AVB Half Term Report - Is he another Special One?

When Roman Abramovich paid the €15m to Porto to buy out André Villas-Boas’ contract there was one question on everyone’s lips – is he the new Special One? 


Performances thus far have been mixed - Chelsea are 4th in the Premier League, with 37 points from 20 games, and 11 points behind leaders Manchester City. While they managed to qualify top of their Champions League group, they only managed to qualify with a tense 3-0 victory in their final group match against Valencia. There has also been talk of unrest in the dressing room, with senior players questioning the direction of the club. 


In the 4 years since José Mourinho’s departure Chelsea have had 4 different managers and despite still being very successful in that period, they have never quite reached the heights expected by their fans and more importantly their demanding owner. 

There's only one special one

While it seemed harsh to sack previous manager Carlo Ancelotti only 12 months after he had delivered a historic double, the Italian had failed to bring Chelsea closer to success in Abramovich’s holy grail, the Champions League. The owner also craved to see his team playing the ‘sexy football’ of world champions Barcelona, which has failed to materialise despite him investing close to £1bn since he bought the club in 2003.

No I'm not bored, this is my happy face

Comparisons with Mourinho are natural. AVB is young, Portuguese, had no playing career, and made his name at Porto. He also worked under Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter, so while it would be natural to assume he would be highly influenced by his mentor, is he José mk.2?

How can you say we're the same, I would never wear a blue shirt

Judging by his press conferences and interviews he has the same steely determination and supreme confidence of Mourinho. This self-confidence could be key in the huge job that AVB has of evolving what is essentially still Mourinho’s team. At Porto he was happy to let big name players leave, such as captain Bruno Alves and Raul Meireles, in the same way Mourinho’s first act after joining Real Madrid was to tell their two longest serving players, Raul and Guti, that their time at the club was up. Villas-Boas faces a similar situation at Chelsea where Anelka and Alex have already been ushered out of the door, with rumours that Didier Drogba will follow shortly, and potentially more to go after him.

Oh please give me a new 2 year contract, pretty please

While AVB enjoyed a very successful time in his single season at Porto it would be unfair to equate his achievements to Mourinho’s. While his Porto team did win their domestic league with a record points haul the Portuguese league is fairly weak, which is evidenced by the fact Porto were champions in 6 of the 8 seasons before AVB joined and haven’t finished outside the top 3 since 1976. Their success in the Europa League produced big headlines and mirrored Mourinho’s triumph in the same competition during his first full season with Porto. It is however generally accepted to be a weak competition and Villas-boas was rarely called upon to alter the course of a game that had gone against his team.

Throw him to Chelsea and we'll keep the trophy for ourselves

It is unfortunate that we were unable to gauge how good the Porto team were under him from a Champions league run. This season Porto are once again unbeaten after 14 games in their domestic league, but they failed to qualify from a weak Champions League group that was topped by minnows APOEL from Cyprus. This either highlights the importance of AVB as coach or demonstrates the extra step up required to compete successfully in the Champions League, and why Mourinho's victory with Porto in 2003/4 is rated so highly. 

Don't worry Paulo, you can come with me to Chelsea

The irony of all this talk about Villas-Boas being the new Mourinho is that he’s done more to try and move away from Mourinho’s playing style that any of the four managers that proceeded him. On the surface AVB is using the same 4-3-3 formation that the special one had so much success with, but in this case the team dynamics are more important than the formation itself. 

The biggest change has been in how he wants Chelsea to play without the ball. In the defensive phase Mourinho’s Chelsea retreated back into a deep-set compact unit, with his 4-3-3 looking more like a 4-5-1. The same formula was continued by his successors, and while Hiddink and Ancelotti’s teams produced some wonderful attacking football when in possession of the ball, they typically sat very deep without it, looking to initiate devastating counter attacks using their pace and power.

Mourinho's 4-3-3 vs AVB's - it's all the same... isn't it?

Villas-Boas has shown that he wishes to bring a new, more pro-active approach to Chelsea’s play by asking the team to press the opposition quickly and aggressively to try and win the ball close to the opposition goal. This was the style of play that brought him success at Porto, and in this regard his team more closely resembles Pep Guardiola's Barcelona or Arrigo Sacchi's Milan, than Mourinho's Chelsea.

Now this is how you press

A natural consequence of pressing high up the pitch is that to remain compact, and avoid being played between the lines, the team's defensive line also needs to push higher up the pitch. This is something that Chelsea’s defense have noticeable struggled with, most notably when faced with the pace of Arsenal’s forward line, a game in which they conceded 5 goals. 

Look at the score boys, look at the score!

Holding a high line in itself isn't a problem, the problem is Chelsea’s current personnel aren’t best suited to this style of play. Their captain, John Terry, is a master when it comes to no-nonsense defending, i.e. headers, last ditch tackles, blocks and clearances, in and around the box. But when playing high up the pitch these qualities are less called upon, and he has regularly been outpaced if required to turn and run when the opposition break the offside trap and look to exploit the space behind. 

Oh Carlo, I miss you

This philosophy in the defensive phase is why Barcelona have been so effective in using Javier Mascherano or Sergio Busquets to cover in central defense. While not top defenders in the traditional sense (Busquets seems to have an illness that causes severe facial pain in physical contests), they are nevertheless well suited to Barca’s aggressive attacking game, being comfortable in possession, quick on the turn and find themselves occupying areas of the pitch that are natural to midfielders. 

I'm so good I can tackle him without looking

Although less obvious, goalkeeper Petr Cech is another key player ill-suited to the new change of style. While Cech’s confidence in physical contests has evidently diminished since he sustained his head injury in 2006, he is still considered one of the best goalkeepers in Europe. However, ideally the goalkeeper for a team playing a high defensive line will need to play like a sweeper coming out of his area to cover balls behind the defense. This is certainly not a strong feature of Cech’s game. 

Playing a high line will also impact the type of saves a goalkeeper will be called on to make. When Chelsea sat their line deep, Cech was mainly having to repel shots in and around the box, either using his wide reach to pluck out long range efforts, or his first class instincts to produce acrobatic reaction saves. A high-line however will naturally expose a goalkeeper to a lot more one-on-one situations, and while Cech is a master shot stopper, this is not the strongest part of his game.

Come on JT it's not that bad

The high tempo pressing style inevitably also impacts both midfield and attack. Firstly, constantly closing down the opposition requires high levels of stamina, and secondly it requires the quickness of feet, guile and instincts to move the ball at speed on tight spaces. This has been a tough adjustment for a team that has spent two years playing the more patient and ponderous style that Carlo Ancelotti preferred. 

This requirement for players who can move the ball quickly in possession, has resulted in players like John Obi Mikel and Saloman Kalou falling out of favour and Nicolas Anelka being ushered out of the club. The contrast between the strength and power of Mikel and the positioning, intercepting and ball circulating ability of his impressive replacement Oriol Romeu highlights the change in philosophy.

It's not about the money, I like Chinese food... honestly

Chelsea’s star attackers Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres have also struggled thus far to adapt successfully to the new tactics. Drogba has been one the most successful strikers in the Premier League but thrives on direct power football, and bullying defenses into submission. His current Premier League tally of 3 goals from 15 appearances is a long way short of his magnificent best. 

Torres has had his own well-documented problems. He lit up the Premier League at Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool, where they often played counter-attacking football using his pace to the maximum. There is more to his game than outrunning markers though - in his prime at Liverpool he scored a wide variety of goals and was considered one of the best finishers in world football. He also has the technical skills that should be well suited to a high tempo possession based game, although his low confidence has clearly affected his potency at Chelsea.

Now what was it I was supposed to do, I'm sure I wrote it down

What Torres have been lacking, apart from fitness and a regular run of games, is the players around him to deliver the type of service he requires. At Liverpool he had the pass master Xabi Alonso supplying from deep, and while Steven Gerrard has the propensity to frequently smash the ball into the kop in search of glory, he would also typically produce the one or two peaches a game for Torres to feed off.

Ok here's the plan, I pass to you and you score, easy

Chelsea’s midfield, however, has been built around the driving runs of Frank Lampard. Lampard’s omission from the team has been big news in recent weeks, and there have been suggestions that Chelsea are willing to release him, if not in the January window, then at the end of the season. This seams like harsh treatment for one of Chelsea’s best ever players and someone who still has a lot to offer at the highest level. In fact, Lampard’s stats this season still make good reading - 10 goals from is 25 appearances is a top class return for a midfield player. 

While his contribution to Chelsea has been immense, he is nevertheless primarily an energetic midfielder who scores goals for himself rather than creating them for others.  When he finds himself in and around the box his preference is to shoot for goal, rather than look for an intricate through ball. And while possessing a solid technique, he certainly isn’t a one touch passer or quick-footed dribbler. It looks as if Lampard’s driving runs are going to be replaced by the younger, more energetic Ramires, and while it’s always sad to see a legend cut a frustrated figure on the bench, Villas-Boas decision to phase him out is very much aligned with his desire to reshape the team.

No not me Roman, he's the one you want to get rid of

So on closer inspection it appears that Villas-Boas change of style is impacting the entire spine that Mourinho built his Championship winning side around. Cech, Terry, Lampard and Drogba, they have all had mixed fortunes under the new manager. While this season seems to have highlighted their weaknesses and suggest these players are on the wane, their lower contribution is largely a result of the change in style being misaligned with the qualities that make these players great in the first place. 

While the old guard have had their problems, a new breed has emerged to take on the challenge. Daniel Sturridge has thus far been very impressive in the right sided attacking role that Hulk occupied so successful for Villas-Boas at Porto. As mentioned previously, Romeu has thrived in the midfield pivot role, orchestrating from deep, while Juan Mata has shown enough glimpses of magic to suggest he could provide the bullets to get Torres firing again.

I can be the new Hulk, watch me!

Interestingly however, in their biggest game of the season thus far, the Champions League eliminator against Valencia, Chelsea triumphed by going back to their old approach. Having persisted with his philosophy against Manchester United and Arsenal, and failed, Villas-Boas abandoned the high defensive line and pressing. While much was made in the media about the omission of Lampard for this game being a marker for change, the team’s style of play very much resembled the days of Mourinho or Ancelotti. They didn’t close down Valencia’s defense or holding midfielders, their wingers dropped deep to make a 4-5-1 in the defensive phase, and the defense sat back leaving no space in behind. 

Ok lads, let's practice the deep defensive shape

In the attacking phase it was also Chelsea of old with long balls from deep into Didier Drogba, and plenty of counter attacking, rather than the short passing game that Villas-Boas has been favouring. Crucially, the tactics helped produce a 3-0 victory for Chelsea. The defense and goal keeper looked far more secure defending from a deeper position, while Drogba was in his element, leading the line magnificently with space to operate in and runners from deep to dovetail off. 


How much performances like that will harm his intention to change the team's playing style will remain to be seen. While the old guard may have their failings, they also have immense experience, stature and leadership ability that brings results and will be hard to replace. 

So what can we conclude from all this analysis? 


Firstly, formations don't tell the whole story and tactics are much deeper than that. Secondly, there is no best system or style, the best tactics for any team is the one that best suits its player's strengths and weakness, both individually and collectively. 


However, a manger (or owner, or supporters) may have a preference for a particular style and therefore a balance often needs to be struck between these ideals, a desire for results and the resources available to achieve both. In Abramovich’s case the resources appear to be unlimited, and while Chelsea have enjoyed the most successful period in their history, his desire is to see Chelsea play the proactive attacking high-tempo precise football of Guardiola’s Barcelona that he so admires. 

Very funny... you're saying he's more special than me?!

Winning attractive football isn’t the result of just putting world class players on the pitch, it is about molding a cohesive team. The desire for high tempo possession football may not suit many of Chelsea’s current players, hence why results have been patchy thus far. While this might be causing unrest among their big characters, every great team needs to evolve and this can often be a painful process.

Don't cry JT, I promise never to say high-line ever again

Chelsea have suffered from a short-term outlook in recent years.  Villas-Boas has received a lot criticism for using the 'wrong' tactics, and going purely on a desire to win games this criticism is justified.  However, he is trying to usher in a new era and give them a new identity, which requires a long-term outlook and patience from the fans and the owner. It is well documented how long it took Sir Alex Ferguson to turn round the fortunes of Manchester United, and 25 years later that patience has been well rewarded. Given time, resources and a bit of luck, he could create a successful Chelsea team and a very different Chelsea team from that of his mentor... assuming he is a special enough that is.

My thirst for adventure will never be quenched!