Southend v Chelsea:LUIZ FELIPE Scolari has shrugged off the pressure mounting on him at Chelsea and declared that another managerial position would always be around the corner for him. "If I lose my job, I have another job," he said, as he prepared for tonight's FA Cup third-round replay at Southend United. "Maybe tomorrow, maybe after one year or two years. I have worked for 25 years."

The Brazilian was asked whether he could keep his job if he did not win anything this season. “It’s not my business to say this or think about this,” he replied. “The people, the board, the club, they need to look at what we work at every day and say something.”

Morale among the players at Stamford Bridge is low, with Sunday’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester United compounding a miserable sequence. The team have won only two of their past eight Premier League fixtures and they have also suffered poor results in cup football. There have been concerns expressed about Scolari’s relaxed training regime, which several players feel has left them lacking full match sharpness. The team have conceded late goals in their previous three games.

Chelsea have dismissed the notion that Scolari will be sacked if results do not improve. They remain well-placed in the Premier League and can look forward to a Champions League last-16 meeting with Juventus. They expect to contend for both trophies and, despite their recent stutters, they believe that they are still on course to do so.

But Scolari urgently needs to raise spirits and levels of performance of his side, after he admitted that none of his players is currently at the top of his game and some of the squad are way below what is expected.

“In the last five games, we play at 50 per cent of our potential,” he said. “No more than this. Some players have been at 75 to 80 per cent while others have been at 35 to 40 per cent. The balance for our team in the last five games has been 50 per cent. If you ask me if this team are ready to win things then ‘No’. They are not ready to win a trophy and they know this.”

Scolari insisted that he retained the full support of the board of directors and his playing squad which, the midfielder Deco apart, is the one he inherited from Avram Grant. The Israeli himself made only a few changes from the days of his predecessor, Jose Mourinho.

“The club help me,” Scolari said. “Until the last day in my life, I will say the same. They help me one million per cent. I don’t believe that any people that are involved in this group, in this house, have something different. Maybe I am wrong but I don’t think so. The players, the fans, the directors, it’s the same. The trouble is the mistakes that we’ve made in the last five games. Minimum. Only this. Not more.

“The players have been trying hard, I know that and I understand. Do you think that any player will go on the pitch in front of 75,000 people and not want to play? Never. If this happened, the world would implode. I am a good man but I am not a fool.”

The 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford was watched by a stony-faced Mourinho, who stayed in his seat until the bitter end. He was on a scouting mission ahead of his Internazionale team’s Champions League meeting with United but he also passed a damning verdict on Chelsea, saying they would not win this season’s Premier League.

“Mourinho is an intelligent man,” Scolari said, with a smile. “It’s a game against Ferguson because he plays now against Ferguson. ‘You are better, you are winning’, he says. You know this. Like I say, I am not a fool.”

Scolari joked that, the cold weather apart, the Chelsea job was the “same as any other” and he offered the impression that what would be, would be. “I like Chelsea, I like Cobham, I like the school my son is at, I like the people here, even the press,” he said.

The Brazilian rejected reports of a contretemps with his top scorer, Nicolas Anelka, and insisted it was his job to choose the players for the job, irrespective of reputations or egos.

“There has been no row,” Scolari said. “It is my choice sometimes – this or that player. I have 24 good players but only two centre-forwards. One is playing and not the other.”