Op-Ed: Andre Villas-Boas – Chelsea’s Unmitigated Disaster

By Ed Fernandez
12 years Ago

And so the axe falls yet again, as the curtain drops on yet another manager on the hallowed grounds of Stamford Bridge ai??i?? Roman Abramovichai??i??s multi-million dollar hunting ground. Eight managers have seen their tenures close at Stamford Bridge and it is a telling statistic that only one of them ai??i?? Guus Hiddink left with his head held high.

The latest casualty at Stamford Bridge ai??i?? Andre Villas-Boas ai??i?? is a man who might have to live with the tag of being Chelseaai??i??s worst manager in the entire Abramovich era. If Scolari was fired for merely flirting with exiting the top four, Villas-Boas seemed to revel in cementing Chelseaai??i??s position in fifth spot.

Barring the signing up of Juan Mata, the Portuguese managerai??i??s tenure has been an unmitigated disaster. With a winning percentage of just 50%, Chelseaai??i??s choice to succeed Carlo Ancelotti has been ineffectual with his tactics on the touchline, and with the upkeep of squad morale in the dressing room starting with the 0-0 draw with Stoke City.

Andre Villas-Boas was a victim of his own success at FC Porto. Having steered them to the UEFA Champions League, the myth and the legend around Villas-Boasai??i?? methods began to grow ai??i?? feeding upon itself, it would seem.

The attention to detail, the meticulously drawn game plans and the obsession with the notebook were quirks, we were told. It was almost as though media outlets, usually reserved with their affections, wanted him to succeed desperately at Chelsea. Eventually, Villas-Boas received no vetting of note. It was taken for granted, that being a disciple of Mourinho and having spent a few years at Chelsea and Inter, he was groomed to take over the spot at Stamford Bridge.

As with most things in life, nothing ever comes with a guarantee. Villas-Boas went to work immediately setting the team up to play a high-paced, possession-based style of football. This wasnai??i??t your run-of-the-mill team formation change at half-time. This was about altering the very DNA of a team.

Now you donai??i??t have to be a surgeon to figure out gene replacement therapy is a painfully slow and arduous process. Changing the way a team functions, and its style of play honed over decades by managers who realized what worked best for Chelsea, overnight was not only going to be impossible. It was also asinine. And sticking to it, despite every logical impulse telling you it wasnai??i??t working, was unforgivable intransigence on the part of the manager.

Chelseaai??i??s players are a notorious lot ai??i?? when they arenai??i??t making lurid headlines, theyai??i??re usually plotting to establish a rival power-center within the Cobham camp. And a lot of blame for Villas-Boasai??i?? failure will be laid at their doorstep. Any statements from the manager will only confirm everyoneai??i??s suspicions that bridges were burned, irrevocably, between the players and the staff.

And this is unfair to the players ai??i?? for unlike Villas-Boas, the players are proven performers. More often than not, players have an eye and feel for the game. All indications point to Villas-Boas giving short shrift to any suggestions from the playersai??i?? camp.

Frank Lampard is an intelligent person, and surely he realizes there remains precious little time before his clock runs out. The England midfielder has surely, at some level, made peace with the fact the midfield will no longer be his dominion and sole preserve.

With Villas-Boas brought in purportedly with the blessings of Roman Abramovich, to shake up the team, it wouldai??i??ve been career suicide for Frank Lampard to be seen as not cooperating with the Russianai??i??s master plan. And yet, itai??i??s Villas-Boas who finds himself without a job.

Never really got off the mark at Chelsea

Villas-Boas simply overplayed his hand. Having walked into a side, just a year older than the oldest members of the squad and having had no playing experience of note, it was always going to be a hard ask expecting him to be accepted.

Villas-Boas is not a playerai??i??s manager; he is simply the proverbial managerai??i??s scout. An academician to the core, he is best suited serving an established manager with his reams of paperwork ai??i?? which the latter can then use to fashion a coherent policy, at his discretion.

Villas-Boas, on the other hand, had little idea about what to with his voluminous notes on Chelseaai??i??s opponents. His primary concern, for the first time in recent memory, was directed at improving his own team. And that spelt disaster for him and his team.

This was a man usually tasked with drawing up battle plans best suited to taking rival teams apart. Playing to oneai??i??s strengths was never his forte; he was more attuned to ensuring his opponents couldnai??i??t play to theirs.

When tasked with pleasing Roman Abramovich and satisfying the Russianai??i??s cravings for attacking football, Villas-Boas took Chelsea down the Arsenal route even though the Blues barely had the legs for such an initiative. For a man so determined, he strangely showed no persistence in the transfer market. Playing a high-defensive line, always and without regard for ground realities, he single-handedly wrecked Chelseaai??i??s miserly defense, the cornerstone of its triumphant campaigns in the past decade.

Choosing not to play Lampard may have been a masterstroke in bravery ai??i?? but then fielding Meireles, Malouda and Mikel when they were clearly playing sub-par was bound to incense supporters. Andre Villas-Boas may also be guilty of another Scolari-like act of treason ai??i?? he turned players against each other. Refusing to grant Nicolas Anelka a farewell party was crude and juvenile.

The one player you do not want to mess with

Stamping his foot down on any negotiations regarding Alexai??i??s continued stay at the club showed he was willing to put his own agenda ahead of the clubai??i??s interest. He would rather play David Luiz and Paulo Ferreira in centralAi??defense than bring Alex in from the cold. A perceived tendency to favor Portuguese and Spanish-speaking players, made matters worse and culminated ultimately in David Luiz taking to the newspapers to voice his displeasure at Frank Lampard.

Never in the past decade has the Chelsea room been so riven with dissent, and so clearly staring at a season without Champions League football. Never in the past decade have Chelsea played as pointlessly and utterly ineffectually as they do now. Never in the past decade have so many Chelsea players taken to the field unsure of what their futures hold. Never in the past decade have Chelseaai??i??s stalwarts and youngsters been so disconnected. Never in the past decade, has Roman Abramovichai??i??s grand experiment looked so certain to fail.

And for all those counts ai??i?? the verdict is clear. It is a damning and unconditional indictment of the man in charge. Andre Villas-Boas is finally gone, nobody will miss him.

Categories: Chelsea FC, COVER STORY, Editor's Pick, English Premier League
Tags: Andre Villas Boas Chelsea FC

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