March 2nd, 2012 by Electric Monk
In two weeks’ time, it could be all over for Andre Villas Boas. Hanging by a thread with the prospect of finishing outside the top four – unthinkable under previous Chelsea management since Abramovich pumped in his millions – he will surely be sacked should Chelsea crash out of Champions League. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Roman had recruited Hiddink to become the temporary manager again, however that’s off the table now he’s taken over Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, and perhaps that buys Villas Boas time. Chelsea are more than capable of beating Napoli by the required two clear goals; but win or lose, the problems at the club are far more systemic than the fortunes of one cup tie.
The club should have decided last summer if they were going to fully back the new manager or not. Their main problem stems from spending £70million on two duds – Fernando Torres and David Luiz, players brought to the club prior to his arrival. Those two along with Juan Mata were supposed to revitalize the old ageing squad; Luiz working as a replacement for Carvalho, Mata for Lampard and Torres replacing Drogba as the main man. Bar Mata, it simply hasn’t worked out. They really need to refurbish the whole team and squad, and given the new man all the funds necessary to perform that top to bottom rebuilding process. The core of the team that made them dominant under Mourinho is either gone or finished.
The pressure is building, and current playing staff are not shy to air their forthright criticisms in public. This is a pattern that’s already repeated with higher calibre managers than he. Ancellotti, Scolari and Mourinho have all gone having lost the dressing room, or key elements thereof. A dressing room that is now rotten with underperforming over -ego. Unless they bite the bullet, this cycle will persist. They need to properly purge the squad. The experienced players simple don’t respect Villa Boas as they are of similar ages. When making the appointment, I think Roman just got caught up in the whole ‘new Jose’ angle. The fans are clearly frustrated with his tactics, but to some extent with a mutinous set of players, he has his hands tied behind his back.
I actually think, if he’s given the relevant funds and time, Villa Boas will turn them into a renewed force. With the deadwood at the club, any manager would struggle at this point. He needs to be publicly backed from the very top, with a clear message to the players, ‘you don’t like it… do one’. Without that, he is being undermined from the very top. I fear for the man, because that backing is highly unlikely, in fact it may be that regardless of further European progression, falling so far off the championship pace, his fate has already been sealed…
March 2nd, 2012 at 3:38 pm
The 70 million spent on Torres and Luiz should have been spent a lot wiser.
50 million on a player – not matter how good he is – is a waste when you need to replace 4 or 5 squad players.
I dont want AVB to go – but I think he came to the Club or maybe even England to early. One more season in Portugal would have really helped him I think – and it would have been good to see if he could back up last seasons success with some more this season.
If he stays, get rid of terry, Lampard, Malouda, Drogba and Kalou – really shake up the squad – build it around Sturirdge and Mata.
If he goes – who will they bring in ? Rafa Benitez. Good grief no.
March 3rd, 2012 at 5:41 am
I’m hearing that he’s basically only still in the job because Benitez turned it down (I should qualify that by saying I’ve been reading and hearing that around the place, not that I have ITK sources) (because I don’t).
I don’t think it is all down to an ageing squad – the only ones massively on the wane are Drogba and Terry.