The man is walking around with a ‘sack me’ sign written on his forehead, but is Chelsea’s predicament his fault?
We hope that by now Andre Villas-Boas has learned not to read the newspapers in England.
For they are all adamant that if Chelsea lose to a formidable Napoli side in midweek, then he will be packing his bags and be handed a one-way ticket to Portugal.
Given Roman Abramovich’s trigger-happy tendency to fire his managers, it would be difficult to envisage him still being at the helm this time next season.
But while the team he inherited was flush with superstars and proven winners, they were becoming increasingly disjointed.
The majority of Chelsea’s stars have a ‘been-there-done-it’ glow, and a lack of motivation has certainly been evident in Dider Drogba’s performances this season, turning it on in big games against Manchester City and Valencia, but apart from that he has delivered pretty turgid showings.
Villas-Boas has also had to manage effectively with one hand tied behind his back.
He has been obliged to persist with Fernando Torres, because of his £50 million price tag the club are demanding the striker delivers, but he only becomes more ineffective with every game, which is having a detrimental effect on the whole team.
In fact is Villas-Boas does get sacked, he can pinpoint it squarely on his failure to get Torres scoring again.
But as Birmingham City netted their opener in a draw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, the cameras immediately panned to a forlorn looking Villas-Boas.
As if they were looking for Roman Abramovich to march down from his directors box and deliver some sort of executioner style sacking.
He is almost becoming a Steve Kean type figure, surviving against the odds, in the most dangerous lion’s den of all.
The fact is this Premier League season is more competitive than ever, last season’s champions Manchester United have more points than they did this time last year, and still sit in second place.
So to ask Villas-Boas to come in and deliver in his first season was always asking a lot.
Jose Mourinho delivered in his first season, but there was no oil-rich Manchester City around then, and United were far poorer a side.
So its time put the knives back in the drawer, and let the manager do his thing until the end of the season, regardless of results, and give him an extra 12 months.
Let him clear out the underperforming stars, bring in his own men, and then can his capabilities be properly assessed.
image: © Jason Bagley
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