FOR a man with so much to lose, it was extraordinary to witness Andre Villas-Boas gambling away his Stamford Bridge future in such spectacular fashion in an Italian last chance saloon last night.
With persistent rumours of boardroom turmoil along with player unrest, allegedly headed by a number of senior figures refusing to go away, Villas-Boas chose a Champions League tie to make a clear statement of his intent and sent Michael Essien, Frank Lampard and astonishingly, Ashley Cole, to keep £50m flop Fernando Torres company on the substitutes bench.
But his plan backfired spectacularly within the opening 15 minutes and he was forced to swallow his pride and call on Cole to replace the injured Jose Bosingwa – whose sole contribution had been to needlessly and foolishly concede possession deep inside his own half.
Villas-Boas has repeatedly called on club owner Roman Abramovich to break his silence and publicly back him but Abramovich, who has overseen the appointment of seven managers in the previous nine years, has remained silent leading to increasing speculation that when John Terry finally returns to first team action it is more than likely to be under a new manager.
On a night when the travelling ‘Bridge faithful were anticipating a gutsy, unified display they were instead treated to a toothless, leaderless exhibition, epitomized by persistent shambolic defending the likes of which would have made many a Sunday league team blush.
However this isn’t a new phenomena and has been all too clearly visible in the Premier League where Chelsea are stuttering along in a run of poor form which has seen them collect a paltry 12 points from a possible 30 and so far concede more goals than Everton, Sunderland and Liverpool and it is this refusal to acknowledge and move to repair his flaky defence which will ultimately spell his downfall.
But let us take nothing away from a Napoli side that are a welcome addition to the Champions League, their swashbuckling approach to the modern game perfect for the neutral but understandably less so for the purists.
The irrepressible Ezequiel Lavezzi, believed to be heading to the Premier League during the summer where he will be welcomed with open arms, was a constant source of danger as he has been throughout this Champions League campaign while fellow goal scorer Edinson Cavani tied the Chelsea backline in knots for 90 minutes.
Gary Cahill and David Luiz will not be relishing next month’s return leg after they were caught short time after time with only the bravery of Peter Cech to thank for avoiding the nightmare of an even heavier defeat while the future inclusion of Raul Meireles will no doubt be occupying the mind of everyone who witnessed his erratic performance in the Stadio San Paolo.
For how much longer will Abramovich tolerate Chelsea’s current tactical naivety, lack of passion and absence of on pitch leadership and unity? How much louder do the boos have to get before there’s a new man in the dugout? The latest name to be linked with the Blues is Rafael Benitez who would no doubt relish the opportunity to be reunited with Torres, however Abramovich is known to be an admirer of under fire Barcelona boss, Pep Guardiola.
The noisy critics of Andre Villas-Boas are gathering at the gates and it is perhaps fitting to note that an anagram of his name is Bad As Sin, Allover, a fitting epitaph for his reign so far.
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