Dear Andres Villas Boas
Dear AVB,
If you still want to continue in your job, stop imposing your style of football at Chelsea football club.
I am going to write a few things here but the gist is the line above and stick to it as if it were dear life. Remember, John Terry and Lampard are as old as you are. If you can coach a team they most probably believe they can too. It is not a question of who has the ability here nor is it the question of who is right. If you have players in your club who are celebrated as the favorite sons of the country the old boys will not take kindly to a strict substitute teacher who is a year senior to them. Every club comes with baggage in the form of egos. The only way to success is to manage that.
There are a couple of paths you can take. You can continue doing what you are doing and end up becoming Luiz Felipe Scolari who has probably forgotten Chelsea as a short nightmare or you can be a Mancini and wait till you bring the entire team to submission under an iron fist. Please remember Mancini took a while making the team he has made and he had full support from the rich Sheikhs who owned the club. The eccentric owner of Chelsea who has been promising you that he will not fire you might just make you cut a Christmas cake with a knife wrapped in pink tissue which to your utter surprise will turn out to be letter that contains the words “You are fired”.
The best path to take is the third one which, as a Chelsea fan, is my favorite. This is called the Guus – Ancelotti path. The reason they adapted this approach is because these guys didn’t become stars overnight by training a high school team who followed your plan to the T to enter the highest league of football club competition in the world. However commendable that was it will remain a wikipage in your historic career if you don’t adapt quickly. Sadly, it might be the only page. Under Guus and Carlo all the senior players played. Under Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea was having a terrible run and yet he stuck to the senior team without making significant changes to the side. Ancelotti would probably have snatched the premier league title had Roman not offered him the most expensive and useless Christmas gift ever which cost the club a sweet 50 million pounds. He was forced to play Torres when he was going fine with Drogba and Anelka and then the whole rotation system began causing mayhem and imbalance. The little recovery that happened fizzed away in no time. Roman not only paid the price for the gift but also shifted the blame to his favorite bait, the club’s manager and fired Ancelotti who would have handed him his dream Champion’s league trophy if he had been patient for just one more year.
I see very similar parallels to be drawn from the Indian cricket team which performed woefully under the very astute but tyrant of a coach in Greg Chappell. No questioning his ability but then he was the wrong guy for the right job. What Chelsea needs is a man manager. You can never take Chelsea to glory by constantly pointing out that Lampard and Drogba are slow. You can take the club to glory by knowing how to use Drogba and Lampard. Drogba is still arguably the best player who can bring the ball away from a defender and score goals on his own. He is just as strong as he was a year ago. Lampard is probably one of the most gifted players who complete passes with more than 90% accuracy. His movement into the box is legendary and the way he picks players ahead to pass the ball calls for an extraordinary vision. He is your highest goal getter and you are making him warm the bench because he is too slow to play your style of football? I think you should start thinking what is Chelsea’s style of football and then all players will become a lot more relevant.
A problem of plenty can cause a manager both delight and immense confusion. Although he has a chance to pick players who can suit a particular game plan he will not be able to sustain it if the senior players are not in it. Terry/Lampard/Drogba are the soul of Chelsea and you can’t insult them by picking Sturridge and Ramires ahead of them. They brought glory to the club when they won FA and the Premier league title and in 2 years they don’t age rapidly. You can still use them in combinations and please note even in this season goals have come primarily from Lampard and a revived Drogba who needs far fewer chances than Sturridge to score. Not taking anything away from Sturridge and Ramires. They have been stellar for the club. But the foundation has been shaken once again. You can’t fix this on a white board with a marker. Try a bar and listen to why these guys believe they can’t play a highline against some oppositions. You might just win a contract extension and guess what the media monkey will get off your back too.
Sincerely,
A disgruntled Chelsea fan!
If you still want to continue in your job, stop imposing your style of football at Chelsea football club.
I am going to write a few things here but the gist is the line above and stick to it as if it were dear life. Remember, John Terry and Lampard are as old as you are. If you can coach a team they most probably believe they can too. It is not a question of who has the ability here nor is it the question of who is right. If you have players in your club who are celebrated as the favorite sons of the country the old boys will not take kindly to a strict substitute teacher who is a year senior to them. Every club comes with baggage in the form of egos. The only way to success is to manage that.
There are a couple of paths you can take. You can continue doing what you are doing and end up becoming Luiz Felipe Scolari who has probably forgotten Chelsea as a short nightmare or you can be a Mancini and wait till you bring the entire team to submission under an iron fist. Please remember Mancini took a while making the team he has made and he had full support from the rich Sheikhs who owned the club. The eccentric owner of Chelsea who has been promising you that he will not fire you might just make you cut a Christmas cake with a knife wrapped in pink tissue which to your utter surprise will turn out to be letter that contains the words “You are fired”.
The best path to take is the third one which, as a Chelsea fan, is my favorite. This is called the Guus – Ancelotti path. The reason they adapted this approach is because these guys didn’t become stars overnight by training a high school team who followed your plan to the T to enter the highest league of football club competition in the world. However commendable that was it will remain a wikipage in your historic career if you don’t adapt quickly. Sadly, it might be the only page. Under Guus and Carlo all the senior players played. Under Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea was having a terrible run and yet he stuck to the senior team without making significant changes to the side. Ancelotti would probably have snatched the premier league title had Roman not offered him the most expensive and useless Christmas gift ever which cost the club a sweet 50 million pounds. He was forced to play Torres when he was going fine with Drogba and Anelka and then the whole rotation system began causing mayhem and imbalance. The little recovery that happened fizzed away in no time. Roman not only paid the price for the gift but also shifted the blame to his favorite bait, the club’s manager and fired Ancelotti who would have handed him his dream Champion’s league trophy if he had been patient for just one more year.
I see very similar parallels to be drawn from the Indian cricket team which performed woefully under the very astute but tyrant of a coach in Greg Chappell. No questioning his ability but then he was the wrong guy for the right job. What Chelsea needs is a man manager. You can never take Chelsea to glory by constantly pointing out that Lampard and Drogba are slow. You can take the club to glory by knowing how to use Drogba and Lampard. Drogba is still arguably the best player who can bring the ball away from a defender and score goals on his own. He is just as strong as he was a year ago. Lampard is probably one of the most gifted players who complete passes with more than 90% accuracy. His movement into the box is legendary and the way he picks players ahead to pass the ball calls for an extraordinary vision. He is your highest goal getter and you are making him warm the bench because he is too slow to play your style of football? I think you should start thinking what is Chelsea’s style of football and then all players will become a lot more relevant.
A problem of plenty can cause a manager both delight and immense confusion. Although he has a chance to pick players who can suit a particular game plan he will not be able to sustain it if the senior players are not in it. Terry/Lampard/Drogba are the soul of Chelsea and you can’t insult them by picking Sturridge and Ramires ahead of them. They brought glory to the club when they won FA and the Premier league title and in 2 years they don’t age rapidly. You can still use them in combinations and please note even in this season goals have come primarily from Lampard and a revived Drogba who needs far fewer chances than Sturridge to score. Not taking anything away from Sturridge and Ramires. They have been stellar for the club. But the foundation has been shaken once again. You can’t fix this on a white board with a marker. Try a bar and listen to why these guys believe they can’t play a highline against some oppositions. You might just win a contract extension and guess what the media monkey will get off your back too.
Sincerely,
A disgruntled Chelsea fan!
I don't agree with u bro on this. Football in the last 2 yrs has changed. It has become faster and hence viewing a Chelsea vs Arsenal or a ManCity vs Arsenal is fun! ManU is experiencing this change. Its ageing manager just attack the ball!
ReplyDeleteAVB knows that and all he is trying to do is create a team which is young, dynamic and can move the ball quickly. And hey, Mancini did it in just a year! And how can you compare him with Greg Chappell?
Lampard can pass the ball accurately, but can he do that quickly so that a young and quick Sturridge can score.
Chelsea needs a young manager, young wingers and young strikers.
You haven't mentioned Juan Mata who was picked by AVB. How can you miss that one? He is the best thing to have happened to Chelsea after Zola.
Give him some time. He is doing the right thing. we saw that against Newcastle. We saw that against Valencia. And yeah, Drogba was a strong factor in both these matches, but he has always preferred Drogba over Torres.
AVB will be successful for Chelsea. Just give him some time.
Mancini became manager of Man city in December 2009.
ReplyDeleteJuan Mata is a Zola and is fantastic but we did won a title without him. Chelsea came second last year too..without Mata or Sturridge.
Inter won the champion's league under Mourinho and its average age was the highest.
Football has been the same and its only teams that are adapting different styles of football. AVB can still get his style going and win silverware but then he has to ensure that all the vintage players are out of the club by then else it has to be the Guus-Carlo way.
And yes, Lampard can pass the ball fast!