The pressure mounts

Further to my original post from June last year and brief comment on December 1, things are worse for AVB, the manager/coach who some folk inexplicably thought could come to Chelsea and be a success.

He's alienated players - barring a couple from the xmas party - and made strange selections.

Last June I commented that in his one season at Porto where he impressed (having seemingly been appointed to that job on a whim) he had simply continued an eight year period of success begun by "special one" Jose Mourinho.

I've since discovered that there were 5 or 6 different, and maybe similarly inexperienced, coaches and they all continued the run of success; the players available were obviously that good to do well no matter who was in charge.

Not only that, but the guy who was AVB's assistant last season has remained at Porto and they're still in contention at the top of their league. It seems he's one of seven to have been put in charge of something successful and to have maintained success without having to change anything.

Obviously it's not easy to keep a club at the top but it's much harder to come to a club that needs a certain amount of rebuilding having fallen away a bit. And he's showing it.