Did AVB inherit an ageing deterioting team or is he to blame for Chelsea's poor form?

Andre Villas Boas has been talked about a lot in the press in recent weeks and more so after Chelsea's 2 vs. 1 defeat at home to Liverpool. They are already questioning his position as manager of a team he has been in charge of for just 12 Premier League games! Can a manager have such a negative affect on a top team like this? A young manager who performed very well in his previous year at Porto with a glowing reputation in the game. I don't believe he is to blame.



AVB inherited a team on the decline in my opinion. A team that has been greatly affected by the non stop chopping and changing of managers in the past few years. A team that has been built successfully on a fantastic talented spine of the team in Cech, Terry, Lampard and Drogba, the later 3 are all on a rapid decline as they reach the end of their careers. Players like these need support from a new breed, something that doesn't seem to be happening too much at Chelsea. Instead they are opting to buy players in and midfielders such as Mikel, Ramires and Meireles are not of the quality of the previous crop. The Fernando Torres situation is continuing to bring the team down. A player bought for £50 million with Premier League experience is a shadow of his former self and continually struggles to find the net in the Blue colors. Defensively David Luiz has been bought in to support the experience of John Terry, but he too has struggled immensely, proving to many he is not really a natural centre back.

This is only the half of it, as Ashley Cole is in poor form at left back and the other full back Bosingwa has struggled a lot this year, leaving centre back, Ivanovic to fill the gap, something he is not exactly 100% comfortable with. I have mentioned positions all over the pitch that are a current problem for Chelsea, so how is this down to new manager AVB?

Yes he picks the side, yes he picks the formation and yes he instructs how he wants his team to play. But it is ultimately down to the players on the park who are not performing to their potential. Maybe Chelsea are in a similar position to that of Arsenal at the start of the season, in a stage of transition. I believe this is certainly true for Chelsea and it is at this stage the chairman, Roman Abramovich, needs to give a manager time for the rebuilding process. This does not happen over night, but if done correctly, like Manchester City, it can be very successful.

Only time will tell, but I believe AVB should be given a chance to rebuild the ageing Cheslea team. The players for me need to take the majority of the brunt of the recent poor performances and rectify this throughout their next games. The only thing standing in the way is whether Abromovich has got the patience to stick with AVB, something he hasn't shown much of in the past.