Chelsea Sack Andre Villas-Boas

[Kostas 1,468]

According to this link he'll also take care of the likes of Terry, Drogba and Lampard, that means he's not here only for Torres. I guess he may be English's replacement if we don't get Franck Legall.

[Guest justin_3d]

http://www.telegraph...room-staff.html

Villas-Boas and Chelsea are still finalising the make-up of the club’s football operation, with Michael Emenalo in contention for the influential role of technical director or director of football.

[ruggedknot 105]

Insightful interview with Cech , talking about AVB among other things :

http://www.beyondthepitch.net/podcasts/edition/index.cfm/beyond-the-pitch/2011/07/02/petr-cech/

[Domino- 116]

I hope to have that authority to command the locker room

[termninja 5,290]

These may have been posted already, but these are HD photos

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Jose Mario Rocha has been alongside Andre Villas-Boas throughout his short but highly successful management career so far, but their history together goes back further than those single seasons at Porto last campaign and at Academica the year before.

It wasn't only new introductions with the squad this week. There was also reacquaintance. When Rocha was in his first season as a coach at Porto having graduated from studying sport at the city's university, Hilario was his goalkeeper in the Under 19s team. And although he missed out on coaching Paulo Ferreira, the season after Jose Mourinho and his staff left the Portuguese club for Chelsea, Rocha moved up to work with the first team where Jose Bosingwa was in the side.

José Mario Rocha factfile

Edited July 7, 2011 by LDN Blue

[lionsden 4,689]

According to this link he'll also take care of the likes of Terry, Drogba and Lampard, that means he's not here only for Torres. I guess he may be English's replacement if we don't get Franck Legall.

I'm still not convinced his appointment was not motivated by his history with Torres. is he the best personal trainer we could get for the team? funny enough Torres injury record at liverpool was far from impressive so what makes this guy an outstanding candidate for the job. I wonder.

[Kostas 1,468]

I'm pretty sure I pointed that out when the first rumours about us hiring him came to surface.

Even so the blame for Torres' horrific injury record can't layed solely on Ortega. Torres being injury prone is a truth we can't hide from and the well-documented lack or rest along with Benitez's exhausting training methods (which hurt other players apart from Torres) probably contributed more to the injuries he's had than the work of his fitness coach.

[dodojojo 510]

Of course Ortega's relationship with Torres helped with the appointment. To not believe so would mean personal relationships do not help with employment. That's not true in real life either. Having said that, it doesn't mean Ortega isn't a good physiotherapist. I don't think he held onto his job at Liverpool merely by being at Torres' personal beck and call.

Sure, he's probably been brought in help Torres a bit but it doesn't mean he's not professional enough to do his job overall for Chelsea. And I don't know if it'll ever be possible to pin the blame of Torres' injuries on this guy. Torres was fit as a fiddle for Atletico. His injuries may have come down to Liverpool not allowing him to ever recover 100%. And I wouldn't have either if my backup option was David Ngog. Nothing against the guy, but it turns out he just really isn't good enough.

Look what happened last season after the WC injury. I kept hearing how they were going to bring Torres slowly back to health etc. So what happens? He's subbing on the first league game of the season and starting thereafter. I know Torres wanted to play, but with that kind of player and investment, sometimes it's in everyone's best interest for the organization to say, "no, you're going rest and recover and be at your best." The Liverpool doc is then interviewed and he's saying Torres should be reaching his optimal health in October or November. What? Why is he starting games in late August then? Oh, right. David Ngog.

[lionsden 4,689]

No one is yet to provide a convincing case for Ortega's appointment. It's a very simple and direct question - Is he the best trainer we could have gotten? and if so, why?

[Sheva. 5,373]

No one is yet to provide a convincing case for Ortega's appointment. It's a very simple and direct question - Is he the best trainer we could have gotten? and if so, why?

Probably the best available fitness coach, as he was without a job.

[dodojojo 510]

No one is yet to provide a convincing case for Ortega's appointment. It's a very simple and direct question - Is he the best trainer we could have gotten? and if so, why?

What has convinced you he's not the best trainer Chelsea could have gotten?

And for us on the board, how are we going to answer your question anyway? Should we start with Mr. Ortega's educational and training background? Interview his past employers? It's not like he's AVB and has plenty of background information we can readily access.

Do you ask the same question for every minor hire at Chelsea? Is he/she the best nutritionist Chelsea could have hired? Is he/she the best scout Chelsea could have hired? There have been other hires recently, have you asked questions about the hires? Honestly, I don't read all your posts.

In the big scheme of things, hiring Ortega is a minor issue. What is the big deal? If he's incompetent, he'll quickly be found out. You think AVB would tolerate a physiotherapist who can't do his job? This is a mountain out of a molehill and I suspect it's not really about Mr. Ortega.

[lionsden 4,689]

Probably the best available fitness coach, as he was without a job.

That's hardly convincing. a club like ours should value competency over availability. as exemplified with the AVB appointment.Rafa Benitez and Mark hughes were clubless and readily available for the manager's job yet we forked out £13.3m for a manager under contract in a bid to get the best possible candidate and that's the way it should be.

[Blue Armour 4,459]

Just a reminder that our actual fitness coach is Jose Mario Rocha (who came with AVB)....Ortega maybe nothing more than an add-on

[dodojojo 510]

Just a reminder that our actual fitness coach is Jose Mario Rocha (who came with AVB)....Ortega maybe nothing more than an add-on

Correct. Ortega will be giving massages, walking the players through their exercises, making sure they are using correct form, etc. There's probably at least 3 or 4 others with the same job. He's not the head of anything nor will he be making executive or policy decisions.

So Torres has someone to chat with in Spanish, big deal. Torres' hotel bill when he moved to Chelsea probably cost more than this guy's annual salary.

[Term-X 7,891]

Villas-Boas was like a 12th man

http://www.thesun.co...-as-a-boss.html

a source said: "Villas-Boas was like Chelsea's 12th man.

a source flip flop

[Tomo 21,751]

Torres was injured all the time because Benitez always rushed him back because all they had after him was N Gog, there wont be the same problem here.

[Domino- 116]

Why AVB cannot afford to play it safe

Andre Villas-Boas must have had some reservations in becoming the seventh Chelsea manager in eight years. It is fair to say that the Abramovich era, though a successful one for the club, has consisted of few successful managers. Only Jose Mourhino and Carlo Ancelotti were able to win the league at Chelsea, whilst the likes of Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari both ended their reigns in charge without any silverware to boast. High expectations are part of the package at Stamford Bridge, and this is something Villas-Boas will have been fully aware of. Whilst some of the names mentioned above looked to enforce distinctive playing styles on the players at the club, others often seemed too cautious in their management, perhaps concerned that should any drastic changes or tactics backfire, it would ultimately be them that would have to face the consequences.

All text here:http://theshedender.com/2011/07/view-from-the-shed/why-avb-cannot-afford-to-play-it-safe

[Kostas 1,468]

An excellent write-up on how Villas-Boas prepares for matches.

Andre Villas-Boas: Blueprint for success

With a motto of 'if you fail to prepare, prepare to fail', the new Chelsea boss is not going to be leaving anything to chance

He was the footballing equivalent of a straight A student, asked back to lecture to the next class of trainee coaches almost as soon as he'd graduated with honours. Andre Villas-Boas was barely into his 30s when he completed his Uefa Pro Licence in 2008. The next year he returned to the west coast of Scotland, explaining tactical analysis to men who had begun playing professionally when he was still a teenager.

The Villas-Boas presentation is renowned among coaches, with photocopies of his handouts passed around those seeking to adopt a method developed in tandem with his mentor Jose Mourinho. "Andre sailed through the courses," says the SFA director of football development, Jim Fleeting. "He used to read everything he could get his hands on, books on psychology, physiology. I still use his work as an example to present students."

What Villas-Boas presented was a method of analysing opposing teams that produced information "so detailed that not even the coaches of these teams knew they played that way". The technique is fundamental to the way Chelsea's new manager and his most successful predecessor think about football; a sophisticated rubric for devising winning tactics and conveying them to players.

The Sunday Times has obtained a copy of his lecture notes. The fundamental component the Villas-Boas-Mourinho system is the detailed observation of future opponents. A tactical scout — at Chelsea he uses Daniel Sousa, a 26-year-old sports science graduate he worked with at Academica and FC Porto — is responsible for watching a team in the five games before they meet and producing video and text reports providing "detailed information about the qualities and weaknesses of the opponent". His reports are delivered to the manager at the start of match week.

"They give the coach the opportunity to prepare his training with the opponent in mind," writes Villas-Boas. "Final objective: to provoke and exploit their weaknesses; to anticipate and prevent their qualities." It is all designed to be easily absorbed. The five-page match reports "show repetitive information so players can recall it during match situations"; yet the depth and subtlety of Villas-Boas' analysis is revelatory.

An opponent's play is broken down into six general categories: attacking and defensive organisation, paying particular attention to the moments of "transition" when possession is gained or lost; specific attacking combinations; repetitive patterns of play; analyses of individuals, technically, tactically, physically and psychologically; and, finally, their use and defence of dead balls.

Attacking organisation begins with a basic description of the team's standard and alternative formations, before delving into the intricacies of their creative play. Villas-Boas sorts this into four phases: build-up, organisation through midfield, creation of opportunities, and finishing; describing 27 potential aspects to a team's methods of attack.

In "first-phase" build-up play, he pays attention to whether the goalkeeper distributes the ball long or short; whether and which defenders make themselves available; and where the full-backs are. If a team prefer long balls, he'll identify who they are played to and what that individual prefers to do when he is in possession. In second-phase midfield organisation, he might identify how much space an opposing team leave behind, how they respond to pressing and which players lose the ball.

Description of third-phase creation may pinpoint the players usually responsible for making chances, timing of crosses and how the strikers move. Fourth-phase finishing includes details of players who shoot from outside the area, aerial threats and those who fake fouls to win set-pieces.

Despite the thoroughness, Villas-Boas could summarise a team's attacking organisation in 500 words and four or five graphics. A scouting report on Newcastle from 2005 warns, for example, to "always expect two striker combinations between [Alan] Shearer and [Michael] Owen. A lot of across-the-face runs and decoy runs, all with speed and aggressiveness. Every cross is a dangerous situation... Owen fakes back post but arrives first post (goals vs Blackburn and West Brom). Shearer likes to attack the penalty spot (uses his body and power to free himself from opponent)."

The descriptions of defensive organisation follow the same surgical approach. Villas-Boas looks at how opponents defend as a team, as individuals, and in specific areas of the pitch. He identifies whether a team presses as a block or separately, whether they begin doing so high up the pitch or further back, and how they control space behind and between their lines.

He asks who initiates pressing, if teams do so centrally or in wide positions, and if they take risks with the intensity of such attempts to recover possession. He describes how their midfielders group together and if they track opponents' runs. Around their own penalty area factors include the defenders' aerial ability, their responses to first and second balls, and the goalkeeper's control of his area and propensity for mistakes.

Again the written summary is succinct. With Newcastle, Villas-Boas made play of Jean-Alain Boumsong "individual mistakes" and advised his own players to "always believe in bad timing and judgement from both central defenders". Lauded by some as the best goalkeeper in the Premier League, Shay Given was considered "highly inconsistent...second balls from crosses or shots are frequent so it's important that the striker follows through and believes".

The method brought Chelsea back-to-back Premier League titles and five trophies in three seasons. It contributed to Inter Milan's domestic and Champions League treble. It helped Porto win two League titles, the Uefa Cup and Champions League with Villas-Boas as tactical scout, then a treble of League, Europa League and Portuguese Cup with him as manager. "If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail," he concludes. Not on his Chelsea watch.

Source: Duncan Castles Facebook

[Fulham Broadway 17,351]

Good post Mr Kostas.

Started thinking Boas got noticed at Porto when 15 or whatever by bumbothering Sir Bobby with a load of detailed notes on the opposition and how Porto should counter the threats.

This was later adopted by Robsons translator .....Mourinho -we could have the original article on our hands -ie the real special one