AVB claims some credit for CL win

[Jase 43,479]

The decision to leave out Lampard and possibly Cole weren't vindicated on the pitch, but they had been in poor form before and deserved the axe.

Drogba, however, was an awful call. The man was made for European nights.

All down to his poor man-management and kamikaze attacking football that doesn't suit the players.

[BlueSanti 290]

Drogba started in Naples.

Drogba played whole match against Napoli

[Ollie 4,400]

Oh yeah he was critisised for leaving Torres out wasn't he when he seemed in a bit of form (ish), well that was a no win situation then lol but seriously in the UCL under him, bar one game we were awful. It was the players who had to get themselves up for the Valencia home game too because they knew it was shit or bust. He didn't need to bring Kalou on, he's shit when he's good. Everything was going perfect.... leave it!

We started the campaign shit, he left us truly in the shit. Look at where we were when AVB left.

Even the FA Cup, Robbie had to take us to Birmingham for an away replay ffs.

[BlueSanti 290]

Sorry, I should have made it clear that it was fatigue rather than the change of manager that impacted on Mata

I would take transfers out of the equation. We haven't had a manager signing since January 2011, they've all been done by whoever held the role of Technical Director/Director of Football.

Hard to say about Mata, but this looked like his signing. Something like 'I want this player Gourlay, could you get him?'. He surely hasn't been involved in Lukaku's transfer at all. Signing of Oriol Romeu goes without doubts to his credit. But we can only speculate about Meireles and Cahill. Would say Meireles could be his too, he favourited him too much.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Drogba started in Naples.

Did he?

My memory is failing me.

[BlueSanti 290]

Oh yeah he was critisised for leaving Torres out wasn't he when he seemed in a bit of form (ish), well that was a no win situation then lol but seriously in the UCL under him, bar one game we were awful. It was the players who had to get themselves up for the Valencia home game too because they knew it was shit or bust. He didn't need to bring Kalou on, he's shit when he's good. Everything was going perfect.... leave it!

We started the campaign shit, he left us truly in the shit. Look at where we were when AVB left.

Even the FA Cup, Robbie had to take us to Birmingham for an away replay ffs.

We had to play replays against worse teams under better managers ffs.

[francozola 2,040]

lol, this is the same Kalou who was used in pretty much every single match by RDM as he could provide a lot of help to the defense. That was the only reason he was getting any appearances at all.

Look, I'm not trying to justify every single thing the man did. I know he made plenty of mistakes and even though I supported him 100% when he was our manager, I have realised and understood what others were talking about. I definitely agree with a lot of points BluesMaster makes regarding his kamikaze attacking naivety and so on, but blaming him for subbing Kalou on..........

[Jase 43,479]

Did he?

My memory is failing me.

Yes. He started in both legs in fact.

[Leif 6,006]

I think he does deserve credit actually.

Without him being such a crap manager with us and benching Lampard, as one example, I doubt Lampard would have felt frustrated and like he had something to prove in the games vs. Napoli (home), both Barcelona games and the Bayern final, where I personally believe he played outstanding.

[manco 38]

Deserves credit for taking the weirdest tactical decisions I've seen for a long time (starting with the 5-3 vs Arsenal and many more)

[BlueSanti 290]

I think he does deserve credit actually.

Without him being such a crap manager with us and benching Lampard, as one example, I doubt Lampard would have felt frustrated and like he had something to prove in the games vs. Napoli (home), both Barcelona games and the Bayern final, where I personally believe he played outstanding.

Lampard would have played outstanding in those matches every time. He is fucking Frank Lampard, guys putting more effort to match just because his previous performance was shit compared to his standarts.

He played brilliantly just because he is Super Frank, not because he was benched. No one would belive this if there weren't media creating bullshit about Lampard's revolt. Biggest profesional in football world and yet people still may belive he sacked Boas ( I am not saying this is your case, just to asure you )

[capriccioso 2,545]

lol, this is the same Kalou who was used in pretty much every single match by RDM as he could provide a lot of help to the defense. That was the only reason he was getting any appearances at all.

Look, I'm not trying to justify every single thing the man did. I know he made plenty of mistakes and even though I supported him 100% when he was our manager, I have realised and understood what others were talking about. I definitely agree with a lot of points BluesMaster makes regarding his kamikaze attacking naivety and so on, but blaming him for subbing Kalou on..........

[Billy. 2,742]

he only gets my credit for puoing up 'the old gaurd' thanks about it from me

[The Big Drog 1,110]

Yes at times the tactics did appear strange but you have to put it into context. Roman Abramovich paid a world record fee to bring him to Chelsea to play a certain style of football, that's a fact. AVB will have been fully aware of Roman's ambition for beautiful football at Chelsea from their meetings, Roman will have given AVB his vision for the club and AVB was given the job of implementing that vision. This is what led to games like the 5-3 loss to Arsenal, AVB felt the need to play an open, attractive style of football because that is what he was brought to the club to do and because that is his football philosophy, unfortunately we didn't have the players to play that way.

I also believe AVB would have been disappointed with his squad when the transfer window shut. He got Mata and Romeu, two players who suited his type of football, but they were never going to be enough to instigate a full overhaul of the playing style. It was an odd match from the start, a manager with an open, attractive philosophy brought to the club by an owner wanting him to implement that but with a squad of players who were just incapable of playing such a way. It was a battle of two entirely different philosophies and it had disastrous consequences on the pitch.

Did Villas Boas make mistakes along the way? Sure, his man management certainly could have been better but I also dont think he approved of the player power at Chelsea and wasn't entirely sold on Lampard as a long term feature in his plans.

Had Villas Boas had a squad without Drogba, Bosingwa, Kalou and had a squad with Hazard, Marin and Oscar (hopefully) then his chances of succeeding at Chelsea would have increased hugely. I believe he is a quality manager, tactically terrific and plays the game the right way but at Chelsea he was entrenched in a catch 22, he wanted and was told to play beautiful football but the players were unable to do that, while the squad were far more comfortable reverting back to their physical style but neither the coach nor the owner wanted that.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I can't understand how this is even debatable. He was our manager for most of the season and was behind the signing of players that were key in winning the trophies like Mata and Cahill. Of course he deserves some of the credit.