Big Phil hard done by - Zico

Brazilian legend Zico will take charge of CSKA Moscow for the first time in Wednesday's UEFA Cup clash with Aston Villa with a place in the last 16 at stake.He said: "I am a good friend of Scolari and I felt sad and upset after knowing he had been dismissed. He is a really high-class coach who has won the World Cup."His team are still in contention in the Champions League and are in fourth place in the Premier League so nothing has been lost."I give all my support to him and I am really sad because he didn't deserve to be dismissed."Yes, he lost some important games but he hasn't gone out of any major tournaments. He still had the chance in every tournament to win or turn things around."But then for Brazilian coaches it is very difficult because people think they will quickly fix any team, make them win all the games."Unfortunately, in general Brazilian coaches don't seem to have enough time to work with the teams they are in charge of to start showing good results."They have a lot of difficulty working in European teams because people don't give them enough time to put their work into practice."Zico added: "A reasonable time for Scolari would have been to finish this season."Then people could decide if he had been a success or had not produced the right results."Zico accepts his team will be at a disadvantage against Villa as they have not tasted competitive action since the finale to the domestic season in Russia in early December.But he is still confident of making progress, although he has a high regard for Martin O'Neill's side.He said: "We are proud to go to England and we hope we are going to play a very good game."We are very confident and we will do our best to neutralise Villa because we are aware of the fact they are having a very good campaign."We are in a difficult situation because our team has only just returned from the break and we haven't got any official games in but I hope it will not interfere in our work and I hope we can play to our potential."I have just come in as coach and I don't think we are going to change the way we play because our players have played in this team for a long time."The main task for us is to qualify for the next round. It is two legs and the most important task is to play well in England and then make sure in Moscow we go through."

Source: Team_Talk