AVB has just fronted up and admitted that he screwed up with preparation for today's game. At least he got that right. However, credit to Everton, they deserved their win, and their win was more down to what they did right than what we did wrong.
I want AVB to succeed, but I don't think he will. Maybe with time, and the players that HE wants - but not like this. This was the worst performance by a Chelsea team in a long, long time. Possibly since RA took over the club. What makes this performance worse is that it follows a string of poor performances throughout this season.
Seriously torn about what we should do about all this - yes, AVB must take some of the blame (like I said, he did tonight) but as always, the men running the clubs rarely take the blame. A lot of what has gone wrong lies squarely at the feet of Roman; maybe he knows it and for that reason he may give AVB some leeway. Of course, so much of our success is down to RA, and I will never forget the success enjoyed so far but things started going wrong when he forced Shevchenko onto Jose. He didn't learn from that mistake.
We are where we are now, and we have two options; fire AVB and bring in either Jose, Hiddink or Capello. Anybody else shouldn't be considered, as I think it would be equally as much a gamble as the AVB appointment. The "new" man must be given free hand with transfer decisions, or at least (as with Carlo) he should be made aware of transfer policy beforehand, and must be able to work under those conditions. I assume AVB was told about that beforehand and cannot therefore understand why he has only picked Cahill for 1 out of 4 matches given our defensive frailties.
The other option is to back AVB to the hilt. Bring some stability to the situation by making it abundantly clear that his job is to reshape and reinvigorate Chelsea. Anything on top of that is a pleasant bonus, although a top 4 place is expected. Bring the wage bill down, as well as the average age of the team. Find a new breed of hungry, ambitious players who want to play for Chelsea. Not another footballer whose main concern is the terms of his contract. So far, he has shown Anelka and Alex the door, and I don't have a problem with that if he felt that they were either not pulling their weight or being disruptive, or even at an attempt to cut the wage bill. However, I would also expect to see an improvement in performances over the season after their replacements had been brought in - i'm not seeing it.
Right now, I think the club is leaning towards the second option. AVB will go if he doesn't produce 4th place, and too many more performances like today will have the same effect, but I think (hope) that Roman has realized that a stable dressing room is vital and that the incredible successes that we've had so far have been achieved when players wanted to play for their manager and for the club. There a a few players in that dressing room who still wish that there was someone "special" leading them, and seem content to allow AVB to take the fall for performances. That's wrong.
Recently, the team "bonded" with a trip to some exotic place. That's fine, as long as the team bonded - there didn't seem to be much of a bond out there today. Right now, I hope there are huge amounts of shouting and shattering tea cups going on. I'm furious at that performance, and I expect everybody involved today to be equally as passionately pissed off with themselves, and itching to get back out onto the pitch to set things right. I expect us to beat Birmingham, and beat Napoli over two legs. If we don't, AVB will be on borrowed time; he either goes straight after the Napoli game or at the end of the season. I also hope (hope, not expect) us to qualify for the CL next year given the strength of the squad. Arsenal are seriously after that 4th place and we cannot afford to be as complacent as we were tonight again.... ever.
Makes me appreciate the genius of Jose even more.
Who is to blame if we don't qualify for the CL?
I want AVB to succeed, but I don't think he will. Maybe with time, and the players that HE wants - but not like this. This was the worst performance by a Chelsea team in a long, long time. Possibly since RA took over the club. What makes this performance worse is that it follows a string of poor performances throughout this season.
Seriously torn about what we should do about all this - yes, AVB must take some of the blame (like I said, he did tonight) but as always, the men running the clubs rarely take the blame. A lot of what has gone wrong lies squarely at the feet of Roman; maybe he knows it and for that reason he may give AVB some leeway. Of course, so much of our success is down to RA, and I will never forget the success enjoyed so far but things started going wrong when he forced Shevchenko onto Jose. He didn't learn from that mistake.
We are where we are now, and we have two options; fire AVB and bring in either Jose, Hiddink or Capello. Anybody else shouldn't be considered, as I think it would be equally as much a gamble as the AVB appointment. The "new" man must be given free hand with transfer decisions, or at least (as with Carlo) he should be made aware of transfer policy beforehand, and must be able to work under those conditions. I assume AVB was told about that beforehand and cannot therefore understand why he has only picked Cahill for 1 out of 4 matches given our defensive frailties.
The other option is to back AVB to the hilt. Bring some stability to the situation by making it abundantly clear that his job is to reshape and reinvigorate Chelsea. Anything on top of that is a pleasant bonus, although a top 4 place is expected. Bring the wage bill down, as well as the average age of the team. Find a new breed of hungry, ambitious players who want to play for Chelsea. Not another footballer whose main concern is the terms of his contract. So far, he has shown Anelka and Alex the door, and I don't have a problem with that if he felt that they were either not pulling their weight or being disruptive, or even at an attempt to cut the wage bill. However, I would also expect to see an improvement in performances over the season after their replacements had been brought in - i'm not seeing it.
Right now, I think the club is leaning towards the second option. AVB will go if he doesn't produce 4th place, and too many more performances like today will have the same effect, but I think (hope) that Roman has realized that a stable dressing room is vital and that the incredible successes that we've had so far have been achieved when players wanted to play for their manager and for the club. There a a few players in that dressing room who still wish that there was someone "special" leading them, and seem content to allow AVB to take the fall for performances. That's wrong.
Recently, the team "bonded" with a trip to some exotic place. That's fine, as long as the team bonded - there didn't seem to be much of a bond out there today. Right now, I hope there are huge amounts of shouting and shattering tea cups going on. I'm furious at that performance, and I expect everybody involved today to be equally as passionately pissed off with themselves, and itching to get back out onto the pitch to set things right. I expect us to beat Birmingham, and beat Napoli over two legs. If we don't, AVB will be on borrowed time; he either goes straight after the Napoli game or at the end of the season. I also hope (hope, not expect) us to qualify for the CL next year given the strength of the squad. Arsenal are seriously after that 4th place and we cannot afford to be as complacent as we were tonight again.... ever.
Makes me appreciate the genius of Jose even more.
Who is to blame if we don't qualify for the CL?
This.