Frank Lampard, also one who didn’t rush over to join in the act of ‘unity,’ was more credible when he simply avoided answering the question of whether the relationship he has with Andre Villas Boas has changed. Lampard, not wishing to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, knew to evade – and was wise to do so.
The wider issue here is that far from being a display of unity, all Chelsea’s celebration following the opening goal against Wolves did was show how divided the team is. Ramires, Jose Bosingwa, David Luiz and Raul Mereiles ran over towards Villas Boas together to start with. A set of Portuguese speaking players. Ashley Cole soon joined in, before Lampard and Terry paid ‘lip’ service to the celebration.
Chelsea appear on the outside to be a team fighting a civil war from within. Players such as Terry and Lampard have grown increasingly powerful over the years, buoyed by the successful ousting of Luiz Felipe Scolari and taking credit from the press for Avram Grant’s good work at the club during his brief spell.
It seems that the core of players who have made Chelsea so successful believe that they still hold the power, thanks to their influence. This appears to be on the wane now. Terry’s redeeming quality in the past was that he would throw himself without question onto anything that moved in front of him – flying shots from distance, last ditch saving tackles. He no longer can do that. The image of Terry this year has been of the one against Aston Villa last week. Failed heroism, an inability to prevent the inevitable – goals conceded and defeats. Lampard too, is becoming less effective, and their power to change things at the top is therefore reduced.
Indeed in the Chelsea power game Villas Boas is decisively winning. The club seem to have no intention of letting him go and this is a battle he must win for them to be successful. He needs to change the whole philosophy. Once a team who bored their way to victory in functional style under Jose Mourinho. Now they are attempting to become a unit who produce exciting football and win. Raul Mereiles, Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge make a good start. So does Oriel Romeu, whilst Romelu Lukaku should be a positive signing as well. But Chelsea have much to do still.
They need to shift out the old guard, including Lampard, Terry, Drogba and probably Petr Cech too. They then need to bring in more players like Mata and Sturridge. It has been noticeable how despite their problems, the latter duo have been consistently excellent in a team plagued by mediocrity. Villas Boas is capable of melding this team together, but he does not have the right players. Most of Chelsea’s defeats and goals conceded have been the result of individual errors, not flaws with his system. Change is necessary. It is not enough just to win – that has been Abramovich’s mantra through the changes over the years. Villas Boas is the radical, visionary with the attention to detail to understand that and do something about it – but first he needs to defeat those within his dressing room who believe in the Mourinho way that winning is the only thing that counts.
