Villas Boas (EX) Chelsea manager

[Chris]

Hopefully Lampard batters him and buries him under Mandy Jordache's patio.

[peekay]

"No it's a false story, I never said anything like that it's ridiculous," Villas-Boas told Sky Sports.

"I think The S*n in two weeks is spot-on in two false stories. I already told them that if they pay an informant they should get their money back.

"I told players that when we score a goal the bench lives through the same emotions and we celebrate with them, with the same desire.

"It's a pity because I think the world has got to know me. I will never be an individual person to say something so extraordinary as that one, so it's an unfortunate story."

I dont mind him. The press and Ferguson's servants in the media have found their "Rafa" and are turning the heat on him. He has been respectful towards us after the two defeats.

He is trying to do his job, impose his style on the club and is not getting the support from anywhere. Remember Rafa's first year we were horrible in the league by December. However we got a glimpse of what he wanted to build on in the Arsenal, Charlton, Fulham games and we backed him like anything. If FSG had appointed AVB I think we would have liked him. I also think our squad is more suited to his Porto style of play than this Chelsea squad.

Whenever he or Chelsea gets criticized he is taking on the press. Just like Rafa or Kenny. He lacks the charisma, the wit, the persona and the gravitas which the King possesses and so appears like a sore loser.

[Roboklopp]

Fat Fwank to Spuds then?

[Roboklopp]

All these power struggles are an ideal subject for one of Arn's monologues.

[RichC]

long may the power struggle continue!

AVB will struggle all the while Lampard, Terry & Cole are at the club, far too much influence it seems behind the scenes.

[Shaggy]

Lampard's a ****ing ****** too. Looks a real power struggle. Hope AVB wins to be honest.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/armchair-pundit/article/16097/

As for Chelsea; they vanquished the unbeaten league leaders, eased the pressure on their manager and brought a telling contribution from Frank Lampard.

Problem is, that contribution should never have happened.

Having missed his previous two penalties, Lampard slammed a powerful shot down the middle eight minutes from time.

The Englishman conversed at length with Juan Mata before the kick, and after the game Villas-Boas confirmed why.

"We assigned Mata to take it," he said. "But Frank took the ball off him and he scored."

For a man of Villas-Boas's attention to detail, it seems almost inconceivable that there should be confusion over who takes penalties.

Anyone who has played Football Manager knows you just have to write a priority order of takers, and the guy who is highest on the list takes the penalty.

Clearly, Villas-Boas changed the order before yesterday's game, putting Mata ahead of Lampard.

Yes Lampard scored, but to disobey his manager's wishes amounts to a serious breach of discipline, and does nothing to dispel the notion that Chelsea's senior players wield too much power.

Fulham's Patjim Kasami was fined for committing the same offence in the Carling Cup earlier this season, snatching a penalty designated for Orlando Sa.

Why should Lampard be exempt from the same punishment? The outcome is irrelevant - he either put his own desire for glory and redemption ahead of the manager's instructions, or simply thought he knew best. That is unacceptable.

[Nick77]

He's certainly much less likeable than he appeared when he arrived (and when seen from afar at Porto). But then he is a Mourinho protégé.

He is a ****ing angel compared to Mourinho!

[Chris]

Not sure what he's complaining about now, he should be thanking the referees, theyve probably saved him his job in those Newcastle and City games. He's a massive ****.

[Chrono]

He's starting to behave like a complete tosser though.

Absolutely, the minute the pressure was on he showed his true colours.

Found it really interesting that he belittled Gary Neville while at the same time claiming Neville should have respect for a Brazilian international (his comments about David Luis). He also spat his dummy out about several commentators and journalists which to me is a clear sign of his lack of maturity and spoilt brat behaviour.

Can't stand the guy, he's been in management 5 minutes yet feels that he is above criticism.

[dww]

He's certainly much less likeable than he appeared when he arrived (and when seen from afar at Porto). But then he is a Mourinho protégé.

[Neil Young]

He's starting to behave like a complete tosser though.

[dww]

I think a lot of managers coming from abroad find they have to at least adapt their beliefs to the higher tempo of the premier league. It's far to early to tell what AVB will do long term or whether the last few games are a sign that he has given up trying to impose his beliefs (at least temporarily) or whether he is just searching for a way to make them work.

He appears to have realised that Mikel is a bit rubbish though, so I think he'll do okay.

[Chazza]

Villas-Boas can only look on as the old guard close ranks

Here, the crux of the issue facing Andre Villas-Boas, laid bare. As Chelsea drew deep into their well of resilience and determination and grit to staunch Manchester City's tide and then to turn it, ending a game with their title credentials enhanced, the futility of the Portuguese's position crystallised.

Not because, when Raul Meireles equalised and when Frank Lampard won the game, both failed to involve their manager in the ensuing celebrations, but because, with this win, they proved Chelsea's absolute conviction that they will succeed their way, not anyone else's, and most definitely not Villas-Boas's. There is a way he wants Chelsea to play, and there is a way that Chelsea play. He is not about to change it, because it works.

One by one, the tactical nuances and the philosophical tenets which brought Villas-Boas such unprecedented success at FC Porto, the dashes of dugout wizardry which brought the boy wonder to the eyes of the world, are being disassembled. He has acknowledged that he has had to do away with a rotating midfield – three players, each assuming the defensive, shielding role in turn, that the others might break forward – because, without a static holding player, the chaos of the Premier League becomes unmanageable.

He has, first tentatively against Newcastle, then in immaculate victory against Valencia, and now with this most valiant of points against the league leaders, the champions anoint, done away with his high line, replacing it with what he euphemistically calls a "low medium block". More plainly, it is a deep-lying defence. More honestly, it is the position which makes John Terry feel most comfortable.

And with it, Villas-Boas has lost much of the intensive pressing that helped Porto asphyxiate opponents, at home and abroad. Instead, they lie in wait for their foes, picking them off in their own half and breaking quickly; that one trait is what linked the Chelsea of old, the Chelsea of Jose Mourinho, with the Porto of Villas-Boas. The difference is that, where the latter preferred to do it along the ground, the former prefer to scud the ball through the air; his team, now, prefer to fly, too.

"This Chelsea is not the Chelsea which we are creating, that is for sure," said the Portuguese on the eve of this game, when asked whether he had betrayed his principles in acquiescing to reality. But it is the Chelsea which he has, and as long as its deployment brings victory, it is the Chelsea he must use.

It is the Chelsea where Terry and Ashley Cole seek Didier Drogba from deep, the Chelsea where a defensive midfielder sits deep, prowling in front of the defence and where the wingers tuck in narrow to play off their totemic Ivorian target. It is a chimera whose only beauty lies in its efficacy.

Villas-Boas was supposed to herald revolution, to wean Chelsea of their dependency on that old guard. It is not that simple; Carlo Ancelotti and Luiz Felipe Scolari could have told him that.

A club's players, ultimately, define its style. That is why Roberto Mancini has overseen such a huge turnover in personnel: he has been seeking those who might implement his beliefs.

Until Villas-Boas has the chance to do the same, his Chelsea will continue to be a utopia, in both senses: the best place, and no place at all.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...s-6276214.html

[GTi]

AVB really is special.

[cream]

You couldn't make it up. The plastic club, with plastic fans now want plastic goal celebrations with the plastic Mourinho.