Chelsea Sack Andre Villas-Boas

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Alex on Villas-Boas: 'It's always like this, the one who pays is the coach'

Last December, Chelsea's long serving central defender Alex found himself excluded from the first-team's training sessions, car park and canteen after agreeing with Andre Villas-Boas that it would be best if he found himself a new club. If the Brazil international bears any grudge against a man who also ordered him banned him from the club's Christmas party it is not evident in his considered, intelligent analysis of the manager's departure from Stamford Bridge.

“It is always like this: when the results do not show up, the one who pays is the coach. But Andre is a coach with great quality, as I saw day to day in how he worked on every single detail.

"At Chelsea it had already happened several times, the exit of a manager in the middle of the season. It is a big club, where there is enormous pressure to win the Champions League. You can not say that this pressure affects the players every day, but perhaps it affects the work of technicians. And do not forget that it is a competition that is difficult to conquer.

"This situation was being about talked for a while, even because of André's behaviour. He is not the kind of person who talks a lot, he's someone who a bit closed. That's just the way he is

"I saw some comments of Lampard recently and I think he deserved more respect. It is true that a player knows he will sometimes have to stay on the bench, especially after reaching a certain age. That's not a problem. But with his history at the club, where he has more than 10 years, he deserves a word or an explanation from the manager. "Fundamentally, it was a question of respect for everything that he represents for Chelsea.

"I think it makes little sense to say that there was a hard core who did not want Andre to continue. If you look carefully, "Terry and Ashley Cole always played, Drogba and even Fernando [Torres] had lots of opportunities.

"We, the players, often have a habit when things go wrong of blaming the coach. But that's not true. Sometimes things don't go well for the team due to little details, like a lack of luck, or poor form from some of us.

"In the end, it was good I had a problem there because I came to a great club [Paris Saint-Germain] and city.”

- With Sergio Krithinas, O Jogo. http://www.ojogo.pt/...rtigo975233.asp

Alex, what a legend. Very fair analysis.

[manpe 10,861]

Alex says that Lamps needed more respect and an explanation, but I recall AVB saying that he'd spoken to Lamps about it and that everything was okay. It was AVB who needed more respect from him in the end.

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

Alex on Villas-Boas: 'It's always like this, the one who pays is the coach'

Last December, Chelsea's long serving central defender Alex found himself excluded from the first-team's training sessions, car park and canteen after agreeing with Andre Villas-Boas that it would be best if he found himself a new club. If the Brazil international bears any grudge against a man who also ordered him banned him from the club's Christmas party it is not evident in his considered, intelligent analysis of the manager's departure from Stamford Bridge.

“It is always like this: when the results do not show up, the one who pays is the coach. But Andre is a coach with great quality, as I saw day to day in how he worked on every single detail.

"At Chelsea it had already happened several times, the exit of a manager in the middle of the season. It is a big club, where there is enormous pressure to win the Champions League. You can not say that this pressure affects the players every day, but perhaps it affects the work of technicians. And do not forget that it is a competition that is difficult to conquer.

"This situation was being about talked for a while, even because of André's behaviour. He is not the kind of person who talks a lot, he's someone who a bit closed. That's just the way he is

"I saw some comments of Lampard recently and I think he deserved more respect. It is true that a player knows he will sometimes have to stay on the bench, especially after reaching a certain age. That's not a problem. But with his history at the club, where he has more than 10 years, he deserves a word or an explanation from the manager. "Fundamentally, it was a question of respect for everything that he represents for Chelsea.

"I think it makes little sense to say that there was a hard core who did not want Andre to continue. If you look carefully, "Terry and Ashley Cole always played, Drogba and even Fernando [Torres] had lots of opportunities.

"We, the players, often have a habit when things go wrong of blaming the coach. But that's not true. Sometimes things don't go well for the team due to little details, like a lack of luck, or poor form from some of us.

"In the end, it was good I had a problem there because I came to a great club [Paris Saint-Germain] and city.”

- With Sergio Krithinas, O Jogo. http://www.ojogo.pt/...rtigo975233.asp

PROFESSIONAL

[Kez 2,727]

Roy Keane can fuck off, a player who goes out on the pitch to deliberately hurt another player has no right to call anyone a disgrace & I will never have respect for that cunt.

Fantastic to hear that from Alex, a true professional if only all our players acted that professionally.

[zolayes 14,489]

Time to close this thread and move on I think

[capriccioso 2,545]

If only our players were half as professional as Alex.. the guy wasn't even allowed to use our car park and yet he still delivers an unbiased opinion. Good on you, mate.

[Kez 2,727]

Time to close this thread and move on I think

Agreed, AVB has gone now, discuss the situation in the new chelsea manager thread.

[termninja 5,290]

So, the AVB era has ended.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

^ Did it ever really even start?