SOCCER ANGLES:Carlo Ancelotti can lose at Manchester City today and be relatively relaxed . . . . but lose to Marseilles and he might not be allowed to forget it, writes MICHAEL WALKER

REMEMBER A man called Luiz Felipe Scolari? Big Brazilian bloke, England tried to get him as their manager after dismissing Sven Goran Eriksson? Scolari said Manchester City also tried to sign him.

Scolari did eventually arrive in English football after certain drama but it was not in east Manchester, it was at Stamford Bridge. It was only two years ago, but time does fly.

This weekend in 2008 Scolari was leading Chelsea for the sixth time in the Premier League. They went to Stoke and won 2-0 to go top. Chelsea then won six of their next seven matches to stay there and Scolari was looking like an eclipse of Avram Grant in terms of succeeding Jose Mourinho. All we and his players could do was praise him.

Less than three months later Scolari was sacked. Drawing at home to Hull was deemed the final straw. In came Guus Hiddink until the end of the season. That brought stability, the FA Cup and almost a victory over Barcelona in the semi-final of the Champions League.

Scolari was forgotten already. Hiddink seemed a perfect fit at Chelsea but he had promised himself elsewhere so Roman Abramovich had to seek another manager, Chelsea’s sixth in the Russian’s time at the club.

So then came Carlo Ancelotti. It felt like a safe rather than spectacular appointment. Ancelotti had a major profile due to his European and domestic achievements with AC Milan of course, but we are a small-minded people: what would he bring to Chelsea? The answer was “The Double” – the Premier League and the FA Cup. Before the invention of the Premier League that was a revered achievement but Abramovich’s money was part of the dilution of the term’s status.

That could be seen in Ancelotti receiving more praise for beating Manchester United to the title than for adding the FA Cup via victory over basket-case Portsmouth at Wembley. Stopping United meant something.

Courtesy of a winning, self-deprecating personality, Ancelotti also eased himself into our general affection. There was none of the rampant egotism of Mourinho – which we sometimes enjoyed – instead there was a lower-key humour.

That has been on view again this season as Chelsea have begun the season with five straight league victories, 20 goals and one against. Only Scott Parker has broken through. The opponents – West Brom, Wigan, Stoke, West Ham and Blackpool — are likely to figure in the bottom half of the table in May but they represent a quarter of the division. Alex Ferguson has queried the degree of difficulty involved but you beat what’s in front of you.

It is an even better start at Chelsea than last season. Then they won their first five league games under Ancelotti, scoring 12 times. Tottenham came to Stamford Bridge for the sixth match and this was to be “the first serious test”, much as Chelsea’s game at Manchester City is being marketed today. Chelsea beat Spurs 3-0.

Over the next few weeks Chelsea beat Blackburn 5-0, Bolton 4-0, Wolves 4-0 and Arsenal 3-0. After Christmas they put seven past Sunderland, then Aston Villa and Stoke. On the season’s final day Chelsea beat Wigan 8-0. In total they scored 103 goals. How quickly we forget.

There must be a reason for that and the reason is surely Mourinho. Ask a member of the general public to select one Chelsea result from last season and a fair percentage will say Chelsea 0 Internazionale 1 in the Champions League.

It could even be the one Abramovich nominates.

Being eliminated by the competition’s winners, and a former manager, once again raised the stake that Abramovich, Ancelotti and Chelsea are playing for. It is the European Cup.

Going out of the League Cup to Newcastle on Wednesday was a blow to the club, just as a loss today at Eastlands would be – and Chelsea lost twice to City last season.

But if this time next year we are reviewing Chelsea’s triumph in the Champions League – the first London club to win it and at, of all places, Wembley – then these will be considered irritations, if they are considered at all.

That knowledge of Chelsea’s European emphasis is also part of why the total of 103 goals last season is not heralded in the way it would have been had Arsenal or United managed it – Ancelotti and Scolari could have a discussion about memory at Chelsea.

It is why, for the all the intrigue at City this lunchtime – Ancelotti meeting an old colleague in Roberto Mancini – the game that looms large for Chelsea is Marseilles at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. Last year’s French champions, by six points, Marseilles will have more substance than Blackpool displayed last Sunday. Ancelotti can lose at City and be relatively relaxed. Lose to Marseilles and he might not be allowed to forget.

Baird home targeted

IN THE 2001 census it was found there were 864 people living in Rasharkin, Co Antrim.

Chris Baird was 18 going on 19 then, and about to depart Rasharkin and Ballymena United for Southampton. In his fourth game for the Saints, Baird played in the 2003 FA Cup final against Arsenal.

Judging by the sectarian attack on Baird’s mother’s home in Rasharkin this week, some among the 864 probably begrudged him that and the career he’s had since. But it’s a great wee country.

Everton's worst start needs to end

IT WAS written with hope, some faith and, one likes to think, some logic. When this column selected Everton as a club to watch on the Premier League season’s opening day six weeks ago, it was not envisaged David Moyes’s side would lose at Blackburn that afternoon or that it would follow up with results like last Saturday’s home defeat by promoted Newcastle. Or that Everton would exit the League Cup at Brentford.

But all that has happened and more, so that Moyes is now a man under pressure and his squad are chasing their season before it escapes.

Sitting second bottom of the Premier League, without yet having scored on the road, Everton now face three away games in their next four matches. The home game in between is against Liverpool.

Mikel Arteta, whose new contract was one of the reasons for pre-season optimism, has said the team has “taken three steps backwards”. And that was before Brentford. After it club captain, Phil Neville, was equally harsh saying that too many at Everton had “looked at the end of the season rather than concentrating on the now”.

Today the now is Fulham. It’s time for Everton’s worst start for 15 years to improve, though six weeks on, you could question the logic in that.