Whenever a big European club, particularly in England, goes through a patch of poor form and disappointing performances, the first person called into question is the manager. When that man in charge is relatively new to the job and unproven in the position, the media frenzy surrounding them only serves to exacerbate the problem. But for Villas-Boas, the issues are particularly high-profile and complex for a young and inexperienced manager to deal with, as the pressure builds with every fixture. So before we all grab the pitchforks and call for major changes in the management department at Chelsea, consider a few points:
Lets put this into some kind of perspective. In the last 7 seasons, Chelsea have had 5 different managers. That’s a lot. We’re talking about a team who, under Mourinho from 2005, were back-to-back Premier League champions. Not only this, but they were considered to be one of the most consistent and solid performers, notoriously stubborn and incredibly difficult to beat, turning Stamford Bridge into a fortress of success. Then ever since the departure of Mourinho, the has been no stability. Andre Villas-Boas has taken the reigns at a side that look a shadow of their former self in terms of confidence and reputation. It’s a tall order to expect him to re-ignite a side, arguably with a squad of which includes many ageing key players, but to do that in one season without having any below-par spells is an unrealistic goal for any newcomer. Andre needs as much time as any other manager would to stamp his authority on the Chelsea team and build up a squad of his players with his implementation.
When we delve into Villas-Boas’ past record as a manager, it is reasonably sparse. However since his time in the dugout began seriously, he has achieved great success in a short period of time. At the start of the 2009/10 season, the Portuguese manager took over at Primeira Liga side Academica. He was never going achieve miracles there, but he did a very impressive job of turning around the club’s fortunes, leading them away from the foot of the table into 11th place. He clearly has decent tactical knowledge in which to apply, despite his young age and lack of experience as a professional player, probably acquired under the wing of Jose Mourinho. The job Villas-Boas did at Porto is now well documented and stands out as a great achievement. Not only did he guide the team to the League title and a Europa League trophy in 2010/11, but his team went the season unbeaten. This just shows that he has the experience and understanding of how to take a squad of players and build them into a solid unit, in Europe and domestically, and in such a small period of time.
Now look at Chelsea’s ambitions for the future. They obviously want to challenge for titles and European success with the backing of Roman Abramovich, but now potentially face the tricky task of achieving this whilst in a transitional phase in terms of players. Strong suggestions have been made that there is to be a big turnaround of players in the summer, with little activity so far under Villas-Boas compared to what Chelsea have done in the past and what they are financially capable of. Given the anticipated extravagant wishes and demands of the owner, Villas-Boas surely needs to be given time to see this season through, secure a Champions League spot and then build the squad in the summer. I’ve never been an advocate of sacking a manager mid-season, but to do it before he gets a major chance to re-evaluate and adjust the squad seems harsh to say the least. One of Chelsea’s stand out players this season has been Juan Mata, who was bought by Villas-Boas and certainly seems to fit the criteria of the type of player Chelsea want and need at the club. When talking about having young, creative and successful people as part of the team to help take them to a brighter future – where better to start than with the manager.
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