Great teams need to be built, not bought. If you consider the some of the greatest teams in recent times (current Barcelona, Man Utd late nineties) these teams, as well as being supplemented by good transfers, grew together. You can’t buy on field relationships, you can’t buy camaraderie at a club and you can’t buy understanding between players. These are things that need to evolve naturally and Abramovich has stunted this. Even Real Madrid’s extravagantly assembled team comprising of some of the world’s best players to time to get used to each other and are only now fulfilling the potential that began when Pelligrini was in charge.
Experience
It takes time for foreign managers to adapt to the Premier League just as it does for players and whilst some managers like Ancelotti and Mourinho did brilliantly in their first season not all will be able to. That doesn’t make them a bad manager that just makes them human. Managers need to learn what tactics and which players work well against different teams and that is the sort of thing learned over the course of a season.
Abramovich has seemingly given his support for the manager he paid Porto £13m for in the summer and hopefully for Chelsea fans he will continue to do so. Villas-Boas is only 33 and is one of the most exciting managers in world football. Everyone knows that Abramovich wants the Champions League but if Man City’s first Champions League experience has taught us anything it is that there is no formula for instant success at Europe’s top table.
You could say of Abramovich that whilst at first he was a wealthy oligarch, he is now an experienced owner of a football club, he has learned from his mistakes and the signs are there that he is changing. You get the feeling that he definitely regrets some of his actions since taking over Chelsea and it seems this year that he is determined to put it right. You just hope for his sake that he has decided to offer his patience and support to the right manager.
Written by Hamish McKay for FootballFancast.com.
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good article.
AVB didnt buy lukaku, he had been looked at for awhile.
his purchases have been Mata and Oriol, potentially the two best players this season. stay tuned!