Another lingering factor from the Mourinho days is the way players harass the referee. Chelsea players are nearly but not quite as guilty of this as Barcelona ones, but there are few teams in football that are as bad. John Terry and Ashley Cole are by far the worse culprits of this, and the way in which they can intimidate the officials would put Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher to shame. Again this does not look good on Chelsea’s record, but players cannot be expected to stop doing it when the manager is just as culpable.
For the majority of the time he’s been in the hot seat at Stamford Bridge, AVB has remained relatively cool, mannerisms on the touchline aside, yet after the game against QPR the young manager lost his cool completely and now faces having to ‘explain his conduct’ to the FA.
Every manager can be forgiven for losing their cool once in a while, and if this is an isolated incident then little should be made of it – Fergie especially has got away with more than a couple of comments over the years. Yet the way in which Chelsea surround the referee again is not a particularly good look for them and something Roman Abramovich is none too happy about.
Following the QPR game, Chelsea and John Terry have much to answer for, and it is vital that AVB shows strong leadership. The victory over Everton, unsurprisingly with 10 men, was a good reply performance wise, yet the ill-discipline has got to stop.
Should JT be found guilty of making racist remarks towards Anton Ferdinand, not only should the FA throw the book at the player, but Chelsea must do so as well. It is there that AVB may face his toughest challenge yet – suspending or stripping Mr Chelsea himself of the captaincy? One can only imagine the revolt – no wonder AVB and Chelsea are defending John Terry so vehemently. Before this potential problem however, AVB must deal with the issues in hand, and none are more pressing than the loss of discipline at the club.
Written by Rebecca Knight for FootballfanCast.com
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