January 2012 – With Drogba gone Chelsea won just 2 Premier League matches out of 6 through the month of January, both meager 1 goal victories against relegation-bound sides (Blackburn and Wolves). Whatever confidence and leadership Drogba brought to the club and senior players was gone, as AVB was forced to play Fernando Torres who has yet to score a goal in 2012. John Terry was injured in an FA Cup match against QPR at the end of the month.
February 2012 – Without Drogba or Terry and thanks to some speculative officiating, Chelsea gave away a three goal lead against Manchester United and only came away with a 3-3 draw. Drogba came back and tried to inspire the squad but the psychological damage of this match was deep. Again, Chelsea’s only Premier League win in the month of February was against Bolton, who currently sit 19th in the table.
March 3, 2012 – AVB was sacked as Chelsea manager after a 1-0 defeat to West Brom the previous day.
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To summarize and conclude, three things stood out to me during the time of AVB which ultimately led to his demise as Chelsea manager:
1) Alienating Alex and Anelka – It’s hard to ignore a 20% swing in winning percentage after these two were removed from the first team. AVB stood his ground on a lot of decisions, but he was very wrong here as he apparently lost the support of many players with this move.
2) He undervalued the importance of leadership – Drogba’s absence, leaving Lampard on the bench, Terry’s injury… while some of these weren’t his fault, AVB was criticized for keeping big game players on the bench for “his” guys (i.e. Meireles) and it simply didn’t work out. AVB is a smart man and sometimes he could out think the room – his tactics against Napoli are a perfect example.
3) AVB wanted player/staff input but didn’t take it to heart – It was made very clear by AVB he was “open” to the ideas of players/staff and would listen to them, but too often he was so set on doing things his way he would listen but not actually hear the words. This fundamental flaw in communication resulted in strained relationships with key players and staff – it’s a philosophy where you get all the credit when it’s successful (see his time at Porto) but unfortunately you get all the blame when you aren’t.
AVB did things his way and it’s hard not to respect that – unfortunately the current state of Chelsea Football Club cares more about results instead of ideals and philosophies. Chelsea paid dearly in finances and time for AVB hoping to end the managerial carousel but it simply didn’t work out anywhere close to the way it was intended to – it will now be up to caretaker manager and former Chelsea player Roberto Di Matteo to ensure a top 4 finish.
What are your thoughts on the sacking of AVB? Should he have been given more time or was it the correct thing to do? Who should replace him? Leave a comment below!
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…