When hearing someone say Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has lost control, the images that are conjured up are those of a player revolt, with dressing room difficulties, and John Terryleading the protests, in a repeat of the Mourinho situation, thinking he knows better than the manager – sorry JT but the decline in both your and Chelsea’s form since the departure of a certain Special One suggests this is not the case. Maybe the phrase ‘lost control’ at the club in fact refers to a dispute with the man upstairs – no not god, as he likes to think of himself as, but Roman Abramovich. Again you’d be wrong in that assumption. What AVB has in reality been accused of losing control of is the discipline at the club.
For a man who learnt his trade under someone who makes his team train with 11 v 10, just in case UEFA and the relevant opposition are displaying favouritism once again, it is not as shocking as it should be when revealing that AVB and his Chelsea side have incurred 5 red cards in the last 8 games, finished the game against QPR with only Cech and Mata not receiving a caution from the starting 11 and can also claim to have never escaped having at least one player on the wrong end of a yellow card in every game this season.
Yes, Chelsea may point to the fact they never fare well under the officiating eye of Chris Foy, and he has been responsible for the sending off of 4 Chelsea players this season alone, yet for the vast majority of the red card offences, Chelsea can have little to no complaints. This is something that has been a prominent factor at the club for more than a couple of seasons now, with disciplinary issues marring much of the success Chelsea have had. Many may point back to the Mourinho era and say it was instilled in the players since then, and has not been cut out of the team despite the amount of managers since.
This however is something that AVB quite simply has to cut out of Chelsea’s game, as sooner or later playing with ten men or less as the case may be will cost them more than just 3 points at Loftus Road. Not only is it physically draining on the players but they also have to then deal with the suspensions on top of the injuries that inevitably occur and the loss of several players to the African Nations. Needless suspensions are something that have to be cut out and are something that AVB cannot let carry on any longer or the manager will be serving his head on a platter to Abramovich’s overused managerial gauntlet.