Chelsea Sack Andre Villas-Boas

[Idiot 71]

I didn't want to shorten his success. His work with Porto was tremendous but to be in charge of CFC is an other dimension. AVB needs time to improve and to adapt his philosophy to the EPL. Theoretically his gameplay is one of the best (imo) but he has to learn that every opponent has special characteristics which need to be considered.

And to be honest, I am a Fanboy

[Tomo 21,736]

What will happen if we sack him now?

Back to square one, Malouda and co given "another chance" and so on then before we know its 2021 and a 42 year old Malouda is starting our opening game against Man.utd.

Remember Barcelona went 7 trophy less season out of 9 while building the team we see today.

[Santiago. 1,500]

He's like Wenger,

His philosophy and Vision of football is outstanding, he just needs a bitch slap now and again

[Tomo 21,736]

Courtious, De Bruyne, Bruma, McEachran and Kalas.

If those loans go to plan, thats potentially millions we have saved in transfer fee's.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

If you ask me,I think AVB is doing a very good job and I feel he can do a better job next season.Our team at the moment is not really strong and we must wait till the end of the season so that there can be an exodus of many Chelsea players.AVB will show his true potential next season as he will have more control of his team and of his players.So just keep the faith and believe in Andre Villa Boas.

[Term-X 7,891]

Finding it hard to be anything other than sceptical about this 'mass exodus' we all hope for. There are too many cockroaches & players who slip through the net at this club. AVB has been playing down the idea of signing top quality players (i.e. Hazard), instead looking at ‘Romeu caliber’ type acquisitions, which understandably can be hit or miss.

It's either all or nothing in regards to the summer window, otherwise it's ‘Transition Season Part II.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Finding it hard to be anything other than sceptical about this 'mass exodus' we all hope for. There are too many cockroaches & players who slip through the net at this club. AVB has been playing down the idea of signing top quality players (i.e. Hazard), instead looking at ‘Romeu caliber’ type acquisitions, which understandably can be hit or miss.

It's either all or nothing in regards to the summer window, otherwise it's ‘Transition Season Part II.

I think it will be transition season part II either way, as much as we'd hate it to be so. Even if we do get 5-6 worldclass players in the summer, they would need at least a season together to build chemistry and get used to the Manager's style of play; The recent revolution at city is evident to that.

Proper transition takes years, we need to find the right young players that fit the team's philosophy and get them working well with the squad. It may be painful for us fans at first but I am a firm believer that it is vital for the club and will benifit us in the long run and prevent is from turning into Liverpool.

[TacticalBlues 2,817]

Same difference? - What would Jose Mourinho be doing differently to Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea?

Both Portuguese bosses came from Porto to Stamford Bridge but the current Real Madrid manager enjoyed a significantly more successful first season than his understudy has thus far

By David Lynch

When Andre Villas-Boas took on the Chelsea job, he will have no doubt considered that the weight of expectation it came with was far heavier than that at other clubs.

This was a role in the pressure cooker of the Premier League, with a club that had just sacked their manager for finishing second and, more importantly, had once been managed by Jose Mourinho.

The similarities between the two - young bosses, Portuguese, who had enjoyed success with Porto - were quickly picked up on by the press and then dismissed by Villas-Boas with equal alacrity upon his arrival. Yet, he must have known that it was an inescapable comparison and one which now perhaps haunts him.

The results since the 34-year-old’s arrival have rendered this association a negative one as, quite frankly, they do not compare favourably with the so-called 'Special One'. Mourinho came to London and won the Premier League at the first ask, something which, barring a miracle, Villas-Boas is not going to manage. However, though they both joined a Chelsea which had finished second the season before, the respective situations could not be much more different.

Mourinho joined a Chelsea on the crest of a wave, a team who had, the summer before, indulged in the most lavish spending spree seen in the history of football. They didn’t stop there either. Two players who had been signed expensively just the season before – an inexperienced Scott Parker and striker Adrian Mutu – were quickly cast aside as a raft of new names entered. This was a squad full of hungry, world-class players being refined with the addition of the likes of Ricardo Carvalho and Didier Drogba, something of an ideal situation.

VILLAS-BOAS vs MOURINHO

MANAGER GAMES WON DRAWN LOST WIN% VILLAS-BOAS 35 17 11 7 48.6 MOURINHO 39 29 8 2 74.4

*Statistics based on first-season record at Chelsea up to February 10

The squad inherited by Villas-Boas, on the other hand, had seen expensive purchases made in the preceding January and was viewed as being able to kick on when these players further settled in. Juan Mata and Raul Meireles did join the club in the summer along with several younger stars - Oriol Romeu, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois - but these were viewed as slight tweaks to the first-team setup alongside a base from which to build for the future. Nothing major.

However, it became apparent early on that there was a rot in the squad which superficial repairs could not remedy. The £50 million Fernando Torres which Villas-Boas had inherited suddenly did not seem worth five, and it was a similar story for defender-cum-centre-forward David Luiz. That this pair were not living up to their price-tag was then worsened by a drop in performance from those who had formed Chelsea’s spine for so much of their success.

Despite pressure from the media, Villas-Boas continued his policy of sparingly using both Drogba and Frank Lampard, two players whose seniority was perhaps best conveyed by the fact they are older than even he is. Their phasing out of the first team is an essential process, of course, and one which the former Porto man knew he would have to undertake. In fact, both men even gave him good reason to do so with performances which hint at a worrying truth for Chelsea fans. Namely, that deposed manager Carlo Ancelotti had squeezed the last consistently brilliant season out of them.

The possibility that this is the case says a lot for the utter failure of many men who have directly followed Mourinho into any job. Even Porto, a side whose domination of Portuguese football is unquestioned, failed to win the league the season after Mourinho’s departure, going through three managers in that year alone. Luigi Del Niri left the club before the season had even started before Victor Fernandez and Jose Couceiro paid the price for poor results.

Rafael Benitez’s struggles with Inter are equally well documented as the Spaniard tried in vain to mould an ageing squad which had been indelibly marked by the Portuguese. That Ancelotti is the only man to thus far avoid this fate says much for the Italian’s abilities but, as former player Joe Cole once revealed, that success actually lay in not making too many changes.

Villas-Boas has been unfortunate in that sense; with the Chelsea team he was bequeathed being one which would be quickly left behind without alterations. Given Roman Abramovich’s thirst for success, there was little choice but to oversee that change as an accelerated revolution, but such heady tasks take time.

Contending with the absence of Michael Essien through injury and poorly-performing big money signings for whom he cannot take responsibility hasn't exactly helped either.

Whilst the sheer weight of support for Mourinho and the noises coming from Madrid of his impending departure would lead many Blues fans to clamour for his return, it is hard to believe that any manager could contend with the problems Villas-Boas has faced. If Abramovich does choose to cut his losses and bring back the man with whom he so publicly fell out, the job done by whomever replaces him in the Spanish capital may well tell us a lot about the difficulty of the task which Villas-Boas is undertaking.

If Mourinho were to arrive at Chelsea, he may even find that it is circumstance, rather than managerial ability, which has set him apart from his compatriot so far.

Brilliant article IMO, done well in highlighting the building something from "nothing" so to speak.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Brilliant article IMO, done well in highlighting the building something from "nothing" so to speak.

The comments on that article are interesting, to say the least.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

We cant expect AVB to be as good as Mourinho It will be very difficult for any manager of immense caliber to try and emulate Mourinho's achievements at Chelsea.It simply can not be done and believe me Roman knows.Now is the time to dwell our time and think what if Roman hadn't sacked Mourinho or even Ancelotti.Andre Villa Boas is our manager and I sure damn believe in him.Roman spent 28m pounds so that he could get him here.We have the most expensive manager in the history of football,spending 13m on a manager is just uncanny but whats more stupid is that some Chelsea fans want him out and ensure that then next managers arrival will cost us at least 20m.Money is not the problem but sustainability is.

[Henrique 9,133]

Is it though? League points are the only reliable indicator and afaik we're still doing better than in 10/11.

Really?

We are way worst than last season. Way worst.

The 3-5 defeat at home for Arsenal, and the pathetic 3-3 draw with United is enough to make this the worst season of Abramovich era.

[Kojo 4,676]

And yet if we still somehow finish with more than 71 points this will be a better league campaign.

Besides didn't we lose 3-0 to Arsenal last year? Sure the other game was at home but performance-wise they absolutely raped us at the Emirates while it took a horrible display from Cech and a suicidal back-pass from Malouda to lose the other one.

3-1 actually, and it was at the Emirates also with terrible form, i think we were 1-1 at one point, then Essien was at fault for both of the goals after it if i can remember correctly. Still though i'd take that rather than conceding 5 fucking goals at the bridge by those bastards.

[Henrique 9,133]

Kostas does make a valid point though. It's not that we're so worse off from last season, okay we did have way more dodgier results, but we have maintained consistency with league points and such. The problem has been the strength of our rivals, City & Tottenham especially. Where Chelsea has failed to build in the summer, we've conceded certain advantages & it's not easy with a new playing-system trying to be instilled.

Our consistency is: getting 1 point every game.

Thats no excuse, last season we were 2nd, right now we are 4th. There is nothing valid in saying we are doing better than last season, because while last season we looked a "strong team in a bad moment", in this season we really look like an avarage side that is only in 4th place because of the Arsenals incopetence.

AVB must leave in the summer, because there are thousands of guys better than him around.

[Laylabelle 9,406]

What will happen if we sack him now?

Back to square one, Malouda and co given "another chance" and so on then before we know its 2021 and a 42 year old Malouda is starting our opening game against Man.utd.

Remember Barcelona went 7 trophy less season out of 9 while building the team we see today.

Exactly and thats our problem.While teams are deciding on who they're signing we seem to spend half of summer finding a manager who comes in has hardly any time to judge the team,decides what they see is fine and nothing changes! And if we sack AVB no doubt same thing will happen...and agree we'll be stuck with the same squad..and no doubt come summer after if we havent been great..sack again

If we win on Saturday..come the 19th we'll be a point better then we were this time last season and a place better offf.. But we'd lost 7 games by that time..and so far only lost 5..or 6 if we fuck up tommrow...hurrah!

[Kojo 4,676]

What will happen if we sack him now?

Back to square one, Malouda and co given "another chance" and so on then before we know its 2021 and a 42 year old Malouda is starting our opening game against Man.utd.

Remember Barcelona went 7 trophy less season out of 9 while building the team we see today.

LMFAO!, in 10 years time we still have the same team starting, 42 year old Malouda, 36 year old Kalou, 44 year old Lampard, and 37 year old Torres who will have 20 goals in 948 games by then, something to look forward too, another 17 league goals by Torres, wonder what they are like...

[francozola 2,040]

3-1 actually, and it was at the Emirates also with terrible form, i think we were 1-1 at one point, then Essien was at fault for both of the goals after it if i can remember correctly. Still though i'd take that rather than conceding 5 fucking goals at the bridge by those bastards.

That game was worse than the 3-5 this season imo. We were 3-0 down I believe and Iva scored a header at the beginning of the 2nd half to make it 3-1 but we never managed to get back in the game. At least we showed some spirit in the 3-5 this season. We lost because of shockingly ridiculous defending. That 3-1 loss last season was one of the lowest points of that season for me.

[Laylabelle 9,406]

LMFAO!, in 10 years time we still have the same team starting, 42 year old Malouda, 36 year old Kalou, 44 year old Lampard, and 37 year old Torres who will have 20 goals in 948 games by then, something to look forward too, another 17 league goals by Torres, wonder what they are like...

20 goals bit optmstic

And just be picking people from the crowd to be our manager..gone through a fair few by then...walk through the door 'yep your in!'

[Kojo 4,676]

That game was worse than the 3-5 this season imo. We were 3-0 down I believe and Iva scored a header at the beginning of the 2nd half to make it 3-1 but we never managed to get back in the game. At least we showed some spirit in the 3-5 this season. We lost because of shockingly ridiculous defending. That 3-1 loss last season was one of the lowest points of that season for me.

Really?, i'm sure i can remember Walcott and Fabregas scoring near enough at the end, i now Alex Song scored first, the cunt, then Ivanovic got one if i can remember correctly, i'm probably wrong though, but i try to forget about that game to be honest, the only two games i can fully remember last season where the 2-1 win against United and the 4-2 win against Sunderland, jesus christ that game didn't stop, there was a goal scoring oppertunity every 30 seconds, i was having a heart attack.