Villas-Boas can get Chelsea back on track

David Shonfield

DAMAGED goods or work in progress? Six months into the job as Chelsea manager, André Villas-Boas is struggling to impose himself, both on and off the pitch.

Stamford Bridge has been anything but a fortress. The last time Chelsea lost three at home by the halfway point Glen Hoddle was in charge and John Terry was a Year 10 pupil at Eastbury Comprehensive.

Villas-Boas has adjusted that high defensive line but Chelsea remain vulnerable late in on games. Apart from Blackburn, they have the worst record in the top flight for conceding in the last ten minutes. It has cost them five points, and presented four to two of their rivals. Late goals against Valencia and Leverkusen nearly cost them their place in the Champions League.

Team selections and substitutions have come in for criticism, particularly the treatment of Fernando Torres and Frank Lampard, as well as the ostracism of Alex and Nicolas Anelka. When Villas-Boas joined Chelsea last June he looked like a certain winner. But as we said at the time there were two big reasons for caution: inexperience and the size of the job.

His triumphant treble was impressive, but nowhere near the challenge of competing in the Premier League and Champions League simultaneously. He was used to victory after victory: how would cope with setbacks?

Moreover he is not only aiming to change the way Chelsea play, he has to renew the spine of the side at the same time, and it's a spine that is unusually stiff and bristly. The key men were cornerstones of the greatest period of success in the club's history and they have become used to getting their own way.

Back in June it looked as though Villas-Boas might have two years for the task. Events since then mean that time scale could be optimistic.

The traumatic defeat at QPR and its aftermath put a question mark over John Terry's position. Didier Drogba now only occasionally terrorises defences. Petr Cech looks more uncertain at the back. Frank Lampard finds it irksome that he's no longer an automatic choice. That's not to say that all or any of these players are on the way out immediately. But Villas-Boas obviously feels the need to make changes more rapidly and assert his authority. In doing so he has made mistakes and alienated some people.

He's also unused to the media scrutiny attached to the job and to the way some football journalists operate.

When you have spent years developing a “special relationship” with a big actor at a big club you want him to stay in the limelight as long as possible. The last thing you want is to have your source of privileged information downgraded or removed. So the friction between Villas-Boas and Lampard became a much bigger back page story just as John Terry moved to the front page.

The new manager has had a bit of a buffeting, but it would be silly to write him off.

Chelsea and specifically Roman Abramovich took a risk with the appointment. At least some of that risk has been justified.

All of the new manager's signings have impressed, especially Juan Mata and Oriol Romeu. Torres could finally be recovering some form. Daniel Sturridge has become a definite first-team player. The team does have a new look and feel to it, even after the tactical rethink.

January's league fixtures ought to yield a few points. After that comes a match against Manchester Utd followed by the challenge of Napoli in the Champions League. The damage can be repaired but the work in progress is not going to get easier.  

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/8D5817zRtjg/post.aspx

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