The Chelsea Football Club is in the midst of a serious crisis. For a team that has seen Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich spend more than $750,000,000 on player transfers alone since he bought the club in 2003, Chelsea's performance over the past season and a half has been subpar. With a managerial vacancy to fill, Abramovich paid $17.6 million to F.C. Porto for their 33-year-old superstar Andre Villas-Boas. Villas-Boas, who last season led Porto to a league cup, a first-place league finish and a Europa League championship, was expected to come to Chelsea and bring hardware to the club like his mentor and former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. Needless to say, this season has not gone according to plan.
Chelsea currently sits in fifth place in the league and is on the verge of exiting the only two tournaments they are still in: the FA Cup and the Champions League. Chelsea, winless in any match since Jan. 28, is starting to hear it from the fans and media, who are calling for Villas-Boas' head after just over a half of a season. While that may not seem like a long enough time for a young coach to get acclimated to the squad, Chelsea is an extremely talented team, rife with world-class players at every position. They should be winning. Villas-Boas accepted the position knowing the expectations that come with managing a world-renowned club. The shouts for his job perhaps came a bit too early. However, Villas-Boas and Chelsea have responded to the pressure with a dip, not an increase, in their form.
Chelsea faced the Italian side Napoli Tuesday night in the Champions League quarterfinals. With the Champions League being Chelsea's only realistic chance at hardware this season, they were expected to come out motivated and deliver their embattled manager an away draw if not a victory. Chelsea did just the opposite, as they were defeated 3-1 at Stadio San Paolo in a game in which Napoli could have easily put five goals past Chelsea. The Blues played uninspired and unorganized soccer and were completely undone by Napoli's stellar attacking trio of MarekHamsik, EdinsonCavani and EzequielLavezzi. Villas-Boas elected to start Raul Meireles and FlorentMalouda in midfield — both of whom are consistently indifferent to their defensive assignments — ahead of veterans Michael Essien and Frank Lampard. Essien and Lampard substituted for the midfield pair in the 70th minute, and Chelsea immediately began not only defending better but also applying much more pressure in the attacking third of the field.
Even as players publicly come out and support their manager to the media, their effort on the pitch can only be described as lackadaisical. On each of Napoli's three goals, the lack of effort by various Chelsea players was abundantly clear. On Lavezzi's first of two goals, Meireles allowed Lavezzi about 10 yards of space to shoot, and instead of closing down and attempting to block the shot, he cowered further away. On Cavani's goal, defender BranislavIvanovic, who had one of his worst days ever for Chelsea, allowed Cavani to jog by him and deflect in a cross. These were just two of the many shocking displays by Chelsea players, and if it were not for the heroics of goalkeeper PetrCech in two one-on-one situations, I would further be roasting the Chelsea backline.
It is always difficult in sports to determine how much blame should be apportioned to a manager for his team's poor play. But in situations where the players appear to be checked out, while the manager frantically shouts on the sidelines, it is clear that a change must be made. And for a club that has had five managers in as many years, sadly, it is time for another one.
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Alex Arthur is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Alexander.Arthur@tufts.edu.
