The Chelsea manager’s latest scathing tirade against former Manchester Unitedand Sky pundit Gary Neville was as shocking as it was ill-advised. Whether it be that he’s just unfamiliar with the all-encompassing nature of the English press or that he’s genuinely cracking under the pressure, the state of paranoia that Villas-Boas is currently operating under is both bizarre as it is unsettling.
The young Portuguese manager railed against his critics after his side’s 3-0 thumping of Valencia that saw them progress top of their Champions’ League group after a sticky run of form. He stated that: “My players deserve respect they don’t get. We’ve been chased by different kinds of people and pressures. Here we have given everyone a slap in the face.”
It seems odd to blast your critics after such a convincing victory to begin with. Chelsea have justifiably been criticised this season for a series of displays that only served to highlight what a comparatively fragile squad they have when you look at season’s gone by, they’ve lacked discipline, consistency and have been guilty of far too many individual errors. Most importantly, up until the Valencia game, whenever the opposition was of a continental calibre, Chelsea were soundly beaten.
To my knowledge at least, the media have gone relatively easy on Villas-Boas so far. He’s been criticised, correctly in my opinion, for trying to change too much, too quickly. Obviously eager to get his Stamford Bridge revolution under way, he’s overhauled their style of play, integrated a higher defensive line, changed the club’s transfer policy and started to tear apart a previously successful side, ruthlessly dropping the likes of Frank Lampard to the bench and Alex and Nicolas Anelka to the reserves.
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Almost every article that I’ve seen written on Villas-Boas criticises the current state of the Chelsea side, without heaping the blame solely on the man in charge. How could you? He’s only been in charge for four months. Criticisms of the club have almost always been directly followed with the caveat that Villas-Boas, unlike a few of his predecessors, needs more time. The main issue that’s prompted this so-called ‘persecution’ is the history of Chairman Roman Abramovich and his happy trigger-finger.
It also appears to have taken on a personal effect on Villas-Boas too, with him continually singling out of Gary Neville for criticism. The Chelsea manager clearly doesn’t like Neville, not many people do, but that doesn’t mean that he’s a poor pundit. Far from it in fact, Neville has proven, despite some early nerves, to be bother irreverent, funny and insightful. He’s been a breath of fresh air.
Villas-Boas stated after the Valencia game: “We see a (former) Manchester United defender (Neville) say in the preparations for the game things like, ‘I don’t want to be one of the Chelsea players today, I couldn’t play this game and it is a difficult game for them’. This is out of this world for me, I don’t believe this. This is a continuous persecution; it is aggression towards one club.”
That continued today with: “I’d say this to his (Neville) face with most pleasure. You can’t speculate and invent things that are going on. Some people can have more or less an idea. But not him. He cannot know. You cannot approach a top Brazil central defender saying he’s commanded by a kid with a PlayStation. That’s ridiculous. Comic criticism and the lack of in-depth criticism from top ex-professional players… when they take the route to the ridiculous; I think I have a word to say. He (David Luiz) plays for the team with most [world] titles, so be careful with what you’re saying. What does he know about the Chelsea dressing room? What does Gary Neville know about our dressing room? How can you imagine what is going on in the Chelsea dressing room? How can you know? Have you been here? Do you know where Cobham [Chelsea’s training ground] is? You don’t even know how to get here. I’m normally indifferent, not watching on the telly to see what these people say. But I was watching the television at that moment and I was gobsmacked.”
Too many anomalies and too much bias in this article to take the time to correct/comment accordingly. Suffice to say that I’m not surprised that you find Gary Neville “irreverent, funny and insightful”. I suspect you aspire to become equally talented and are certainly heading in the right direction.