AVB Is A Unhappy Chappy
Andre Villas-Boas was pleased with the way his side dealt with Stoke City’s aerial threat yesterday, but he was far from happy with referee Mark Halsey when it came down to all the extra things that were going on.
Having spent time at Chelsea before he should be aware of the physical nature of the English game, but yesterday’s battle came as a little bit of a shock to him. He said, “The amount of pushing and shoving was out of this world. We had to deal with Stoke’s set-plays and were competent enough to avoid the dangers they create. But there’s a limit to the pushing and grabbing that can make it impossible.”
On Wednesday AVB will be at a meeting with the referees and he will definitely be having his say about what went on at the weekend. He said, “ We have a referee visit this Wednesday, so maybe I’ll have more points to discuss. Referees have to pay attention to these kind of details. Stoke didn’t push the boundaries of fair play. But they pushed the boundaries on shoving and grabbing.”
Welcome to the Premier League Andre, and if we are being honest some of your players were giving as good as they got during the game yesterday. If free-kicks were awarded for every little push or shove games would end up as seven-a-side affairs and result in numerous penalties being awarded. Move on, it has been going on for years and will continue to do so for many more years to come.
AVB was pleased with the way John Terry, Alex, Ashley Cole, Jose Bosingwa, Mikel, Torres when he helped out in defence and like wise Drogba (when he came on) dealt with the Stoke aerial bombardment. Everyone of these players were at this club before he arrived. Everyone of these players have faced Stoke many times. So in essence he was pleased with someone else’s defence! He wasn’t pleased with the result as he made perfectly clear after the game. What the hell does he expect? He has done bugger all except spew forth the usual new manager rhetoric since he arrived. Whilst he has been ‘assessing’ players in Asia we have seen the likes of Aguero, Sanchez and Pastore slip off of the radar and move elsewhere. Besides an insulting first offer and tepid second failed offer for Moderic what have we bought to improve from last term? A Barca kid that isn’t available because he is away with his national team, hasn’t even trained with the team and is already wanting to go back to Barca if and when he makes the grade and a keeper that has been loaned straight out for the season to Athletico. Of course we have 18 year old Lukaka to look forward to but he will be too inexperienced so no doubt will start behind the likes of Kalou.
Yesterday showed us to have EXACTLY the same problems we had last season. No speed getting forward, no width, no plan b and no midfield playmaker. Yes there were positives in the way Torres is getting back to form and an excellent display by Mikel. Ramires has come back and hit the ground running. But tell me, if the average Chelsea fan that actually goes to games or follows their team very closely had been in the technical area instead of AVB yesterday do you honestly think it would have made a jot of difference?
I had such high hopes for this new, young and dynamic manager which were totally dashed as soon as I saw Kalou and Bosingwa starting instead of maybe Benayoun and Ivanovich. The team that started like a runaway train last term would have most probably got all three points yesterday, fact! In the close season so far we have not addressed any of the problems of last season ie no real width, no playmaker and too slow to get the ball forward quickly, fact! We need less rhetoric and sound bites from our new manager and far more action. Josh MacEachran sat on the bench for the entire game whilst Frank Lampard continues to struggle for form? Kalou start the game and plays (inaffectually) for most of it whilst a fit again Yossi Benayoun is on the bench, oh he did get two minutes at the end? AVB needs to up his game quickly before this window closes because if he doesn’t this squad will sleepwalk its way through to another top 4 but trophiless season. Nothing has changed. He needs the guts to get rid of Malouda and Kalou and the guts to bench Lampard until he gets his form back again. He needs to put his neck on the line to bring an effective playmaker in and a speedy quality winger. He needs to show a lot more nowse instead of sticking to a rigid 4 3 3 formation so that we have a plan b and can change the shape of the side during games. The guy needs to get his act together quickly before too much damage is done to this season. Yes, I expect us to beat West Brom next time around but that will just gloss over the problems we have had for far too long and that are not being addressed by our new Manager.
Hate saying it, but that’s pretty spot on actually. I was mad hyped when I saw we signed AVB over and I still am, watching that performance was not convincing at all unfortunately. Yes, we should have won the first game of the season, but I remember Carlo starting his first year, we barely won last few seconds with Drobs beautiful recreation of Cantona goal, but still I agree with the questioning of starting Bosingwa, no Ivanonic (granted he has been injured and was questionable for this game, if he was semi match fit he should still have come off the bench). Now in terms of our signings, I did find that the Luka deal, from the first offer was insulting as well, but he claims he really wanted to come over, but does not want to put in a transfer request, now Mr. Buck is coming out claiming there’s a chance we’ll drop interest and find someone else, if their playing it down that’s cool if not, mmeeehhhh. They need to make up their minds about it and quick, one winger we def need, one midfield player we are desperate. Lamps is one of my favorite players to put on any kind of shirt, period, I want to see him start all the time and people forget he had a herniation, which is fucking painful. I’ve gone through 2 herniated discs before fuck running and walking, sitting/laying down in one position for too long is painful enough and for him to come back as quick as he did and score a few goals and crucial pens here and there, he needs a bit more time and he’s one the last few players that I want to see him retire there and somehow stay involved through managerial aspects. Things will improve I know they will, pre-season everything looked great and we played this first game like either we had too much on our minds/chests or didnt try as hard for whatever reasons; nonetheless, we can’t go into UEFA like that at well, other wise its bad news front, back and middle pages. If we suffer these next two games, then it’s a bad shape of things to come, however, every top tier team has one point of another lost their first game and still managed to win the league. Stay focused now and December, strong run from March/April and we will win the quad/treb, but honestly the prem and uefa would be more than enough.
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Chelsea FC — Bleed Blue Till The Day I Die
Man City has certainly found a new bag of tricks in Aguero. The moment he hit the pitch yesterday everything changed. While Chelsea is bogged down with more of the same; City has proof that one specialized player can make the difference. So what’s the answer for Chelsea? We need someone who plays wide as a winger, but can also cut in and unlock defences. Someone who can provide a final killer pass but is accurate when called on to shoot. AVB; it’s obvious; we are talking about Neymar.