At times yesterday, it looked as if Chelsea had read Arsenal's recently written script of travelling to Italy to be a lamb to the slaughter, Juan Mata's goal notwithstanding. Independent of Mata's fortuitous goal, Chelsea were just about as porous defensively (not too much of a surprise these days) as Arsenal had been but a week earlier, and in doing so effectively signed their own execution order for both this singular match and, in all probability, the two-legged tie as well. Peter Cech even did his part in these defensive lapses by inexplicably leaving himself in no man's land by coming out to the edge of the box to contest Edinson Cavani, thus leaving a gaping net for Ezequiel Lavezzi to coolly fire into for his second. For a side like Napoli that boasts such household names as those of Cavani and Marek Hamsik, there is certainly no need to help them score when they can do just fine in scoring on their own, thank you. Chelsea didn't exactly heed this elementary advice.
If the pressure from fans and perhaps owner Roman Abramovich had already been mounting on André Villas-Boas in recent months due to Chelsea slipping out of the title race, going on a poor run of form, and facing the possibility of not qualifying for next season's Champions League for the first time in ages (it's been over ten years), then it must surely have reached a critical level by the time the final whistle blew on yesterday's debacle. Frustration after such an abject performance, in addition to those recently, is highly understandable, but I would be wary to say that calls for Villas-Boas' removal are accordingly warranted.
Naive is the man who overlooks the situation that Villas-Boas stepped into after leaving the relative comfort of his plush throne at Porto for the frying pan that is Stamford Bridge. What Villas Boas inherited could be best described as an old boys club of egos that is also synonymous with a squad featuring too many key players who are either on the wrong side of thirty and not getting any younger (Terry, Lampard) or simply not producing at all (Torres, anyone?). In short, it is a squad in need of a massive overhaul and reinvention. There's far too much deadwood in this ship to allow it to sail as it needs to.
This is not to say that Villas-Boas hasn't made his mistakes in team selections (Cole and Essien probably should have started against Napoli) tactics, or man management (wouldn't it be nice to still have Alex around?), but I challenge anyone to find a manager who doesn't go through a season without getting it wrong a time or two. The team that Villas-Boas has at his disposal at the moment is one that is hardly representative of one that bears his stamp, and Villas-Boas has had little to do with players not marking up or or skewing clear chances wide of the post; the players have to be responsible for what they do on the pitch at some point. A summer transfer window with some cash to spend would surely change that for the better, which would be quite the relief for Chelsea fans all around.
The goal for Chelsea and Villas-Boas alike at this juncture should be one of finishing fourth and qualifying for Champions League. If that can be achieved, Villas-Boas should be allowed to build and see this through instead of being jettisoned so quickly. After all, he hasn't forgotten how to manage after bringing home FOUR trophies with Porto last term, and whether he's at Chelsea or another big job after this season, he will very likely win more trophies and garner more praise in the near future. He might as well have the chance to do that at Chelsea since he's there now.
If Chelsea do indeed part company with Villas-Boas, then one must wonder just where they go from here. Will this carousel of big name managers stop at any point. The apparition of José Mourinho still hangs over Stamford Bridge, as witnessed during Chelsea's FA Cup match with Birmingham City, and such massive names as Felipe Scolari and Carlo Ancelotti weren't able to exorcise it. Managerial instability since Mourinho's departure has done nothing but allow the ghost to hang on, so maybe an approach revolving around a calmed Abramovich trigger finger and cohesiveness with Villas-Boas could go a long way in bringing a new identity to Stamford Bridge and a return to winning trophies with greater regularity.
Roman Abramovich has probably heard this from someone during his involvement with the game in England, but it's a story that holds a sizable amount of relevance: Manchester United almost fired their struggling manager in the middle of the 1989-90 season as they were mired in a very poor run of form, but they elected not to. That's worked out pretty for them ever since then, I'd say.
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