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Andre Villas-Boas was sacked earlier today, the 5th manager to leave the club since Jose Mourinho was axed on September 19th, 2007 (not including Ray Wilkins who managed 1 game). Of these managers, AVB had the worst winning percentage…
…and it wasn’t even close. A full 10% separated AVB from the last Chelsea manager who didn’t make it a full season, Phil Scolari. (stats courtesy of thechels.co.uk)
Another shocking stat is the goal difference per game of Chelsea under AVB – a meager 0.63 which is less than half of the difference under Ancelotti and 75% less than the next worse Chelsea manager (Hiddink – 1.09). The stats are clear even though some may disagree with the decision – AVB did not have Chelsea playing anywhere close to the same level as his predecessors.
So how exactly did the demise of AVB happen? Let’s recap his time at the club…
June 22, 2011 – Chelsea pay Porto £13.3m in compensation to land AVB, fans rejoice. Some are hopeful he can have a 20 year run at the club – he didn’t last 20 months or even half of that.
August 2011 – AVB, unlike some managers before him, attempts to plan for the long-term future of Chelsea by signing the likes of Juan Mata, Oriol Romeu, and Romelu Lukaku – the first 2 have been solid first-team players, the latter still only 18 with the physique and upside to be one of the best strikers in the world.
September 2011 – After going undefeated in the first 5 matches under AVB, Chelsea lost 3-1 to United on September 18th. It was their only loss of the month.
October 2011 – Chelsea lose only once in the month of October (against QPR with 9 men) until October 29th, when they lose to Arsenal 5-3.
November 2011 – Anelka starts his last “real” game for Chelsea in a 1-1 draw against Genk on November 1st, Alex on November 5th against Blackburn. This is where I think AVB really started to lose the locker room after he froze out two players who were not only key members of the club’s success in the past but also highly respected by senior players. Chelsea won only 39% (9 wins, 7 draws, 7 losses) of their matches after the win against Blackburn, down from 59% (10 wins, 4 draws, 3 losses) before this date.
December 2011 – After a 2-0 defeat on November 29th to Liverpool, Chelsea replace Fernando Torres with Didier Drogba who rejuvenates Chelsea, guiding them to convincing wins against Newcastle (3-0), Valencia (3-0), and Manchester City (2-1). Drogba scored 3 goals combined in these matches. After a shock draw to Wigan and a respectable draw to Spurs, Drogba left for the Africa Cup of Nations and Chelsea lost all momentum, losing 3-1 against Aston Villa at the end of the month.
He should have gotten more time. A more experienced manager could not have done much more with this current squad. Chelsea needs stability and now we are practically back to square one.
The appointment of AVB makes no sense to me now because what could you really expect of a young and inexperienced manager dealing with a squad that needs overhauling?
I hope maybe someone like Pep Guardiola (since he is attack minded) or Jose Mourinho will become the Chelsea manager in the summer. If one of them are appointed then that is the only way I can really see AVB’s sacking in any positive light.
Chelsea could honestly go in a number of directions with their manager position, likely to be a manager with a more established pedigree than AVB though, but that’s not saying much…
Only Jose can help us.
Of course he should have had more time, though in the Premier League it’s a results business and Managers can’t afford to take their time.
Dawleylad
http://www.keelbyunited.co.uk
1. Sell Malouda,Lampard,Cole and Drogba.
2. Bring Piazon,Kakuta,Van Aanholt and Bruma into the squad
3.Buy a key skillful winger and take Mata to play as a free creative midfielder
4.Give players like Lukaku more time to play, the kid has talent just being shadowed by Torres and Drogba
The Other thing is that we need a manager who has the POWER , The senior Chelsea players like Terry,Lampard,Drogba and Cole think thatthey own the club.
I don’t think Chelsea will ever out and out “sell” Lampard, just the way it is with his legacy at the club. Players like Lukaku and Piazon are huge talents but need time, likely somewhere else. United is a good example, they don’t generally play 18 year olds fresh off the youth squad unless they absolutely need to, send them on loan for matches and experience like Chelsea did with Sturridge.
avb to me has actually showed every sight about our dressing room in kind of brief ….. never was the best man for us but he has given start for time of certain transition . but roman needs to b smart and stop commanding n buying whom he wants and let coach n scouts do their job many mistakes of roman has landed us to such a bad faith
AVB was a smart guy and campaigned to bring in young players with immediate first-team talent who will (hopefully) be with the club for some time to come. His impact will now be directly tied to Lukaku, Mata, Romeu, Thibaut Courtois, etc.
You can’t have everything!
If we want a change in philosophy we can’t sack every manager who does not get “results”.Chelsea might have a winning profile to keep up but there is no way to win everything and rebuild at the same time.
Not to mention the fact that if you don’t buy the biggest and best players you’ll never get to the top that quickly.
AVB should have been given at least another season to prove himself.
You can’t uproot and rebuild a club in 8 months like he was expected to.
Now we’re just going to get someone else who will try and maybe even win something but it won’t be successive.
What Roman and the Chelsea board are doing is playing the lottery and the odds are definitely against them.
The expectations are certainly high and given the turnover of successful managers it seriously makes me wonder if there is something fundamentally wrong with the manager position at Chelsea. Thanks for your comment!
AVB greatest mistake was to believe that keeping any of the following: Drogba, Cole, Lampard and Terry on the bench and expect there wouldn’t be an uproar from either the players, fans or the English Media. He should have at least sent one of the fore mentioned players packing at the beginning of the season to show who’s Boss and any other revolting players during the January window transfer. Roman should be aware that Chelsea’s faded stars are holding the club to ransom and the sooner he gets rid of them better the chance of He acquiring the Champion’s League Trophy
I think he tried the “remove the problem” tactic with what may be “B” stars such as Anelka and Alex and it really didn’t work out well for him. Removing players such as Terry or Lampard would cause a mutiny at the club, it’s different if they leave on their own terms but a coach with little credentials coming in and usurping a club legend would not have gone over well at all. I mean, look at what happened when he put Lampard on the bench…