Former Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink warns Andre Villas-Boas about John Terry and Frank Lampard
Former Chelsea care-taker manager Guus Hiddink advised new Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas to handle the senior players at Stamford Bridge with care. The Dutch manager revealed it was essential to earn and maintain the respect of Chelsea captain http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Frank-Lampard-c14097 to succeed as a manager at the London club.
Since being the captaincy in 2004, John Terry has maintained perfect discipline in the squad and Hiddink felt that was extremely important. Hiddink revealed he felt that while Villas-Boas could maintain a healthy relationship with the squad, he would have to put in effort for that. He also said he didn’t feel age was a factor here.
The former FC Porto boss is only 33 years old and takes over from a much experienced and older manager, Carlo Ancelotti. The Italian manager was sacked at the end of last season for failing to lead the Blues to any silverware. While Hiddink was initially lined-up as his replacement, the Dutchman refused to leave the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Turkey-c3026 national team and the Blues turned instead to Villas-Boas.
There have been questions raised at Villas-Boas’ ability to manage a http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Job-c18684 as long as he managed to handle Terry and Lampard.
Hiddink said while speaking to reporters:
“He has to win respect. But it does not always have to do with age. On top of that, English professional players like Terry and Lampard know what is demanded in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749. They take the lead.
At big clubs, some leading players - like JT and Lampard - have a kind of respect for the club as well.”
Hiddink continued:
“The Chelsea squad have been together a long time, with new additions coming in. They have their own pride as a group and Villas-Boas can manage them.”
He said he was impressed with Villas-Boas’ success with the Portuguese giants, having led them to the Primeira League, Portuguese Supercup, Portuguese Cup and the UEFA Europa League in his first season at the club. However, Hiddink revealed the English Premier League was different than the Portuguese League and managing Chelsea was much more difficult than managing http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Porto-c39186.
Hiddink was confident Chelsea would be highly successful in the upcoming season, as long as the players worked with the new manager. Having previously worked with the Blues after Luiz Felipe Scolari was sacked, Hiddink knows the mentality of the Chelsea players. Hiddink led an out of form Chelsea squad to an FA Cup finish in the 2008-2009 season.
The Dutch manager said:
“If they can cope with that change in a different world where they are no longer the star player, they can make that transformation. But he has to be intelligent.”
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