Two games into the season, and Chelsea fans may already be wondering why the more things change, the more things stay the same.
Carlo Ancelotti was sacked in the summer after just two seasons in charge. Despite winning Chelsea’s first ever league and cup double in his first season, a mid-season slump and disappointing exits from the Champions League and FA Cup lead to Roman Abramovic sacking Ancelotti hours after the season had ended. Chelsea had recovered from being outside the top four in January to finish second in the league, just nine points behind champions Man United, and had even gone to Old Trafford with three games remaining with the chance of going level on points with United.
Following Ancelotti’s dismissal, many of the world’s best managers were linked with the job. But ultimately the Chelsea board would select Andre Villas-Boas, FC Porto’s 33 year old manager. Despite his age, Villas-Boas arrived at Chelsea after a remarkable season in Portugal. Appointed before the start of the season, Villas-Boas would lead Porto to an undefeated title winning league campaign, as well as winning the Portuguese Super Cup, Portuguese Cup and the Europa League.
But since his arrival, Chelsea have been strangely quiet in the transfer market. There’s been no revolution with a host of established first team players leaving, and the club have yet to sign a proven player to add to their squad. The three signings the club have made are youngsters. Thibaud Courtois is a 19 year old Belgian goalkeeper, and after spending £5million to sign him, Chelsea immediately loaned him to Atletico Madrid. Oriol Romeu is a teenage Spanish midfielder who joined from Barcelona, and the club completed the £18million signing of another Belgian, Romelu Lukaku, from Anderlecht on Thursday. Tipped as the ‘new Didier Drogba’, Lukaku only turned 18 in May, but has been in Anderlecht’s first team for two years, scoring over 30 goals. He appears to have a bright future, but with Drogba, Fernando Torres, Daniel Sturridge and Nicholas Anelka in the Chelsea squad, it’s unclear how often he’ll play, or if one of those four will leave (most likely Anelka or Drogba) during the transfer window. Meanwhile, Yuri Zhirkov is the only first team player to leave Stamford Bridge.
So what does this mean for Villas-Boas?
Although Chelsea had an unbeaten pre-season, conceding just one goal, they’ve had a stuttering start to their Premier League campaign. After a frustrating 0-0 away to Stoke last weekend, they conceded an early Shane Long goal against West Brom on Saturday, before scoring twice in the second half to win 2-1. But there appears to be little difference between the Chelsea of last season and the Chelsea of now. Although Fernando Torres has looked sharper and closer to his best, he’s yet to score, and Villas-Boas appears to have the same problem Ancelotti has, which is not knowing which combination of Drogba, Anelka and Torres works most effectively.
Elsewhere, Frank Lampard has been a peripheral figure in both games and at 33 questions will be asked about his ability to maintain the high standards he’s set during his decade with the club. Villas-Boas has inherited an aging squad, and although the signings made since he arrived have all been teenagers, only Lukaku seems likely to be a regular in the first team squad. Chelsea have been linked with a move for Valencia’s talented winger Juan Mata, and width is something Chelsea lack. Other than Florent Malouda, there are no out and out wingers at the club, with Ancelotti and now Villas-Boas trying Kalou and Anelka wide without the desired effects.
Following Sir Alex Ferguson’s makeover of his Man United squad this summer, Chelsea have the most experienced squad in the Premier League, with most of their key players over 28 years old. And while it’s too early to say whether Villas-Boas will be a success or not, it’s hard to see how he achieve more than Ancelotti did unless there are significant changes to the playing squad. And with less than two weeks until the transfer window closes, that seems unlikely.
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pls avb should solve our problem by buying wingers like angel di maria, jovetic, jesus navas, lavezzi, zarate, modric, perreira, montinho and adam johnsson, sell anelka, kalou, drogba and alex, they will give him problem. This new formation does not work…….tink 4-4-2 will be preferable with cech, ivanovic, david liuz, john terry, ashley cole, angel di maria, ramires, modric mata, torres, jovetic. Sub: montinho, perreira, McEachran, lavezzi, adam johnson…etc. Thanks…be wise ABV..
Villa Boas will not improve at Chelsea after retaining the old age players as his first eleven.
Villa boas should add more winger like Eden hazard or Marco Marin to Mata and more creative midfielder to modric because Mikel doesn’t move forward before the end of transfer window but should not depend on kaluo and maluoda because they play selfish football.
Look, a lot is still up in the air and people forget that, really, had Wilkins not been sacked for whatever he must have done to God knows who(or their wife if stories are to be given any merit which I doubt)Chelsea’s aged team would almost certainly have avoided that mid season slump, would not have needed to play all that catch up football and wouldn’t have run out of legs at the death of the season and in all likelihood WOULD have retained their title. Sure, a lot of what ifs but, seriously, Wilkins was why the wheels fell off and it was clear it took a long time for relations between staff and playing staff to heal.
Anyway, what i mean is those players aren’t ALL suddenly useless(some , maybe, but not all of them) and AVB needs to just see which to keep and which to let go. He’s tried to see what Kalou’s got to offer, too, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him and one or two of the older names to still leave this window. Drogba still, imo, has a lot to offer as a late starter to the pro game and someone who, as a result hasn’t been as worn down by the grind as most his age would have been and unless he goes to Spurs or somewhere similar as a makeweight for a creative CM player I see the contract being sorted so Yossi, Kalou, Anelka(who just wants to stay), Malouda and Paulo are looking closeest to the exit door despite people taking bets on Dan Sturridge leaving-I think he’d be the second striker on the team sheet right now if he weren’t banned which NO papers seem to pick up on.
Until a few of these guys are shipped out exactly WHAT do we expect to SEE changing? The players already there are great players and have talents to offer so just allow Boas to sift through them, make the squad more his own. Drastic surgery isn’t needed and the signing of Mata shows, alongside the youth of Romeu, Lukaku et al two fronts of intent-youth and team shape.
A month after the window shuts we’ll have an idea of the pecking order at Chelsea and know whether choices like Lukaku demanding to be AT Chelsea immediately rather than take another year in Belgium or keeping whoever we keep were wise. If we do something stupid like swapping DS for Mereiles then, sod it, I’m giving up making sense of the World. Not that Raul isn’t a decent player he’;s just not what we need and Sturridge could be a great help twice through being good AND being young and English! Aaand, if he wasn’t needed by AVB at Porto just HOW is he needed at Chelsea by the same manager?
Avb pls listen: frank lamp should b on d bench no more startin X1 4 him. We need playz to make our team to b the best in d world. like modric,mata, Edenhazard, M’villa, just only dis four playz wil b enough to bring trophies even(CL). You may add merieless but he is not much necessary 2 us. Put 2 bench lampard & Anieka. Then sell malouda, kalou, Benayoun, Alex and Drogba. Pls teach dis you our young playz not to be selfish when playing in pitch, bcos selfish game is our major problem today. I see that AVB has a very bright future wit these young guys.
We need playz like modric,mata,Edenhazard, Nasri, just only dis five playz wil b enough to lift as much trophie as. Put 2 bench lampard & Anieka, Drogba. Then sell malouda, kalou, Benayoun, Alex. Pls teach dis our young playz to never work alone, to play passes & attack like Barcelona. We will be perfect with these young guys.
Would be nice to see a team without the woeful Lampard or Drugba in it