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A few quick thoughts on AVB and a potential change

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NAPLES, ITALY - FEBRUARY 21: Andre Villas-Boas manager of Chelsea FC looks on during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg match between SSC Napoli and Chelsea FC at Stadio San Paolo on February 21, 2012 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)

Chelsea fans are frustrated. I think it's pretty obvious. There are many in the media and around the internet that are seemingly hoping to see AVB sacked, and I can't say that would be totally without cause at this point. I'd personally be against the move though, and I'm going to go to bullet point form to point out the reasons why.

  • The obvious question first...who replaces him? There isn't much available in the way of quality managers at the moment, and frankly anyone that is available now will likely still be available in the summer along with ridiculous amounts of other options. I don't want Fabio Capello anywhere near this squad as he'd almost certainly trot Frank, FloMo, and company out there every single match. Rafa Benitez is, well, Rafa Benitez. Other than that we really don't have much to choose from at this point. If Guus hadn't signed on at Anzhi it may be a bit different, but he did and it's not.
  • Financial Fair Play needs to be considered here as well. We spent a lot to bring AVB in. It will cost us an awful lot to replace him. While we should certainly consider the move, we should also make sure we're best utilizing the available funds. Changing managers every 6 months is going to hurt our ability to buy players under the new rule. Who would you rather see replaced...AVB or Fernando Torres? Frank Lampard? Florent Malouda?
  • He clearly sees that this team has issues so far as it's makeup goes. The full blown attempts to add Modric and Pastore this past summer should tell us that he saw this midfield issue very early in his tenure here. While we questioned his judgement in looking at Perreira and Coentrao, the need for someone of that type seems fairly obvious now. He's also pretty clearly been looking for a more natural winger. It seems to me like he's correctly identified our three biggest areas of need regardless of out failure to actually add to those positions.
  • Regardless of what you feel about AVB, it's pretty clear that a clearout of quite a few of our players does need to occur. AVB is here. He's already unpopular with the media and reportedly unpopular with the older players. If there was ever a guy to allow to stay on simply to expedite that process, AVB is that guy.
  • I like the fact that he's shown no hesitation putting our 50 million pound turd sandwich on the bench. I don't think too many managers would have had the gumption to do that in the fall, especially with Drogba being a shell of his former self.
  • For the most part, AVB is targeting all the right guys on the transfer front. We're going to have a lot of turnover this summer, and I'd much rather have a manger in charge who'll target guys like Moura and Hazard than one who targets guys like Scott Parker and Stuart Downing. From a personnel standpoint, this summer is going to be as important a window as we've ever had. From that aspect, AVB and Emenalo have been doing basically everything right in my eyes.
  • He's worked very well with Romeu, Ramires, Luiz, and Mata. He's seemingly worked fairly well with Danny Sturridge, although with the general douchebaggery of the elder Sturridge it's a bit hard to tell what to make of Danny's mood. Frankly, those 5 players are the only senior guys we have that should be viewing as future regulars.
  • Warren Barton doesn't like him. Warren Barton is a moron. That doesn't necessarily mean that AVB is doing everything right, but it certainly doesn't hurt him in my eyes.
  • I'm certainly not all that thrilled by what has transpired this season, but I think I may have had lower expectations than most when the season got underway. That said, firing a talented young manager for struggling with the transition of the roster and traditional expectation midway through his first season just makes very little sense to me. I feel that a managerial change at this moment will only slow down the rate at which this roster gets turned over, and that should be avoided at all costs. It's not really going to be fair to bring in any manager with the roster in it's current state, if AVB is not the future let's allow him to help push out the dead wood at the very least.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

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