Can you see me now?

Does a man who picked up three trophies with Porto last season suddenly become a bad manager within the space of six months?  Are his tactics naive and over ambitious? Maybe he is out of his depth in the Premier League in comparison to the Primeira Liga?

Personally, I don’t buy any of the above. 

Villas-Boas came to Chelsea on the back of a fantastic record at Porto.  He is the youngest ever manager to win a european trophy and finished last season undefeated in the league with a record of 27 wins and 3 draws.  Villas-Boas is a top quality manager whichever way you look at things.

The players have to take a massive amount of the blame for AVB losing his job.  The team is no match for Manchester City and Manchester United, but they should be easily on par with Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool.  

There have been stories of fallouts with Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien but the more worrying thing is the hold that Drogba, Lampard and Terry seem to have within the club. None of those players are getting any younger and now is the time they should be taking a backseat every now and then to blood younger players.  They cannot be in a position to influence Roman Abramovich on managerial appointments. 

Chelsea should have stuck with AVB through the summer and allowed him to mould his own team, not have players bought for him and expect them to fit into his plans.  The rumours at the moment are that Rafa Benitez is hot favourite for the job, but it wont matter who takes over unless the players with too much influence are shipped out.

No player is bigger than the club, Alex Ferguson has always stated this. Unfortunately for Chelsea, it seems that no one at boardroom level is taking this on board. 

So Fernando Torres has just been substituted at half-time during Chelsea’s FA Cup tie against Birmingham City. (Chelsea are losing 1-0 and have been terrible for the entire half, including a missed Mata penalty)

Torres had a total of 15 touches whilst on the pitch, this was the same amount as Petr Cech.  You can look into that statistic in two ways - 

1) Was Torres showing for the ball, making clever runs into space and generally wanting the ball throughout the first half?  If not, that is clearly why he hardly touched the ball. 
2) Did the Chelsea midfield aide Torres in providing good support and making quality passes?  If they didn’t maybe this is why Torres struggled.

After watching a lot of Chelsea matches this season.  I would be inclined to suggest that although Torres has had a fair few rough games, a large proportion of the time he has looked sharp and lively.  In my opinion, the main problem at Chelsea is the midfield.

Near enough every pass they play is sideways which is not suited to Torres in the slightest.  He thrives on fast attacking with quick through balls to run onto, not a slow build up with balls played into his feet expecting him to hold defenders of and carry the ball towards goal.  

Will Torres still be at Chelsea by the time the midfield is sorted out? Very doubtful.

But it will be a massive shame if he doesn’t get to prove his worth there, he is a top quality player being let down by the supply his team mates give him at the moment.

The main thing Fernando Torres is missing at the moment is Steven Gerrard’s supply, maybe moving Mata into the middle may help the problem short-term.  But going forward, if Chelsea are going to stick with him they need to look at a top quality play maker to bring in.

My suggestion, Ganso.  He is a fantastic player who I would be expecting to leave Santo’s this Summer.  Fast and skillful with great passing ability.  Whether Chelsea are willing to clear out the old guard is another question…

So do you agree? Or is Fernando Torres really just washed up and finished as a force in world football.

Arron Ramsey scores:
vs Man Utd - Bin Laden dies.
vs Tottenham - Steve Jobs dies.
vs Marseille - Gaddafi dies.
vs Sunderland - Whitney Houston dies.
So the curse lives on. Who is next?!