8 managers in 9 years, what a complete joke Chelsea are, long may this state of affairs last.
Was anyone else perturbed by AVB’s proportionally massive head? He always looked like a bit of a caricature type figure to me.
They shouldn’t have let Ancelotti go but then they should never have let Mourinho go either and they’ve never properly recovered from that.
Hard to judge Villas Boas at all. They wanted him to reform the club and to win trophies at the same time which was never going to happen. He took over a badly ageing squad who were used to playing only one way and who seem to collectively refuse to do anything else. The influence the senior players have there is poisonous.
I wonder if anyone in the English media will take a look at John Terry now and wonder why nobody at international or club level seems to be able to manage teams he captains.
without mourinho they have won a league title and got to a champs lg final.
only those behind the scenes know how poisonous the influence some of the key players allegedly have. Id say it is well overplayed. The poisonous influence I reckon is that criminal of a chairman who is used to buying whatever he wants. That naturally creates huge instability and it was too much for an inexperienced manager like AVB.
AVB needed Torres to come good. Torres had been signed as Drogba’s replacement but his dire form meant Drogba has had to stay on. Lampard may not be the force of old but dropping him was silly. Wasnt there one game he was dropped and he came back and scored a hat trick in the game after. The form of Meireles has been poor since his arrival so leaving a player like Lampard out to accomodate him was always going to cause problems.
JT has been the captain of many successful sides, the likes of Eriksson, Ancelotti, Mourinho, Ranieri all seem to have got him playing well at the highest level. His legs are gone though which is why playing a high line defensively with him as a key defender was crazy. Ferguson and Wenger have been masters at knowing when the right time was to let players go. The instability in the hotseat at Stamford Bridge has meant that the likes of Terry have stayed on longer than they should. Excuses could be made for his off field behaviour when he was at his best but now that he is reduced to being a run of the mill player it makes sense that he is left to go to Anzhi or wherever.
AVB biggest failing was that he tried to impose a gameplan on a set of players that it wasnt suited to. He will have learned a lot from the Chelsea debacle and hope to see him bounce back at another club.
Fernando Torres, 6 managers in less than 2 years.
More managers than goals
Wenger is hardly a master at knowing when to let players go. Arsenal’s lack of success in the last 7 years is down in large part to a lack of steel and experience because he writes players off too early and has that policy of only offering 1-year contracts to players once they reach the age of 30.
I presume you’re just being contrary and you don’t really think that Chelsea are better off without Mourinho.
Terry is certainly beyond his best but Villas Boas has hardly had time to get rid of him. They hired a young ambitious manager with the idea presumably of a medium or long-term project and gave up on it after a few months. It’s a brutal way to run a club but the players have done him no favours.
Bandage makes a decent point on Wenger too - he just has an arbitrary rule about 30 years of age. Plenty of guys have agitated for moves away from the club and that can hardly be divorced from the idea that that Wenger shows little loyalty in the long run.
Did AVB not show loyalty to JT though over the whole racism thing (thus far)? Strange that he supports JT and tries to take Lampard out if the team.
I wouldn’t agree with that. I can’t think of any player that Wenger has been loyal to when that player has seen better days. There are a host of players that aren’t good enough full stop. But these are generally young player e.g Song etc
Wenger’s over 30 policy is bizarre but isn’t the reason they aren’t winning titles. The players he has aren’t good enough. Bringing in players simply because of their age wont solve the issue. He just needs to sign better players and recognize some of the huge deficiencies in his side.
wegner??
he hasnt won anything in years
But no top international 27 year-old for example should contemplate joining them if they know their chances of getting two contracts are very slim. It has a big effect on their transfer strategy and their ability to attract and retain players. The club aren’t particularly loyal to anyone - irrespective of their abilities.
Joachim Loew being linked with the Chelsea job
Sven has also expressed an interest
Rumours circulating that Franco Baldini held talks with Vilas Boas last month about taking the Roma job at the end of the season. Apparently Enrique is being lined up to replace Guardiola at the end of the season who is hotly tipped to take the Inter post if he does leave.
I’m hearing Ranieri has been let go by Inter with youth coach Stramaccioni taking over.
Not a huge surprise
This has now been confirmed:
http://www.inter.it/aas/news/reader?N=57254&L=it
Astute readers will note that Inter broke the news a minute after I did (which was a good 10 minutes ahead of the likes of gazzetta.it).
He won the Next Gen cup with Inter. I’m sure this will be a temporary appointment, Inter are fucked. Branca and Moratti have destroyed them with a terrible transfer strategy.
Nicolas Anelka has been appointed player-manager at Shanghai. :o
I hope every player goes on a sulking fest until they get a move to a better club and much higher wages.
I hope he does a fine job and is a great success. A player I always had a lot of time for.