Holding Midfield
Holding Midfield Articles (BOT)
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2011
- Messages
- 309
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
Four months after leaving the English capital, Andre Villas-Boas returned to London with his tail between his legs. He was initially heralded as “the new Mourinho”, with good reason. The Portuguese had worked closely together before Villas-Boas, like Jose Mourinho, chose to give management a try rather than continuing as an assistant. Like Mourinho, he honed his skills at one of Portugal’s more modest clubs before taking over at Porto, where he ended his first season as a treble winner, unbeaten in the league. His success caught the attention of Roman Abramovich, who offered him a chance at Chelsea, which is where the similarities end. Issues of dressing room manipulation by senior players and Abramovich’s itchy trigger finger ignore that Villas-Boas generally wasn’t doing all that great a job with Chelsea, although he was not the only one to blame. A squad that had been constructed around Mourinho’s defensive game was not built to play Villas-Boas’ more energetic style. The ageing John Terry was too slow for the high line Villas-Boas required and his partner David Luiz too raw, unable to position himself correctly. Forced into dropping the defensive line deeper to stop getting caught out by balls in behind, […]
Continue reading the article at HoldingMidfield.com.....