was being hailed as the messiah," said Hansen. 

"The full-backs Jose Bosingwa and Ashley Cole were b****ing down the flanks terrorising the opposition, heralding a new-look adventurous Chelsea team. It was all happy days at the Bridge. However, it is incredible how quickly things have changed culminating in an absolutely appalling display at Old Trafford and a not much better one at Anfield recently.

"The price of success and of failure has never been so high so it doesnt surprise me he was sacked. The rewards these days are so high and even failure like Scolaris will cost the club a lot of money.  The current team is a million miles away from winning the Championship so you have to say Big Phil was a failure in his time at the club. Even under the much maligned Avram Grant the team was close to winning both the title and the Champions League but they look a shadow of their old selves now.

Divide And Fall

"The old Chelsea were a very tight group of players but now you can see there are different factions in the camp. Ive seen them on a number of occasions of late and you can see all is not right within the club. If the dressing room is divided then cliques appear which in turn destroys team spirit which is so important in the modern game. Of course you cant be friends with everyone in the dressing room but once you step onto the pitch you have to be united.

The lack of unity must be blamed on Scolari too as his job is to unite the dressing room, to harbour a good team spirit and winning mentality. Guus Hiddink is now in the hot-seat, at least until the end of the season and he has a great track record. Then again, so did Big Phil. One huge bonus for him and for Chelsea should be the return of Michael Essien next month. He will be like a new signing and Chelsea have missed him. The Ghanaian adds pace and strength to the team and he could have an important role for the last stretch of the season.

Spanish Lesson

The Spain v England game in Seville will have given Fabio Capello and his players food for thought as at times they were given a footballing lesson by the European Champions. The Spanish side is packed full of class players, they play great football and have so much technical ability throughout. England are trying to emulate that ability but it will be difficult as Spain are a very settled team not to mention the fact England were without lots of their top players.

"Despite out-playing England for large parts of the game, the two goals conceded were not defended well. For the first Phil Jagielka lost possession far too cheaply and for the second Matthew Upson committed a rash tackle to give away the free-kick in the first place, and was then beaten in the air by the big Spanish forward. It just goes to show the importance of defending at the highest level. This result should at least give England a bit of a reality check before they continue their qualifying campaign.

Moyes Deserves A Medal

The highlight of this weekends FA Cup fixtures for me is the Everton v Aston Villa game. Both teams are doing remarkably well this season and have very good managers in charge. A draw looks a likely result but in some ways I think that Villas priority now will be a top-four finish as they are in an incredible position to do just that. On the other hand a good result in the Cup could really spur either of these two sides on for the rest of the season. David Moyes deserves a medal for the job he has done at Everton in terms of the progress at the club, he really has done unbelievably well. Whichever of these two form sides go through will receive a huge lift for the final Premier League run-in."