What can Chelsea fans expect from Villas-Boas? [Part 2]

I remember watching a video clip of Mourinho speaking with his players in a pre-match meeting, recollecting his words, he addressed the upcoming matches, “We ‘must’ not lose this game, we cannot, we cannot, we simply cannot” even as a viewer the effect of his words resonated with me, it was not particularly big matches they were discussing, not even at a vital part of the season, but the surety in his intentions for those two upcoming matches cannot be questioned, it seemed new and strange to me, the normality would be to hear a manager say, we have to “try” to win these games. The language used to motivate his players were crucial to set the tone, he almost commanded results with his language.

At Academica, Boas spoke about his intentions for again specifically the “two” upcoming matches.

He stated:

“We want two consecutive victories. We must win home and away, now against Naval and at Sporting Braga. This way we can grow and achieve more regularity.”

I believe their language is a powerful tool, it’s hardly ever negative, Boas talks about getting a bit more out of his players. Ancelotti consistently referred to a “bad moment” and with his experience he had experienced several of these “bad moments” considering them to be normal and just a phase, I find this attitude goes completely against how José or Boas will react, were often you would find Ancelotti’s Chelsea team to look devoid of motivation, motivation is Andre Villas Boas bread and butter.

In the Portugese domestic cup Porto had lost to Benfica in the first leg and had failed to change the result around by half time in the second leg. Asked what Andre Villas-Boas said at half time, Beto responded that he told his charges to keep their belief and to accelerate the game:

“He made us believe even more that it was possible; if we accelerated the rhythm of the match we could achieve our target of scoring the three goals we needed. And after the first goal from Joao we believed even more, Benfica shaked, we didn’t feel tired and we were mentally strong and the response was there. Mentally we are very strong and very fresh.”

Boas will intend to work on keeping that hunger there through the duration of the season, there was a point at which, As Europe’s only remaining unbeaten side, FC Porto began to receive plaudits from all areas for their impressive form, but the Dragons coach was keen to ensure that his players’ feet remained firmly on the ground. “What we’ve done so far means little”, this is similar to when Mourinho questioned what the likes of Gallas, Terry and Lampard had won when he initially arrived.

Former boss Jesualdo Ferreira was the latest to pay tribute to the impact Villas Boas has had at the time during the opening months of his tenure. The Panathinaikos coach stated that the recent achievement of breaking the club’s undefeated record was testament to the players and to the new coach.

However, whilst receiving the praise positively, Villas Boas is adamant that his team have yet to do anything worthy of genuine recognition:

“I appreciate Jesualdo’s words and welcome them with open arms. It is praise from someone who gave so much to this club. This record sequence is partly his work.

“We cannot detach ourselves from what is ahead, five months which will decide trophies. Everything we have achieved so far can be quickly forgotten, because it means very little. What counts is what is still to come and the players must be aware of that.”

The next match was a home tie with CSKA Sofia in the Europa League and although the match meant little due to Porto having already secured passage into the knockout phase as winners, Boas maintained that his team will not take the match lightly.

“We will not be lacking in motivation. The squad will continue to be managed. We have a very competitive squad and they will all have their chance. Our goal is to win, despite the fact that we have already qualified. The team is always strong.”

In my estimation the Mourinho rulebook and his focus on culturing a hungry environment should be crucial study for all aspiring coaches, analysing both coaches, they have different approaches to tactics, to style of football and approach, but, both seem an outstanding new breed of manager, that can and have vastly over-achieved even at the highest level, to understand their success is to understand their similarities, to understand their similarities is to understand the importance of motivation.

Part 3 should be fun for the brigade that are keen to point out that Andre Villas Boas is not Mourinho, I focus on a word you’ll be likely to hear him use a lot, “Identity” i.e style of play.

Read ‘What can Chelsea fans expect from Villas-Boas? [Part 1]’ Here