Weekend games now in technicolour:
Liverpool v Arsenal over 2,5 goals
Liverpool v Arsenal over 2,5 goals
Blackburn v Aston Villa 1
Manchester City v Bolton David Pizarro to score at any time
QPR v Everton both
teams to score
Stoke City v Norwich X at halftime
West Bromwich Albion v Chelsea both teams to score
Wigan Athletic v Swansea City under 2,5 goals
Birmingham City v Derby County 1
Ipswich Town v Bristol City 1 at halftime and fulltime
Millwall v Reading 2
Watford v Burnley over 1,5 goals
Leeds United v Southampton over 2,5 goals
Bury v Huddersfield 2
Exeter v Stevenage both
teams to score
Sheffield United v Oldham
Athletic 1
Aldershot v Morecambe 1
Oxford United v Swindon Town over 2,5 goals
Palermo v AC Milan both teams to score
Juventus v Chievo
Alessandro Matri to score at any time
Rayo Vallecano v Racing
Santander 1 at halftime
Barcelona v Sporting Gijon
Alexis Sanchez to score 2 goals or more
Sevilla v Atletico Madrid sending off
Bayer Leverkusen v Bayern Munich both teams to score
HSV v Stuttgart 1
Hannover v Augsburg 1 at halftime and fulltime
Borussia Dortmund v Mainz X at halftime 1 at fulltime
Dijon v Montpellier under 3,5 goals
Sochaux v Valenciennes under 2,5 goals
Saint-Etienne v Evian Thonon Gaillar 1
Bordeaux v Nice 1
Den Haag v Heerenveen over 2,5 goals
Lokeren v Westerlo 1
Legia Warszawa v ŁKS Łódź 1
Newcastle United v Sunderland both teams to score
Newcastle United v Sunderland both teams to score
Fulham v Wolverhampton over 2,5 goals
Tottenham v Manchester United Wayne Rooney to score at any time
Cardiff v West Ham United over 2,5 goals
AS Roma v Lazio sending off
Fiorentina v Cesena 1 at halftime
Udinese v Atalanta X
at halftime
Siena v Cagliari 1
Lecce v Genoa 1
Granada v Valencia over 2,5 goals
Real Madrid v Espanyol Cristiano Ronaldo to score a hat trick
Hoffenheim v FC Koeln
1
PSG v Ajaccio 1 at halfitme and fulltime
Ajax Amsterdam v Roda Kerkrade 1 to score 3 or more goals (1.70)
Feyenoord Rotterdam v FC Groningen John Guidetti to score at any time
PSV Eindhoven v Twente Enschede
over 2,5 goals
Club Brugge v Standard Liege 1
Basel v Luzerne 1
Basel v Luzerne 1
Gaziantepspor v Istanbul Buyuksehir Pierre Webo to score at any time
Widzew Łódź
v Śląsk Wrocław X
Jagiellonia Białystok v Ruch
Chorzów X
24/54. I'll blame this mediocre score on Andre Villas-Boas, it seems quite fashionable to blame everything on the man now...
To be quite honest I think sacking him is a big, big mistake on Abramovich's part - obviously the results were far from what he had expected from a manager with such a track record at his previous club (4 trophies in a single season with Porto) but let's be quite clear from the off - AVB was presented with an almost impossible task, i.e. rebuidling the team while winning things at the same time. Much more experienced managers have failed at doing that so it would be unwise to expect the thirty-four year old Portugese to go through the transition period smoothly and without any hiccups on the way. Yet nine managers in only eight years of Roman's reign at Chelsea make you question the man's patience and indeed his knowledge of the game.
Villas-Boas has undeniably made mistakes during his short tenure at the Stamford Bridge. Playing high defensive line that worked so well with Porto simply didn't cut it in the Premier League, particularly when you wish to form it around players like the ageing and injury-hit John Terry or David Luiz who lacks concentration and seems to be tactically inept to the extent that you might question how he's actually made it all the way to Benfica, Chelsea and the Brazil national team. Buying Romelo Lukaku and not really giving him any playing time yet often sticking with Torres (who is slowly but surely becoming the synonim for a fallen footballer) is another decision which can be labelled as questionable at best. Buying Raul Meireles on the very last day of the summer transfer window when Michael Essien was injured for nearly two months at that point (so it might have seemed like a move aimed at directly undermining the position of Lampard, Ramires, Obi Mikel and the newly acquired Romeu) could be criticised from the team-spirit point of view as well. The baffling indecisiveness and failure to adapt when playing the 'lesser' (a term I dislike for many reasons....) sides should also be 'credited' to the man - it's hard to imagine Chelsea under Mourinho or even Ancelotti struggling to beat the likes of Birmingham at home. Then there's Chelsea's inability to keep a lead which possibly stems from some of the players being quite young - just think Mata, Sturridge, the aforementioned Luiz - yet it certainly shouldn't happen when you have the seasoned veterans like Lampard, Drogba, Cech and Cole alongside the young guns on the pitch.
However, the age thing has clearly played its part in the problems Villas-Boas encountered at the West London club. The alleged conflicts within the dressing rooms that leaked to the press; the apparent altercations at the training ground; finally the infamous falling out with Ashley Cole before arguably the most difficult game Chelsea had to play this season thus far. Looking at it from a neutral perspective I'm under the impression that whenever AVB tried to assert his authority and send a clear message to the old players - some of them the manager's age and others only a bit younger - about dissent not being tolerated, the players took matter into their own hands which, in my opinion, might have contributed to such a miserable run of form. Bosingwa assuming the left-back role in place of Ashley Cole at San Paolo against Napoli seems to be the case in point and a prime example of Villas-Boas attempting at showing everyone who's the boss and the decision spectacularily backfiring, on a number of levels. Other changes made have also been questioned and rightly so; throwing Gary Cahill in at the deep end at Napoli when he only just joined Chelsea a few weeks back, has not yet had near enough time to come to terms with manager's style of play and has never even played at Champions League level being one of them. Of course, it could be argued that AVB had to make a simple defender-for-a-defender swap yet a look across the Channel (and, admittedly, France) to Barcelona where Pep Guardiola moved Mascherano to play in Puyol's position when the latter got injured suddenly doesn't make Villas-Boas' decision so obvious.
Reports about poor old Andre sleeping at Chelsea Football Club premises left me slightly uneased as to just how seriously he might have taking the job. The deed has been done though and there's no more Villas-Boas in West London anymore. If you ask me, I think that if he chooses his next club wisely he WILL bring the goods - he has shown he's more than capable to do well when he's given the unreserved backing of both the players and the off-pitch staff and club administration AS WELL as that most priced of commodities - time. With the supposed interest of Massimo Moratti I would strongly advise the former Porto man to wait a little bit longer though...
24/54. I'll blame this mediocre score on Andre Villas-Boas, it seems quite fashionable to blame everything on the man now...
To be quite honest I think sacking him is a big, big mistake on Abramovich's part - obviously the results were far from what he had expected from a manager with such a track record at his previous club (4 trophies in a single season with Porto) but let's be quite clear from the off - AVB was presented with an almost impossible task, i.e. rebuidling the team while winning things at the same time. Much more experienced managers have failed at doing that so it would be unwise to expect the thirty-four year old Portugese to go through the transition period smoothly and without any hiccups on the way. Yet nine managers in only eight years of Roman's reign at Chelsea make you question the man's patience and indeed his knowledge of the game.
Villas-Boas has undeniably made mistakes during his short tenure at the Stamford Bridge. Playing high defensive line that worked so well with Porto simply didn't cut it in the Premier League, particularly when you wish to form it around players like the ageing and injury-hit John Terry or David Luiz who lacks concentration and seems to be tactically inept to the extent that you might question how he's actually made it all the way to Benfica, Chelsea and the Brazil national team. Buying Romelo Lukaku and not really giving him any playing time yet often sticking with Torres (who is slowly but surely becoming the synonim for a fallen footballer) is another decision which can be labelled as questionable at best. Buying Raul Meireles on the very last day of the summer transfer window when Michael Essien was injured for nearly two months at that point (so it might have seemed like a move aimed at directly undermining the position of Lampard, Ramires, Obi Mikel and the newly acquired Romeu) could be criticised from the team-spirit point of view as well. The baffling indecisiveness and failure to adapt when playing the 'lesser' (a term I dislike for many reasons....) sides should also be 'credited' to the man - it's hard to imagine Chelsea under Mourinho or even Ancelotti struggling to beat the likes of Birmingham at home. Then there's Chelsea's inability to keep a lead which possibly stems from some of the players being quite young - just think Mata, Sturridge, the aforementioned Luiz - yet it certainly shouldn't happen when you have the seasoned veterans like Lampard, Drogba, Cech and Cole alongside the young guns on the pitch.
However, the age thing has clearly played its part in the problems Villas-Boas encountered at the West London club. The alleged conflicts within the dressing rooms that leaked to the press; the apparent altercations at the training ground; finally the infamous falling out with Ashley Cole before arguably the most difficult game Chelsea had to play this season thus far. Looking at it from a neutral perspective I'm under the impression that whenever AVB tried to assert his authority and send a clear message to the old players - some of them the manager's age and others only a bit younger - about dissent not being tolerated, the players took matter into their own hands which, in my opinion, might have contributed to such a miserable run of form. Bosingwa assuming the left-back role in place of Ashley Cole at San Paolo against Napoli seems to be the case in point and a prime example of Villas-Boas attempting at showing everyone who's the boss and the decision spectacularily backfiring, on a number of levels. Other changes made have also been questioned and rightly so; throwing Gary Cahill in at the deep end at Napoli when he only just joined Chelsea a few weeks back, has not yet had near enough time to come to terms with manager's style of play and has never even played at Champions League level being one of them. Of course, it could be argued that AVB had to make a simple defender-for-a-defender swap yet a look across the Channel (and, admittedly, France) to Barcelona where Pep Guardiola moved Mascherano to play in Puyol's position when the latter got injured suddenly doesn't make Villas-Boas' decision so obvious.
Reports about poor old Andre sleeping at Chelsea Football Club premises left me slightly uneased as to just how seriously he might have taking the job. The deed has been done though and there's no more Villas-Boas in West London anymore. If you ask me, I think that if he chooses his next club wisely he WILL bring the goods - he has shown he's more than capable to do well when he's given the unreserved backing of both the players and the off-pitch staff and club administration AS WELL as that most priced of commodities - time. With the supposed interest of Massimo Moratti I would strongly advise the former Porto man to wait a little bit longer though...
I agree with all of this.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed his star has plummeted enough he can come in and save Villa.
- HC
with Villa's financial difficulties I highly doubt they would be able to cover his car insurance, let alone his wage...
ReplyDelete