Andre Villas-Boas

As Chelsea embark on a new season with a new manager, their 5^th in seven years, it seems right to suggest that this one might be the one they give a little more time to. He’s young, he’s handsome and he did quite well with Porto, ring any bells…

Of course the similarities have been apparent between Villas-Boas and Jose Mourinho, the statistics are similar and even John Terry has commented on their similar personality traits. Not surprising since the now Chelsea manager worked with ‘The Special One’ for a number of years. Mourinho even once referred to the youngster as “my eyes and ears” when he was head of the Opponent Observation unit at Stamford Bridge. So, he is no stranger to the English game and is fluent in English due to his time in the UK with Mourinho and an English grandmother on his mother’s side. Such a good student is he that he took Mourinho’s record of 33 matches unbeaten in all competitions with Porto and bettered it by three.

At the tender age of 33 there have been doubts expressed about whether this man can take charge of a dressing room filled with egos like Drogba, Terry, Malouda etc. all fighting for places. Yet, he seems to have his players on the same wavelength and seems keen to providing Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich with what he wants; attractive football. Something else which drew the Russian owner to Villas-Boas is his European Trophy winning experience. After last years success with Porto in the Europa League Villas-Boas took Porto on their longest unbeaten run in Europe. However, that doesn’t guarantee success with his newly inherited Chelsea team. It does guarantee plenty of pressure, though.

Many have called for this to be the time that Abramovich gives his employee at the helm the precious gift of time, many feel that if Villas-Boas is unsuccessful in his first season that his job may be feared for and some pundits think that he is most likely to fall flat on his face given the enormity of the task ahead. Already he has some big decisions to make in terms of personnel in transfers and the squad he will pick to start against Stoke tomorrow.

The Chelsea manager has made no secret of the fact that he will stick with the 4-3-3 system that worked so well for him at Porto. However, this does leave him with selection problems/privileges depending on which way you look at the situation. A 4-3-3 formation would mean that he will have to decide whether he will start Drogba or Torres and it’s likely that the two will very rarely play together. He will then have to find a way to fit Anelka, Malouda, Kalou, Benayoun, Sturridge and anyone they may sign (possibly Modric) into that mix and find the best fit, no doubt, with the watchful and judgemental eye of Roman Abramovich keeping a close eye on proceedings.

There is a fantastic interview with Andre Villas-Boas in today’s Telegraph on his footballing philosophy. Well worth a read.