The Mercy Side: Building a Dynasty

Hey there and thanks for joining me for my first football article in three and a half months. Things are a little different for this article though, I’m not going to talk about Liverpool. No I’m not talking about England either. I’m going to talk about Chelsea.

Unless you’ve lived under a rock (or, are not a football fan and if that’s the case why are you even reading this?) you might have heard that Chelsea manager Andre Villas Boas was sacked yesterday. Some have said it was justified. I mean, since Roman Abramovich has come in with his billions of pounds, no manager has had a worse percentage win rate or a worse points-per-game rate. He managed the team for 40 games, and only won half of them. Not since Glen Hoddle, sixteen years ago, has in fact done worse than Villas Boas. But they never built Rome in a day, and if Roman Abramovich wants to build a dynasty, he needs to have a long-term plan.

Villas Boas was perfect for Chelsea. It’s probably quite a controversial thing to say, but it’s my humble opinion that this was so. Why? Chelsea needed a young, fresh mind. Villas Boas was seen as a ‘new Mourinho’, a Portugese mastermind with a keen eye for tactics. He did wonders at Porto, and is an exceptionally young manager at the age of 34; Henrique Hilario is two years older, Paulo Ferreira, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, only one year younger. Some could say too young, but I’m of the opinion that it doesn’t matter how young or old a manager is, all that matters is that they’re a strong character and can back up their skills with style.

Andre Villas Boas.

And Villas Boas did just that. For a man of 34, he had balls. He did, truly. When criticised on Match of the Day, or by other pundits, he’d actually call them out and tell them where to go. He was a frank man; always spoke his mind and was vocal in a way a leader should be. I really liked Villas Boas, and I’m a Liverpool fan, as I’m sure many of you are aware. He was deep in the thick of it and while he did struggle to swim against the tide, he gave it his best shot.

As I said, he’s 34 years old, and was put in that job for one reason – long-term success. If you put a manager at a football club for long term success you have to realise that you’re going to struggle short term because of it. It’s impossible to build a house without creating your base. Andre Villas Boas was entering a Chelsea team that was in the middle of transition, a team that still IS in the middle of transition. The old guard are getting older; Petr Cech and Jose Bosingwa are 29, John Terry, and Ashley Cole are 31 and Frank Lampard is 34. And this is the most chosen starting 11 for Chelsea this season. This is the starting 11 that Villas Boas was looking to, to ‘freshen’ this aging side.

I’m not saying Villas Boas is faultless in this torrid Chelsea season. He decided to bench Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba a lot, and back instead an inconsistent Ramires and an absolutely atrocious Fernando Torres. This has been difficult for Villas Boas, I mean, it says something that 33 year old Frank Lampard has scored more goals for Chelsea than any other player this season. He is still required; it’s as simple as that. But when you have a Drogba that’s a shadow of his former self, looking backwards instead of forwards, also at the age of 33 but your £50 million striker just can’t score, what else can you do?

The 'old guard' aren't getting any younger.

The Fernando Torres situation is difficult for Chelsea and was for Villas Boas. Obviously from a biased Liverpool perspective it’s great, we got £50 million big ones and got Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll, who are looking better and better as the season is going on. But if I’m being unbiased here, Torres-gate is awful for Chelsea. To spend such a big amount of money on a player, and he just can’t score is terrible. What can you do in a situation like that? Sell him? It’s not as easy as that. With him not scoring he’s not going to be sold for a decent price. Also, we all know that Torres, when motivated, when on form, can be the deadliest striker in the world. I mean that by the way, and that’s not me being a biased fan.

Villas Boas was trying to freshen things up. He bought 20 year old Oriol Romeu, 18-year-old Romelu Lukaku and the excellent 23-year-old Juan Mata, while selling 29 year old Alex and 32-year-old Nicolas Anelka. The age of the squad was definitely getting younger. And the old guard all got a chance; they’ve all played games this season, with mixed results. It’s not as if Drogba and Petr Cech have had stellar seasons. It was a tough job for him. It’s a tough ask for anybody, you can’t inherit say that Villas Boas was the reason everything went wrong, just like you can’t say that Jose Mourinho was the main reason Chelsea did so well. Mourinho came to Chelsea in 2004 and won the title that season. Well done Mourinho. But seven of the eleven were players he inherited by Claudio Ranieri. Here’s the squad:

Cech

Ferreria

Carvalho

Terry

Gallas

Makalele

Tiago

Lampard

Cole

Duff

Gudjohnsen

There’s the 7 players inherited from the team left by Ranieri. And then Mourinho continued to lay more foundations onto this team, and they were the best team in England for a good few years. But then Manchester United, and Alex Ferguson kept renewing his squad, and took the mantle again. It’s no coincidence. If you want to look at building football dynasties all you have to do is look at Manchester United now, and Liverpool in the eighties. Year and years of one step backwards, two steps forward. But Abramovich will never let his managers take that second step forward, apart from Mourinho, who was a very special manager, and also inherited the nucleus of an excellent squad.

Kenny Dalglish and Bob Paisley are two of Liverpool’s most successful managers, but history says if it wasn’t for Bill Shankly, they wouldn’t have inherited world beating squads. Alex Ferguson has continuously shed his squad’s skin, to make them a world force for the past 25 years. His longevity as manager, as well as the patience shown by the ‘powers that be’ in the United hierarchy, gives him the patience and time to rebuild his squad again and again. United sucked at certain times in the past 25 years. In fact, they sucked in the late eighties. But Ferguson being one of the best managers in world football even 25 years ago, along with the patience and time given there, and the collapse of Liverpool, meant that Ferguson has rarely looked back since winning his first title back in 1993. United weren’t very good from 2003 to 2007. But as I said, Ferguson shed the skin of the squad, got in some fresh youth and good buys, combined that with the good of what he still had, and then became a great force again.

So, I don’t really blame Villas Boas. You have some very strong personalities in that squad, a strong set of older players who can’t take it they’re slowly starting to get past their best, and would rather they stay in that squad, with their big salaries and even bigger egos, than accept that it may be time to move on, and let the youngsters have a go. They’re too afraid of their positions in their squad, and the money they earn, that they’d rather sacrifice their manager than their positions in the team. Look at Jamie Carragher. Is he happy to be on the bench? No, but he’s not complaining about it. Frank Lampard has been scoring goals, so it is a slightly different situation, but at the same time the principle is there.

Bill Shankley built a dynasty. He'd have no chance under Abramovich.

But the person at fault the most is Roman Abramovich. How is a manager supposed to operate a team if the owner doesn’t place the trust in him, and instead of the rebellious players? The players control the dressing room, and it’s not right. And when they get taken down a notch, they complain to the owner, who takes their side. How long must the older players be selfish before the managers don’t want to take the chance and manage Chelsea? It’s pathetic.

Abramovich has quite a lot of models to take inspiration from. In the past you have Liverpool. The 1960s Shankly built the base. In the 1970s and 1980s Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish built the dynasty. In the present, you have Manchester United, and in the 1990s and 2000s Alex Ferguson has made his base, built his dynasty and maintained it.

And for the future? Well, who can predict it, but at the moment you can look at Manchester City. Yes City have more money than Chelsea do, but it’s comparing a billionaire to a billionaire in the end of the day. But under City, Roberto Mancini has built a base. If they win the league or not this season, they’re currently building their dynasty. Mancini started by taking the reins from Mark Hughes, finishing 5^th in 2010 and getting to the semi finals of the Carling Cup, then 3^rd last season and winning the FA Cup. This season at the moment they’re top of the league. As I said even if they don’t win the league chances are they’ll be mighty close to the champions, where as they finished 9 points adrift last season. Of course all of this could be pointless if the Sheiks at City sack Mancini if he ‘fails’ and doesn’t win the league, but I just feel the Sheiks seem to have more patience, much more. Mancini could have been sacked once or twice so far, so it seems like he’s given more time there than any Chelsea manager gets from Abramovich.

Like it or not, but Alex Ferguson didn't just build a dynasty, he's maintained it.

In the end, history is there to show that long term planning usually means better prospects. Newcastle sacked loads of managers and have been relegated and promoted for that. Liverpool are evidence that long term planning is usually the way, so are Manchester United. Arsenal and Everton have long term managers and have had mixed results, but mixed to exceptionally positive results at that; Arsenal were once The Invincibles, not to mention that at one point Everton got 4^th place and a Champions League spot under David Moyes. Roman Abramovich really needs to be patient. Andre Villas Boas could have been something ‘special’ at Chelsea, but he never was going to be short term, not with that dressing room. The next manager really needs to get rid of some of those troublemakers and hope to god that the signings they make are instant successes, like Mourinho’s were in 2005. Otherwise it looks like Chelsea will continue to struggle to stay at the top of the English league pyramid. Which is fine for me; as it means Liverpool have more chance of building success. But from an unbiased perspective, it’s bad for Chelsea.

Do you agree? Disagree? Should Villas Boas have been sacked? Let me know your thoughts by commenting below. Thanks for reading.

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Live Thoughts: Liverpool vs Manchester United (Premier League)

I wrote this live. These are my unedited thoughts when we took on United at Anfield.
Hey everyone, welcome to another of my Live Thoughts feeds, this time I'm back with the mighty Reds, and by that I mean Liverpool obviously, when we take on The Red Devils in Manchester United. A win today would mean a lot, a win over the champions would finally give them their first defeat of the season, and would make us feel like we're closer to the top than some people think we are. That being said, a top 4 finish this season is still the target in my eyes. But that doesn't mean I want more! Let's kick the Mancs out of their stride at Anfield!

Here are teams:

Liverpool: Reina, Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Enrique, Kuyt, Lucas, Adam, Gerrard, Downing, Suarez. Subs: Doni, Bellamy, Carroll, Henderson, Spearing, Robinson, Agger.

Gerrard starts his first game since March, seven months ago today. Hopefully some of the anxious faithful can shut up now! It's an intruiging lineup with Gerrard playing in the hole and Suarez up front on his own. It's either a piece of tactical genius or it's a big mistake. We have no height in our attack now really and if their defence wins the battle, we aren't scoring, pure and simple. But Suarez ripped their defence with his trickery last time, let's hope he has a similar game. Suarez and Gerrard combining for the first time properly is a salivating thought though.

Manchester United: De Gea, Smalling, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Park, Fletcher, Giggs, Jones, Young, Welbeck. Subs: Lindegaard, Anderson, Rooney, Hernandez, Carrick, Nani, Valencia.

Wow... Rooney, Hernandez AND Nani on the bench? Are you serious bro? That's a huge gamble by Alex Ferguson, arguably his three most threatening players are on the bench. It makes a very strong bench mind. Let's hope we can put pressure on them early and make them pay for their potential mistake. Very dangerous gambling by old purple nose.

1' - Alex Ferguson says that Rooney had a bad week and that's why he's not playing. He's also playing more defensively because we took advantage of a lot of space on the pitch in the last match. Fair enough. It's still a defensive approach, one that hopefully we'll take advantage of.

4' - There's a lot of youth on both sides which is good, they just said that Phil Jones wasn't even born the last time we won the league. Ouch. We do have Martin Kelly and Suarez who are both very young. 

7' - Stewart Downing stretches into a tackle and it was slightly mistimed and it was called for a foul. I do like the crunching tackles and stuff, but we only just played Everton and in these derbies you need to be careful. 

10' - Manchester United are putting a bit of pressure on us but we're defending very well. No hoels at the moment. 

13' - Free kick for Manchester United a few yards outside the corner of the right side of the penalty area, Young takes it and it's straight to Reina's gloves.

15' - Some good attacking play from United, they're starting to get on top of us . It ends with Patrice Evra crossing from the left wing to Phil Jones who can't quite get to it. Not good.

18' - It's the one year anniversary since the new American owners took over. It's been a good year I'd say. 

20' - A small amount of pressure for us gets us a corner. A quick corner is taken and Gerrard can't quite get to it. Close though. 

23' - The game is a lot more open now, with us looking a little bit more threatening. 

26' - A huge amount of dominance now, pretty much three minutes straight of us just chipping away at them. Great stuff.

27' - The dominance halts as Lucas brings down Park Ji-Sung for a yellow card.


29' - A battle between Suarez and Ferdinand and the veteran defender falls on his arse and is made to look a fool. Excellent.

32' - The game has calmed down a bit now which is a shame. 

34' - SUAREZ! Saved by De Gea! What a shame, he should have done better. He shook the last defender loose and shoots straight at the young Spaniard. 

35' - Possession so far is 56%/44% to Liverpool, which is good. We have been better in the last quarter. 

36' - Darren Fletcher wastes a good chance as Manchester United pass smoothly around the Liverpool defence, it's cut to Fletcher who takes a shot from the corner of the right side of the penalty area with a bit of space, and it's wide to the left. 

38' - The Kop is singing "I Just Can't Get Enough", I love this chant. 

39' - Skrtel goes down the right wing like a proper winger, he beats two defenders before Ferdinand stops him. Good stuff. 

40' - Wayne Rooney goes for a job on the touchline and gets booed by the Kop. As a Liverpool fan I'm happy naturally, although as an England fan I do think a three match ban was harsh. But it's Liverpool today and with Rooney not playing I'm chuffed. 

42' - Yellow card for Ashley Young for shoulder barging Gerrard.. Free kick towards the right corner flag, Charlie Adam takes it and De Gea punches it out.

43' - Lucas and Phil Jones bang heads and Jones is out for the moment. Lucas sluggishly falls to the floor. It wasn't intentional by Lucas. I hope Jones is okay. 

44' - Phil Jones is now sitting up, that's good. It looked really nasty. 

45' - Two minutes of added time, although they may be more. Jones has gone off the pitch and Lucas is staying on. 

45+2' - Half time.

My summary of the first half was that it's been an interesting game, it's not really been outstanding as such, but there's been some half chances on both sides. The best chance was Suarez's effort that was tame and straight at De Gea. I think we had the better half, but you can't rule out Manchester United, they've had their spells as well. Let's hope we can start the second half well, as their bench is really dangerous and we don't want to leave it at 0-0 when the big guns come on. 

47' - Pepe Reina doesn't deal with an Ashley Young free kick very well. Danger is over though.

48' - Downing claims that Chris Smalling was tugging at his shirt as they battle down the left flank. The ref lets it go for a goal kick. 

50' - Suarez does his magic in a tight situation with Chris Smalling and wins a corner. Smalling is lucky it was just that as it looked like he beat him!

51' - KUYT! Hand ball! It was hand ball in the Manchester United box but Johnny Evans gets away with it! 

53' - Yellow card for Ferdinand as he brings Adam down.

54' - Suarez takes a shot and it's saved well be De Gea. It was around 20 yards out and low, but there was some space in the corner of the box when he took it. 

55' - Gerrard storms into the right side of the box and takes a shot but it was too close to the end of the pitch for him to get a good enough shot and it's saved. 

56' - Liverpool Sub: Jordan Henderson comes on for Lucas Leiva. Interesting change, I think it's considered an attacking one. 

57' - Just a little observation, Martin Skrtel plays with a lot more passion nowadays than ever before. He goes forward more and he's a lot more animate. It's good. 

57' - Suarez fouls Evra and it was a little malicious. Evra is limping off. Suarez gets away with it, it looked intentional, not too dissimilar to Rooney's sending off last week, although more discrete.

60' - We're definitely playing better than Man United now, although Nani is about to come on. He's had an excellent year. Evra is back on by the way.

62' - United start an attack but we end up counter attacking it. It's end to end at the moment, a great game to watch. 

63' - Suarez dances around the Man United players in their box but he has to drift to the left and his shot is deflected. Corner. The corner leads to a retake, which then leads to a Charlie Adam shot which is from the wide and not deep enough.

64' - Patrice Evra is booked for moaning at the referee for the tackle from Suarez earlier, and for the fact that he's basically an awesome little Uruguayan menace in their box. 

66' - FREE KICK in a dangerous area. Ferdinand clips Adam down JUST outside the box. No card though, Ferdinand could have been booked and sent off for that. 

67' - GERRARD! FUCK YES! Gerrard slams the ball low into the bottom right of the United net! 1-0! 

68' - Double Man United Substitution - Wayne Rooney and Nani come on for Park Ji-Sung and Ashley Young.

69' - People are arguing that Adam went down with minimal contact but I don't think so. It was a lazy foot that Ferdinand put out and there was enough contact. No, it wasn't a double footed challenge or anything rash, but it was enough. 

70' - Haha, when you see the replay of the goal, look at Suarez! He's in the wall with the United players and he turns around and starts dancing, taunting De Gea! Fucking legend! 

73' - More statistics for you, Man United have lost the last three visits to Anfield, this being the fourth in a row if they lose today. It doesn't feel like we've been that dominant at home against them, but it's true. Also, this is the first time United have been behind in a match this season, and if they lose, it's their first defeat. Let's hope all this continues or it all means nothing then! 

74' - One thing that frustrated me about Gerrard in the last eighteen months or so was his lack of goals from free kicks. Most of his goals were penalties last season. To see him score such a fantastic free kick is great, it's a sight I missed dearly. Steve Gerrard, Gerrard... 

75' - Nani blasts the ball well wide over the bar. 

76' - United Sub: Phil Jones comes off for Javier Hernandez. Obviously an attacking sub, and it's their last one.

77' - More stats, so far, both sides have had nine shots on goal, but six of ours have been on target. United? Only two. 

78' - Nani appeals for handball when it appears to his the lower inside arm of Jose Enrique. It looks unintentional, but it could have easily been given. 

80' - GOAL! Patrice Evra! Two United corners in succession, both taken by Nani, the second lands on Evra's head and it goes straight in. 1-1. Completely against the recent run of play. Gutted.

81' - KUYT! Great save by De Gea! A lovely cross from Downing bounces in the box and Kuyt gets to it and it looks like it's going straight in but for De Gea! 

83' - It's end to end stuff at the moment. I think we should bring Bellamy on for the last few minutes. We'll see.

85' - What passion form Jordan Henderson, the ball was loose and wild and he controls it and retreats slightly backwards and slides the ball into possession. It's hard to describe what he did but put it this way, it was appreciated by the Kop.

86' - Downing! Just wide. His shot was from the left just outside the box and he hits it just over the right side of the bar. 

88' - Free kick in relatively dangerous area for Liverpool. It's about 8 yards further back and more to the right than from the earlier one. Unfortunately it doesn't really go anywhere and it ends up leading to a goal kick for United. 

90' - HENDERSON! My goodness! That was close! Great save from De Gea in the end. Really Gerrard-esque, he who shoots from the outside of the right hand side of the box and it looks like it creeps into the top left corner, but De Gea gets a great glove to it! Three minutes of added time.

90+1' - The corner is taken and we're all over them in the box! Many near chances, the best being from Suarez who tries to head backwards into the net but it's dealt with. So close! 

90+1' - Henderson! Grr! Downing crosses from the left and Henderson is in the box and he heads it just over the bar.

90+3' - Full time. 

GAAHH!! We were so close. We beat the crap out of United in the second half. If it was a boxing match we would have won this match on points. But it's not boxing, it's football. Our free kick goal was the justification for this dominance, with Gerrard slotting it into the bottom right corner. Their goal was completely against the run of play. I genuinely believe we were the better side today. They were lucky to come away with a point. They're still undefeated but you know something? They'll go back to Manchester with their tails between their legs because they were beat on that pitch today. It's a reality check for them. And for us? A fantastic second half display against the best side in the land really will do us good. Yes it was two points dropped at home. But we played with passion and quality against a very good United side. It wasn't that United played badly today, it was that we played better than them all over the pitch. Bring on the next match! I can't wait! That's it from me today, take care and spike your hair.

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