Liverpool fan here in peace. Obviously, you guys are not playing as you should do and there seems to be numerous issues behinds the scenes. Im not here to gloat as things are far from perfect for us to. If I were a chelseas fan what would worry me is the obvious division between some players and manager. I dont know the full facts, but im guessing the player rebellion (if you can call it that) is most probably lead by John Terry. What do you think of this. Do you think the players are right to question the manager? Or do you believe the manager should be given time to develop you into the successful side that you can be? The older players have a very good record at Chelsea in the past, but are getting on now and will not be about forever. The manager has an outstanding rcord at past teams and will take time to develop you. As an outsider, Im not really ion a position to comment, as im not as knowlegable about Chelsea as you guys are. But I do think terry is a bit out of line and his influence could be causing problems in the squad. And of course, Torres is a good player, but not doing the job for you that he did for us, which I still finhard to work out why. Its a tricky one. Do hope you guys do well in Europe as you guys are now holding the fort for England in the champions league. A good run there could galvanise your team.
I think it's a mixture of things. Players that have been successful in the past are living on that. Also we have a manager who has had 2 seasons behind him. He's young and will make mistakes. Unfortunately, he'll be making them at our club.
Ive often thought with promising young managers that it would be good if you could treat them like players. Sign them up, then loan them out to learn their trade..lol
Hmm, I don't think there is a player rebellion as such, but there is unrest. Quite frankly, our problems on the field in terms of the way we play derive from a complete lack of a creative midfield. Mata can't hold the line by himself. The football we try to play does not work with the squad we have. If we parked the bus every game for the rest of the season 4th place would be easy, but we leave out selves exposed to midfields that are quicker than ours. The Torres problem is him. No confidence, so when he gets the ball (which fair enough, is a seldom occcurance ) he has no idea what to do. Now, AVB rambles on about crap in manager speaking things, but I think tactically, he does know most of what he is trying to do, it's just the players don't execute it very well. For example, Man Utd game. Confidence + Mata down the middle = 3-0. Then, he trys to close the game down. Mata goes out left. 20 minutes = 3-3. For the final 10 Mata returns to the middle, we look like scoring again but sadly don't. When it is executed well we get 3-0 vs Valencia and Newcastle. He's learning, but slowly. He needs to build his team.
Sorry to infer player rebellion, as i said, I dont understand the situation fully. It sounds to me like you would like to give AVB time? do you think he will have to get rid of certain players to do this, or do you think the players that complained will stop when results start going the right way?
I think a win or draw against Napoli will give him a ticket to survival. A heavy loss and he will be gone I fear. I do want him to have time, but if it's like this next season then Roman has been conned into investing in AVB. As for summer, I recokon Drogba, Bos, Malouda, Kalou, Mikel, (maybe Lampard, but hopefully not ) will be gone, and will all be replaced with younger players.
Boas' age is the reason behind the disputes. If the manager were Mourinho or Ancelotti, the players wouldn't have uttered a word.
It's true. AVB should have stamped authority soon by getting rid of older players like Malouda and Bos, but somehow managed to get rid of the best ones, Anelka and Alex. Big mistake on his part.
Good point. As much as I hate Fergie - he would of stamped his authority the minute he met the players. AVB is clearly still learning his trade (which in itself is why I thought it was strange that Chelsea signed him). Time will tell I guess - but for me he is far too inexperienced to take control of one of the power clubs in the EPL.
This situation is a classic "chicken and egg " one. Did the old clique decide to cut up rough because of AVBs' age ?? I don't think so. They did the same thing to all our managers since Avram Grant ( and we won't go there please ) It may have started out years ago with Scollari as a genuine complaint about tactics/selections etc, but as they got older, slower, more vulnerable to replacement, it changed into a straight anti manager thing, whoever that was. Now it's just a straight case of protecting their personal power/ fame/ salaries at the expense of the Club and its' supporters. With AVB, right from the start his brief was apparently to reinvigorate the team and take it forward. That was the death knell to the clique, so they have done everything in their power to undermine AVB. People, being people, are divided on where to go. Some say get rid of AVB, others say get rid of the old players and start afresh. I fall into the second camp, but AVB does himself little good with his silly attitude to the press and whinging about referees. He should put a smile on his face, try some humour and humility, and reserve his anger and vitriol for his under performing players. Most people realise whats going on, but need to come to understand and respect him more. This he does have the wherewithal to change. Team performances are much more difficult with his dysfunctional squad. One things for sure, if we fire him this season, NO ONE with a brain would come within a bulls roar of our club, either players or managers.
Chelsea are a team in transition at the moment, with very talented key players in or approaching the twilight of their careers. The Mourinho boys, Cech,Terry, Lampard, Drogba and Cole can no longer deliver in the way they once did and its AVB 's job to create the future! This was something no manager was going to achieve without a few blips along the way! It doesn't help his case when a very expensive addition has taken far to long to justify his move! There are some great new additions to our squad in Mata , Romeu, Ramires , Luiz and to a lesser extent Meireles and some great youngsters like Bertrand, Hutchinson and the on loan McEachran ready tostep up! I have a feeling, if he can survive the chop this year AVB will be top dog in 12 months time!
Have to say I agree with this. IF he survives the chop, we should see some rapid improvement. My assessment earlier did not take into account your important point.... AVB has had to rely on poor old Torres for long periods. If he had scored every other game we would be much better off, and so would AVB. Now ask, who bought Torres ??????
Let's not forget this rot has been setting in for some time now, not just this season. I'm not sure how much respect Carlo got, as when Ray went we dropped like a stone in terms of form...I remember seeing once how he let player power go on as it created a good harmony in the camp...I'm not ****ing surprised, if my boss said "tell you what guys, do what you want yeah" we'd be having a ball but getting next to nothing done!
