Is there nothing sacred left in this world? We had all seen the writing on the wall leading up to the sacking of the young Portuguese tactician, but I for one was holding out hope that trigger happy Roman would prove me wrong. Were results bad? Without a doubt Villas-Boas was struggling with this Chelsea side having only collected thirteen wins and suffering seven defeats in the Barclays Premier League; languishing in fifth position, one can hardly argue that Villas-Boas was on course to achieve the minimum expectations of the Russian oligarch. The subpar showing in the BPL combined with what is sure to be a premature exit from the competition Roman covets so dearly - the UEFA Champions League - AVB’s current stat sheet was looking quite unimpressive. Yet as a neutral observer to the situation I have to say I am more than a bit disappointed with the removal of the man, though I concede that with AVB seeming to be in mental turmoil by the end of his tenure, maybe Roman was just trying to preserve his well being.
Why am I so outraged about the sacking of a man with such a damning record? Move the hands of the clock one year back and the whole world was falling in love with a young charismatic coach, a former understudy of the self proclaimed “Special One” who had his Porto side playing some of the most attractive football in Europe. They had a quick passing scheme and their side dripped with creativity and clever movement, while the predatory Falcao smashed in goal after goal. Roman Abramovich was watching just like us and he, just like us, got swept away by the all conquering Porto side which managed to celebrate an historic treble at the end of the season; a season which was young Villas-Boas’ first full season in charge of his boyhood club.
Roman was undoubtedly enthralled with the brand of football Villas-Boas was able to produce with the Portuguese side that was operating on a budget nowhere near Chelsea’s capability. One thing we must understand about Roman, is that since the world has been hit with the feel good factor of this beautiful football on display by Pep Guardiola and his honour guard, he has been obsessed with bringing an attractive brand of football to Chelsea. It is alleged that Roman once sat down former Barca supremo Txiki Begiristain to ask him what he would need to achieve similar results at Chelsea; Txiki allegedly responded blunty with “ten years.” Here in AVB he saw a project, a man who could come in and mould the squad with his ideas and have Chelsea playing the type of football that he wanted them to be playing. What excited me about this very expensive appointment at Chelsea was that I thought it would represent a new type of thinking for the football club. A move away from the short term mentality that had plagued them and a move towards a more careful and focused approach on where the club was going; on top of which Villas-Boas was a proponent of some very lovely football. In fact in the early part of AVB’s reign in London the buzz words emanating from the club were all very positive, empty promises such as “patience”, “long term project” and “time” were all bandied about. Good promising stuff which gave the impression that Roman was in fact ready to give this new manager the time he needed to instil the ideas of this new project.
Where did it all go wrong then?
I think that it would be unfair to blame Roman alone and this article is not an outlet to bash on the Russian oligarch who I felt ultimately was left with little to no choice due to Villas-Boas’ inability to get his players to play for him. The type of football AVB is associated with can be awkwardly compressed into two ideas, high pressing on the defensive end and most importantly movement and mobility. What Villas-Boas may not have recognized is that he was walking into an aging side which was in no way set up to play this kind of football on the defensive end. Asking an aging John Terry to press high up the field was always going to be a problem, especially when the man who would be forced to clean up the mess behind him was the much maligned David Luiz.
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Andre Villas-Boas also in my opinion walked into this job too soon, one can understand the lure of the job and why he may have jumped at the opportunity; however he had yet to truly be tested with adversity in a Porto side where he comfortably walked to a league title unbeaten all season. He had yet to face the kind of egos that he would come to face at Chelsea and the kind of adversity he would come to face if it didn’t all go right from day one. One more year at Porto where he would’ve gotten to taste Champions League football and maybe a little disappointment with a group of players who loved him and a side built in his image may have made the transition to top level management a bit smoother. However one can understand that a man has to ask himself when will I ever get this opportunity again?
One side of the story which keeps emanating is the lack of respect he got from the players and it is something that I will not go too much in depth with as I wasn’t at the training ground and speculation is not exactly my forte. What I will make mention of however, is that if some of the reports are true, then these players ought to be utterly ashamed of themselves; having said that, it is still part of a manager’s job to keep his players in line and motivated, so we can really blame both parties here; though one would think that these experienced players would show a bit more maturity.
