Is Andre Villas-Boas the man to take Chelsea forward?

As the full time whistle blew at Stamford Bridge on Sunday a dejected Chelsea side trudged from the pitch after suffering their third defeat in four Premier League matches, and their second consecutive loss at home, this time against Liverpool. It was the first time that such a thing had happened under the stewardship of Roman Abramovich, and the unfortunate milestone, in addition to this also being the worst start to a season since the Russian took over, has put some early pressure on the shoulders of young manager Andre Villas-Boas.

It may be early days yet, but the demands at Chelsea are high. Athough there has been talk of Abramovich now looking at the long term future of the club, his history of showing little patience with managers has led to much scepticism over just how long he'll give the young Portugese coach if results, and performances, don't improve.

But Abramovich paid over £13m to prise the highly-rated coach from Porto in the Summer, and awarded him with a three-year contract. Sacking him would cost around £13m alone, and if you included the fee it cost to sign him then it's double that – even for someone as rich as the Chelsea owner that is quite a substantial loss, and would surely persuade him to show at least a little patience. Then again, this is the man who paid £50m for Fernando Torres – wasting money is possibly not something that concerns him a great deal!

However, in the past few weeks the football world has shown its appreciation to Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson, and if anyone is a prime example of why patience can often pay off with a manager then it's this man. Former Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards confessed himself that Ferguson was close to losing his job during the early years at Old Trafford, where it took four years for the Scot to win his first trophy at the club, and seven before a league championship success. 

Speaking with Mirror Sport, Edwards stated;

“My biggest worry was that if success didn’t arrive, the pressure on us from supporters would grow and grow.

“They may have started voting with their feet by not coming to games, because there was a lot of animosity towards Alex at that time.

“We really wanted Alex to survive. But if we’d gone on for another six months or a year without things changing, we’d have been forced to do something."

It's amazing to think now, after all the success Ferguson has enjoyed at the club, that there was a time when his very job was on the line. Although the board maintain that sacking him was never discussed, there is no doubt that for a period of time things were not easy for the Glasgow-born coach. But one thing he did have was experience as a manager, and a number of years at the top level in the UK.

The main problem with the Villas-Boas acquisition for me was that the fact he had little experience outwith his own country. Although he enjoyed a great deal of success with Porto, it's almost expected that the manager of this particular club should win trophies domestically – it's quite similar to taking charge of the Old Firm in Scotland. The Europa League is hardly a prestigious tournament either, so in terms of pedigree there was always a massive question mark over him.

His tactical approach thus far in his Chelsea reign has seemed naïve to say the least, and just completely unsuited to the players at his disposal. His side have been left hopelessly exposed with their high line, with the likes of John Terry appearing very uncomfortable in the new system.

In defence of the rookie manager, he has acquired an ageing squad which really seems to be on its last legs as a group. The spine of the team hasn't changed a great deal since the days of Jose Mourinho, and at their height were successful mainly due to their solidity and defensive strength. Whether or not Villas-Boas is the man to take Chelsea forward there is little doubt that the squad requires a drastic overhaul.

But this group of players are effectively the same team who ran Manchester United reasonably close for the title last season, yet recent performances have raised questions over Chelsea's status as a top four side, let alone their title credentials.

Ultimately I feel that Abramovich really needs to give his new manager at least a season to settle in and try to have an impact on the side, but personally I'd seriously question his appointment in the first place. It would seem that the Russian billionnaire got caught up in the hype surrounding the young Portugese coach, and possibly felt he was signing the next Mourinho – even if the two managers have drastically different tactical approaches.

The sacking of Carlo Ancelotti is also beginning to look more and more ill-advised, but now the decisions have been made there is little point in dwelling on them. Abramovich will continue to call the shots, and although Andre Villas-Boas has publicly stated that his job is safe, the cut throat nature of the position he holds, coupled with the availability of a certain Guus Hiddink, will surely have him feeling more nervous than he'd care to admit.

By Laurie Dunsire

Time for Chelsea to cash their Cech?

 

Once the cornerstone of the meanest defence in the Premier League, Petr Cech now seems to be a mere shadow of a once great goalkeeper.

Chelsea lost five goals at home to London rivals Arsenal, the first time they'd conceded five at home in the league in over twenty years, and Cech looked less than secure. Beaten at his near post on three occasions, the Czech international stopper had only seven shots on target to deal with, and conceded five of them. His shots to save ratio in the Premier League this season is currently 46%, the lowest of any keeper in the division.

In Jose Mourinho's first season as Chelsea manager they conceded a record low of fifteen goals in the entire campaign, a figure that the current Chelsea side have already reached – after just ten matches! In that particular Mourinho year, 2004/05, Cech also set a record of 1,025 minutes without letting in a goal – although this has since been beaten by Edwin van der Sar.

At 29 Cech is relatively young for a goalkeeper, with a potential decade still remaining in his career. He did suffer a horrific head injury in 2006 following a clash with Reading's Stephen Hunt, leaving him with a fractured skull – hence the headgear that the keeper still wears.

But he appeared to make a full recovery from the injury, and although Chelsea lost his return game 2-0 to Liverpool, he then went on another fantastic clean sheet run of 810 minutes in the Premier League. However, the last two seasons have seen Chelsea concede more than 30 goals in league campaigns, something that hadn't happened for five consecutive years prior to that.

There are of course defensive issues at Stamford Bridge other than Cech, as John Terry gets older his lack of a solid defensive partner becomes more and more evident. Ricardo Carvalho provided such a partner during the height of Mourinho's Chelsea success, but at the moment question marks are still being raised over David Luiz or Branislav Ivanović's central defensive qualities. Right back is another position that no longer has a consistent performer.

But Cech certainly appears to be a far less confident and assured goalkeeper than he once did, and in recent seasons has looked suspect at cross balls as well as letting through far too many soft goals. However, he is not yet 30 and has a lot of time to recapture his once superb form. The question is, will he do so, or do Chelsea need to cash in on Cech whilst he still holds some value, and start looking for a new number one?

By Laurie Dunsire