Posted on Wednesday, 22nd February 2012 by Anthony Williams
Things seem to be going from bad to worse for Chelsea following their 3-1 defeat at the hands of Napoli in the Champions League and three of the players that were left out of last night’s starting line-up are thought to be part of a revolt against Andre Villas-Boas.
Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien started the game on the Chelsea bench after they allegedly criticised the manager in what has been ironically labelled a clear-the-air meeting.
Both Lampard and Essien made it clear that they were not happy with some of the coach’s methods and expressed their feelings, but Cole was much more forthright with his opinions and was downright disrespectful by the sounds of it.
According to The Sun, the England left-back said:
“I came here to win medals and trophies, but I’m never going to do that with your tactics.”
He also complained that he felt like a ‘robot’ because he was being told exactly how to play rather than expressing himself, which apparently angered the Chelsea boss as he said Cole made things personal.
Cole couldn’t have made his displeasure any more obvious than he did yesterday in my opinion. The guy did make what could have been an important block on the line but he seemed dismissive of the manager when he was briefing him before bringing him on for the injured Jose Bosingwa and it looked as though he wasn’t interested for the majority of the game.
Those that will defend Cole’s performance will say that he wasn’t fully fit, maybe he wasn’t and that would justify why he was not in the starting XI, but there’s no excuse for his attitude.
Villas-Boas was also criticised for leaving Lampard and Essien out of the team and starting Raul Meireles, who has been dreadful for the past couple of weeks. But playing Juan Mata in a more central position was definitely the right way to go and you wouldn’t trust Lampard to be one of the midfielders to sit in front of the defence because of his lack of mobility and Essien has only just returned from a serious injury, but I do think that he made a mistake by not taking Oriol Romeu.
But the player power element has arisen once more and it’s getting beyond ridiculous. We cannot let the players walk all over the club, it’s laughable. I can only imagine if Carlos Tevez was a Chelsea player he’d likely have gotten away with the sort of stunts he has been pulling at Manchester City over the season.
It would seem a few of the players have fallen out with the manager but who will the casualties be, the coaching staff, the players or both?
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Tags: Andre Villas Boas, Ashley Cole, Chelsea, Frank Lampard, Juan Mata, Michael Essien, Napoli, Oriol Romeu
Posted in View from the Shed | Comments (26)
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February 22nd, 2012 at 8:29 pm
Of course, all this is based on tripe from The Sun and its like. Anyone peddling this stuff as fact and spreading it beyond the pages of that rag is no friend of CFC. Disgraceful article.
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Eidur Reply:
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:40 pm
I don’t know why you bother reading anything beyond the club’s official website as you comment on what seems to be every Chelsea blog site saying how disgraceful everything is.
In fact, I’ve never seen you say anything of note and incapable of expressing an opinion that isn’t general negativity and paranoia
FYI AVB has admitted he’s had a few disagreements with players and unless you’ve been living under a rock, Cole is expressing himself in a way similar to yourself – clearly unhappy.
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Eidur Reply:
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:43 pm
I don’t know why anyone would think Lampard would be ideal for sitting in front of a fragile defence. Legend he may be but he’s a mere shadow of the player he was. Can’t move, can’t pass, can’t defend, bad attitude this season.
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February 22nd, 2012 at 9:57 pm
How can we take seriously a man who picks Bosingwa as a left back and concludes that the best way to protect our suspect back line is to play Meireles and Ramires, the latter out of poistion, the former simply being not worthy of being at a Premier league club.
Even an idiot could see that we needed proper protection and control in front of the back 4, Essien and Lampard would have given us the platform for this.
I suggest that its AVB who thinks he is bigger than the club not any of our seasoned professionals who have every right to suggest the manager is throwing our season away
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Anthony Williams Reply:
February 23rd, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Cole had only just come back from injury which may have had something to do with it.
Wouldn’t earmark Lampard as a man that could protect the back four. Essien, Ramires, Romeu maybe but not Lampard.
The players never have a right to suggest how the club is run. I don’t see the players calling the shots at Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United or AC Milan.
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February 22nd, 2012 at 10:06 pm
For my own opinion AVB hasnt done too well in his selections lately. I expect him to choose his squad according to players current form not personality. Cole was right though might have been rude but AVB should learn before patience runs out.
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February 22nd, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Our defence line hasnt been that strong this season, I think the best way is to have a standing, strong and aggresive defensive mildfielder like Essien, mikel or romeu to back them up. What does AVB think when he selects his sqaud? Does he have the portugal orgy in him?
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February 22nd, 2012 at 10:47 pm
AVB has no idea what he-s doing…….poor selection…poor sub…….poor press briefing and poor squad………http://m.facebook.com.iadeka
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February 22nd, 2012 at 10:48 pm
AVB has no idea what he-s doing…….poor selection…poor sub…….poor press briefing and poor squad………http://m.facebook.com/iadeka
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February 22nd, 2012 at 11:44 pm
All these dude that call themselves chelsea fans should know that all these problem have started since last season(ANCELLOTI’S second season).if u could remember,we lost at home to sunderland 3-0,and wolves,wigan,totteham,man u,man city,birmiham,everton et al all beat us.every body are also blaming carletto.4 d poor result without knowing that it an ageing players that cause it.come true fans,it’s high time we realise our mistake this hiring and firing of d coaches cannot take us to anywhere.we should start d club transition now and it wil take long time to started yielding result.after all ROME DOES NOT BUILD IN A DAY!AVB 4 life! CHELSEA 4 life!!!
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February 23rd, 2012 at 4:05 am
Play d diamond formation for gods sake
if the opponent is under pressure, the attaking mid(mata) can play as striker
and if we r under pressure, the def mid(essien or oriol) cn back d defence
keep drogba and sturrige up front and ramieres and lampard/torres in d mid. Defence… Terry, cole, luiz and cahill
its probably d best that cn5 happen to the team. A shift from 4-1-2-1-2 to 5-3-2 to 4-3-3 as per demand
bt villas boas doesnt see that… Does he???
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Anthony Williams Reply:
February 23rd, 2012 at 9:20 pm
I think he’s limited in what he can actually do. He basically inherited a set of players that play one way and don’t like it when someone tries to rock the boat.
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February 23rd, 2012 at 4:17 am
Though the players are getting holder and we have been earing of some of the players criticising u or not in suport of ur tactic or this and that, u have to stick with them from now till the end of the season if u dont want lose ur job because u don’t have the materials for your plan now and u have to at least qualify for champ.league next season so be wise and be prayerful in ur cellection,OK.
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Anthony Williams Reply:
February 23rd, 2012 at 9:21 pm
It’s a two-way street in that respect though, isn’t it?
Can you honestly say that they’re giving their best when they go out onto the pitch because I don’t.
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February 23rd, 2012 at 7:52 am
its hapens AVB is d age wit half of d team so dey nid to work as friends so dat we chelsea fans will b happi again
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February 23rd, 2012 at 7:53 am
sory i min same age wit half of d team
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February 23rd, 2012 at 8:06 am
we dnt need a soothsayer to tel us dat avb as cfc bos is a mistak dat must b corectd. He is too sentimental. Bosingwa n mereiles ar d weakest in d team yet de play evry game. Intead of eficiency, he prefers mediocrity
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Anthony Williams Reply:
February 23rd, 2012 at 9:22 pm
As luck would have it neither are likely to play in the next leg of the game.
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February 23rd, 2012 at 11:38 am
Avb is the problem, the man is way too sentimental for my liking. Why always play the portuguese flops of meireles and bosingwa, is it because they are from the same country? Garry cahil is too flat footed, a coach who is not willing to experiment on new things has no business being a chelsea coach, this go wrong and he sticks to the same game plan and strategy, why not try a different formation. A team in crises needs as much firepower as it can get, then why did he decide that kevin de bruyne wouldn’t fit into his plans. Is malouda, or sturridge any better than de bruyne? Lets face the facts. Avb can’t take us anywhere. Ancelloti was a better coach.
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February 23rd, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Playing Bosingwa at left back who struggles at right back….nuff said!!
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February 23rd, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Stupid people! For how long shall you support these bunch of useless players? Lamp, cole, malouda, terry, drog, bossman are the only players causing more harm than good to the club. They need to be cleared out with the exception of JT the rest have no business in chelsea anymore. AVB should bring on the young boys even if we don’t qualify for CL, at least they would have a playing time experience.
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February 23rd, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Avb out!!!!!!!!!!! We don’t need aa specialist to tell us dt dis guy is not worthy of being our coach. When d desired is not available den d available bcoms desired.I meant dt 4 a coaach who does not believe in is players aw can u succed. Sack him now or hold ur peacee
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February 23rd, 2012 at 3:11 pm
With Avb’s lineup n tactics of playin meireles in d holdin role shows aw bad he was. Essien is a better DM n aw on earth wil make d blunder of attackin away 4rum hme after scorin a gift of a goal. Welll Rome was not built in a day but buldin wit a poor sense of judgement can even b more catastrophic!!! AVB u don’t know what u r doin.U said lamp cannot move,essien is old?Is mmeireles a better player? Whaat did he do wen he was in LIVERPOOL?AVB was a mistake I tink is clear 4 us 2 see,If u can’t use the big boys what has d young once don, 5th on log n may b 6th dis wkend.Pls gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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February 23rd, 2012 at 4:52 pm
I pity our coach AVB;tactics or no tactics,does that make some of our players not able to hold on the ball,some playing like a pragnant women.we are talking about the same players that sacks many coaches..imagine luiz,only luiz playing every where,doing defensive and atacking.chelsea enemies should stop this sacking the coach write ups.we can not be changing coaches like pants.this is also the prolem of nigeria football where i came from.not giving coaches chance to prove theselvies.i think we should BE talking of how to get read of some chelsea tired legs and replace them with more youthful and creative players.next season will be awsome.up chelsea, up AVB.
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February 23rd, 2012 at 8:20 pm
Ashley Cole has been average for awhile, but even average he is 100 times better than Bosingwa, Meireles is no holding midfielder….yes tactics were poor, yes AVB has to shoulder the blame, but for crying out loud our senior pro’s are petulant to say the least and have let the fans down. I think Lampard’s behaviour is poor and Cole can say what he likes but needs to show it on the pitch. It is so obvious that we need to rebuild and be patient
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Anthony Williams Reply:
February 23rd, 2012 at 9:27 pm
I’m not trying to say Villas-Boas is blameless. Of course he has made mistakes, he will make them and he knows he has.
But I reckon he’s a talented young manager with good ideas, who has inherited a squad that is past its prime and set in its ways.
Should have been allowed to make more changes during the summer and winter transfer windows instead of spending quite large sums on players he didn’t ask for like Lukaku and De Bruyne.
To my mind Mata, Romeu and Meireles are the players he asked for. One of them is our best player, Romeu is one for the future and Meireles is admittedly a squad player at best. But he was also the man to give Sturridge his chance, one of the few positives of the season.
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