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Chelsea: AVB Must Stay No Matter What
It's a genuine surprise to see Arsenal be the first English club to secure a place in the second round of the Champions League. Both Manchester clubs and Chelsea will have obstacles to overcome in their final group games but Chelsea's problems will not be solved by yet another managerial change...
So defeat in Germany last night made it four losses in the last seven games for Chelsea. As much as this is a terrible run for the Blues, it does present the perfect opportunity for me to write the article that I’ve been holding off on for some time – Andre Villas-Boas must remain at Chelsea regardless of the outcome of this season. A bad run of form was always going to come for AVB – granted I had hoped it wouldn’t come quite this soon but nonetheless it is here and with Chelsea’s record with managers in the Abramovich era, question marks are looming over Villas-Boas’ position from all corners of the press.
The game in Germany was one that was entirely dependent on the result and not the performance for AVB. Had we defended the final set piece correctly and drawn the game to go into the final fixture against Valencia a bit better off then I’m sure attention would have been drawn to how Chelsea looked comfortable for periods of the second half. And praise would have been handed to Drogba for scoring a goal that was typical of his old self, holding the ball up strongly and following with a confident turn and finish. However, Leverkusen showed great character and Chelsea had several let-offs following the goal. The first half was fairly cagey as a draw would have been by no means disastrous for either side. But after Chelsea’s goal the home side were not going to lie down and looked to capitalise on the Chelsea defence that has looked so uncharacteristically shaky over the last couple of weeks. Given the chances Bayer Leverkusen created there was not much in this game for Chelsea fans to complain about. Apart from Dider Drogba’s penalty shout but as a Blues fan I’ve now learnt to take it in my stride when we don’t get penalty decisions in the Champions League. But regardless of the game that was played on the pitch, as is so often the case with Chelsea, the press attention will remain off the pitch – with AVB’s job the centre of discussion.
For me, Abramovich’s lunatic policy on managers quite simply has to change and I’m sure very few people will disagree with this. And before I get crucified for criticising our Russian benefactor I will be the first to hold my hands up and praise the amount of good that he has done for Chelsea. There is no debate – we would not have had the success we’ve already experienced without Abramovich and his money. And in the greatest scheme of things you can be nothing but grateful as a Chelsea fan. However, you also have to admit that if the success is going to continue then the revolving door he installed on the manager’s office upon his arrival at Stamford Bridge will have to make way for a more permanent fixture. Even if it does mean we write off ’11-’12 as one of those much talked about “transitional seasons”.
Based on the exits of most of our managers it makes the Chelsea job look pretty appealing – work a year or two and get paid for five? Seems like a decent deal!
Even without the discussion of Villas-Boas, too much too young and all those obvious issues, let’s first acknowledge the other departures of the Abramovich era. Guus Hiddink seems a good place to start, as the fact that he is now a free agent has only fanned the flames of speculation on the Chelsea job. He won the FA cup without breaking a sweat in his short stay at the club and upon his departure it felt like the Dutchman had unfinished business in west London. It was only honouring his commitments with the Russian national side that prevented him from staying with Chelsea. There was also Scolari whose bad run in his first season in charge earned him an early exit – a path that many in the press are now predicting for AVB. Most recently we had Carlo Ancelotti, whose average of a trophy per season was just not quite good enough to satisfy the demands of Mr Abramovich. And there was Avram Grant, who all but for a John Terry slip, could have been the man to bring Abramovich his holy grail – the Champions League.
With the mention of that season, let’s get to the real point about Chelsea’s managers – Grant’s predecessor. Let’s be honest, anyone could have taken charge of that team between Mourinho’s exit and Terry falling over in Moscow and it wouldn’t have made the slightest bit of difference. It was the Special One’s team. In terms of managers over the last couple of years, I feel that we could have maybe tried harder to cling on to Hiddink and Ancelotti certainly didn’t do enough wrong to get the boot but if you’re going to entertain this debate it can quite plainly be concluded that we should have never sacked Mourinho. Whatever politics and power struggles can explain that decision, they do not justify it.
We are over four years and five managers on from Mourinho and no stability has been established. Yes, AVB is very young and the swift step up from winning the Portuguese top flight and Europa League to competing in the Premier and Champions Leagues is huge. But this policy of changing the manager every time we hit a bad patch is laughable. It would cost Abramovich £20 million just to get rid of Villas-Boas. Based on the exits of most of our managers it makes the Chelsea job look pretty appealing – work a year or two and get paid for five? Seems like a decent deal!
AVB must stay. Even if we lose to Valenica, crash out of the Champions League, make premature exits from the domestic trophies and have nothing but fourth place to fight for – I still think he should stay. Sir Alex took several seasons to win anything at Manchester United – stability is clearly the only way towards sustained success.
Other recent stories you might like:
Chelsea: Can Andre Villas-Boas Dodge Abramovich’s Bullets and Deliver The Holy Grail?
Chelsea’s AVB Is Much More Than A Poor Man’s Mourinho
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COMMENTS
simplistic article. but that's exactly what needed to be said. there was no complex issue beneath the surface to be addressed. it's right out there on front street. as a Liverpool fan I think Chelsea should definitely stick with AVB. Abramo needs to accept that no manager is an instant success just add water type. every manager no matter what players he has at his disposal needs to acclimatise and work with them to gain the balance they need. I know at this stage of the season last year I was sounding the battle cry for Woy to be axed. but let's be honest that's different. We went from an excellent and underrated manager to a clueless twit who picked our job to improve his CV and fuck all more. And at this stage were hovering over the relegation zone. whilst not trying to sound arrogant it simply isn't ok for Liverpool FC to be talking about relegation. but with the current strength of the top teams, for Chelsea to say 5th place before December even hits and still very much in with a shot of last 16 qualification in the CL is not actually a bad place to be? If Liverpool were in that position I'd be doing fucking backflips. I'm disappointed that we could easily have been second if we'd actually won the 4 games we drew at home and beat Stoke away, all games we were well on top of but could finish off. but would I call for Dalglish to go? would i fuck! I'm appreciative of the stability we now have and because the top teams are now so much stronger joined 5th is far from a shite place to be in coming to December. the sacking culture needs to change. I would hope other Chelsea fans are as firmly behind their manager as you are.
if only the author of this article was called John Terry. I think AVB is on borrowed time
aw jeaz oh boys a tell ye wan time i was out puttin in bales with the ole john deere and oul andre villas boas came in and gimme a wee hand bejaysus he put on a pair a legans and wellies and startin grapin away like a good un
AVB must not be sacked no matter what happens.
Abramovich is the problem. He suffers from the delusions of grandeur most wealthy people do by believing he can interfere at every twist and turn. Insane, ruthless sacking of managers prematurely aside (I'd even forgotten about Scolari's tenure!)the biggest clanger he ever made was sanctioning the sacking of Ray Wilkins, replacing him with Michael Emenalo. That signalled the death knell of Ancelotti, who lets face it, a trophy-less season aside, (but a double on his debut) would have been any sane persons sure fire bet to be at the helm of a period of transition which is so desperately required at The Bridge. But no the instant success RA demands means just throwing money at questionable signings (Torres) and yet new managers (AVB? Europa League title and Portuguese championship with Porto... never played the game... eh?), but neglecting to do whats really important - concentrating on youth development. The backbone of the side is aging and bereft of the players that made Chelsea great in their pomp. The defence is missing Carvalho, the midfield is lacking a makelele, up front Alenlka's out of there, Drogba's passed his best and Torres couldn't hit a barn door. Are there any decent youth players coming through? AVB will probably go; wont bother him he'll make a fortune out of his sacking. Guus Hiddink will return and will be faced with the same problem of trying to meet RA's insane demands with an aging squad... And with Man City buying all the big names, Chelsea really need to rethink their strategy.
I thnk he shud be sckd.Wat gud dd he brng?Gud lukin?we want nthn of dat sort we wnt trophies.We've blwn a golden chnce msin a penalty wid gang.why let luiz score?we hv strikers n yet we leave a defendr to scr?oca ma dead bdy if we luz wid valencia at da bridge beta ge off to da ext door.we r tired of cryn evrydy.Da high eye browed guy was a man to kp.Roman deservz dis failure stpd sackn ancelotti and bringn AVB whuz nevr been a player hmslf.Worse start in 11 years!still wana kp hm.lstn fellow bluz dis guy evn f u gv him a decade he'll only brng u tears.Long live chelsea fans!
Good shout Lawrence, stability is a must if the club are going to get back to the very top. In the meantime I can live with a season or two of the EUFA Cup if it means not having to go to Barca or Porto again for what's starting to feel like an annual trip, Lisbon, Prague or Amsterdam in the spring will do just nicely. It doesn't take a football genius to know that we're not even close to winning the big one this season, I'd hate to see us take on Barca or Real at the moment, and I think Abramovich has given AVB at least this season to get his team together and playing how he wants them to play. Top 4's always nice, but having spent what is still the majority of my Chelsea supporting life settling, and sometimes praying, for a top 17 finish I'll take this for a crisis anytime.
Theoretically speaking: "if you dump 2 good women then should you just stick with 3rd because u made mistake in dumping the first two?". I guess that may be the case with AVB. If AVB is the best manager going forward then I'll say ok but stability for stability sake with wrong guy is not the answer. If u tell me that AVB has not made tactical mistakes or is not partly to be blamed for current results then I'll say good but I think by now we know his "high defensive line and weird selections are part of the reason for Chelsea's current form. Not to say anything about immature press conferences such as going out on limb on Terry too early & now backing off. By the way even with our "ageing squad" we have the 2nd best squad in league but results don't show that & that's where AVB fault lies. I know Abramovich has made a mistake in firing in past but should that make him gun shy even now when we are on brink of crashing out of champions league & with legitimate chance to finish out of top 4. Do u want Chelsea to become Liverpool?? Good for top 6 but not good enuf...If next article is why AVB is the man after acknowledging his shortcoming I may support the argument. However till then Mr.Abramovich do as u please. Ur money, ur call & finally u r the accountable one--every reporter disses u now as well & u r man enuf to take it & still go on. U have made our squad strong enuf to win the titles in past so mistakes r part of it but don't loose confidence & don't be gun shy because of past mistakes!!!
"It's a genuine surprise to see Arsenal be the first English club to secure a place in the second round of the Champions League." 12th year in a row, where exactly is the surprise?
Chelsea this Chelsea that another manager going to be sacked, blah blah blah, we’ve heard and seen it all before, and as a Chelsea fan since the late seventies and a regular at the ground I’m totally disillusioned by the whole current set up. Roman Abramovich is loved even adored by football fans across Europe but unfortunately for him none of them are Chelsea fans… As long as he’s in charge and keeps authorising the sacking of the best managers in Europe the fans of Europe’s elite clubs and all the fans in the premier league will continue to love him, how stupid is this billionaire? If you ask a football fan who they’d rather own their club out of Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour I know who I’d put my money on… Not because he’s richer but the sheikh lets the manager manage and that brings stability to any club. Abramovich just doesn’t seem to get that simple fact does he? And you have to bear in mind Roberto Mancini is hardly the best manager in the premiership is he? But his squad is so strong I’m quite certain I could keep them winning… His actions haven’t made Chelsea any stronger since Jose Morihnio left so what’s your excuse Roman? And before the Chelsea hierarchy and Abramovich’s lapdogs issue any more statements or blame regarding our recent form and fill us with more Borsch about the masterplan for the future, can I ask are we not in the future every day? So surely this means your plan has failed? Or was it your intention to keep sacking our winning managers? Not replenishing our squad sufficiently when needed? Giving the players way too much authority over the managers? And make yourself the laughing stock of European football? Obviously it is… After all you’re the boss right Roman? And what you say goes… But remember the fans make the club and we were here way before you and I’m sure we’ll be here a long time after you, but whilst you are here and you are welcome, give us back stability… That’s what we need. Accept when you’re wrong, get it right and let’s move on.
If AVB sticks around the results and champions league guarantee will come good with the return of Essien - no coincedence IMO why Hiddink managed to have such success without changing anything. Although he still needs to find a way (or a new player) to make Torres work.
A young manager inherits an ageing team with a mis-firing 'superstar' striker. In short, there are a lot of issues that will take longer than a few months of his first season to address. The question will be 'how long with RA give him?'. He's changed a team used to a more measured, tactically defensive approach into a more cavalier, attacking force. From a neutral's point of view it's nice to see the wheels fall off the billionaire's toy but you get the feeling that he'll be rewarded for sticking with AVB for the duration of his contract. That squad requires a overhaul that will cost RA another £100m+, maybe more if he's serious about challenging Man City any time soon. Essien, Lampard, Drogba, Obi Mikel and Anelka should all be phased out at the end of this campaign, if not earlier to allow new players to settle in.
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