Chelsea legend http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marcel-c23507 Desailly on challenges Andre Villas-Boas faces at Stamford Bridge
Marcel Desailly, the 42-year-old former Chelsea defender, revealed new Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas had some tough challenges ahead of him as he prepared for the new season. While the Portuguese manager arrives at Stamford Bridge with a highly impressive
CV for a manager as young as him, Desailly felt he could not rely solely on his past success and would have to prove himself with the English Premier League giants.
The 33-year-old manager arrives at the London club after winning the Primeira League, UEFA Europa League, Portuguese Supercup and the Portuguese Cup with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Porto-c39186 in his first season at the club. Apart from the highly successful season in terms of trophies,
Porto went on to break and set various records, making Villas-Boas one of the club’s most successful managers.
Desailly revealed he did in no way doubt Villas-Boas’ capabilities as a tactician, but was more concerned of how he would handle the superstars at Chelsea. At 33 years, Villas-Boas is as old as striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Frank-Lampard-c14097 and younger than third
choice goal-keeper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 will be to control the squad.
Desailly said while speaking to the media:
“All the pressure is on the shoulders of the coach. It's all up to him. The next step is to get the consideration of the players.”
With the Chelsea squad full of international stars, Desailly felt it was important for Villas-Boas to prove himself to the players before he began trying to impress the supporters. The approval of the squad was essential at this point, while they were in
pre-season preparing for the new campaign. The Frenchman said the failure to do so could result in an early exit for Villas-Boas, as was the case with Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had failed to win over the players.
According to the Chelsea legend, the first few weeks of the new Premier League season would be the most important for Villas-Boas and Chelsea. If the Portuguese manager succeeded in giving his side the edge over Premier League champions Manchester United,
they would most likely go on to play with more confidence and have a better season.
Desailly continued:
“If he makes any mistakes, then you will see that they will not follow him. Subconsciously - not necessarily on purpose - they will be thinking that the guy who is supposed to be managing is not on their level.”
Even if Villas-Boas managed to deal with the squad, there would still be the problem of forward http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 striker was brought in for a record breaking fee of £50 million during the January transfer window, but has
been in terrible goal-scoring form. In his 18 appearances for the Blues last season, Torres managed to find the back of the net just once.
While Villas-Boas has already begun the initial stages of building the squad around the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Spain-c3011 international, it will take a lot more than new signings to return the striker to his goal-scoring form. Desailly felt the Blues needed to strengthen their midfield
with players who would provide the ball to Torres at the right moment.
Unlike many critics, Desailly was certain Torres would improve at Stamford Bridge and transform once again into the player he was at Atletico Madrid and in his early days at Liverpool. The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 international revealed it was only a matter of time
and the restoration of his confidence, which would make him one of the best strikers in the world.
Desailly said:
“The main challenge for Villas-Boas is Torres: How to get him back to his best physically, but also finding the players around him that allow him to express himself.”
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