Andre Villas Boas's Football Philosophy

They won nothing the season before either under Ancelotti. Overall for 2 years they have been a team in decline with players getting older and the Mourinho legacy coming to an end.

Inexplicably they've had a fantastic 3 months in the FA Cup and Champions League. That's why they are calling yesterday a miracle. The players did nothing for Ancelotti last season. They done nothing for AVB this season. They somehow reacted in to 3 good months in 2 competitions under Di Matteo. Do I think Di Matteo is a fantastic manager? No, I think he has been extremely lucky that he came in and they have reacted and won 2 major trophies after showing nothing for almost 2 years before.

 Also, lets be totally honest here without taking too much away from them, they have been @rsehole lucky in the Champions League, and to a lesser extent against us too in the FA Cup final. There, they were dead on their feet and had we equalised (or had it been given) there was only one winner in my opinion. In the Champions League, like us the last time we won it, destiny played a large part in their success.

Yawn. Heard it all before. Tells us nothing.

Mourinho turned Porto around in 2003. Mourinho.
Think they won the title 7 times in 9 years (or something like that) afterward.  AVB had them for one of those years AFAIK.
The guy has some good patter about his 'footballing philosophy', that's all well and good ... FSG I'm sure will like his sharp suits too.
The fact is he did make a balls of his first PL assignment (whatever the reasons behind that failure, the fact is he did not get most of the resources available).
Might not tell his whole story, but should tell us something...

Take a look on the market now, which "big" manager is available at the moment? Then choose which one do you really want at our club to take the job!
To have Rafa back were  pretty cool, but i don't see that coming! : /
Just to say a word about AVB:
Think the man knows "something" about football! Like the stuff he is talking about.
AND
AVB had never worked for a big club in europe outside Portugal! For a club with great fans and a glory history!

He can have all the philosophy in the world, but if he can't control all the millionaire super star playboys in the dressing room, then he's fu**ed from the off as his spell at Chelsea at proved

He done alright in portugal as on the whole, continental players are more disciplined than their English counterparts.

We have gobshites of the highest order like Chelsea's dressing room? Think he'd be okay in that department and I fully believe his 4-3-3 system would work here.

Couldn't give a f*ck,doesn't have any passion for our club,simply out of work,looking for a stepping stone.Next.

Well blow me! That pretty much rules out everyone then!

Listen - take all this bollocks about "he needs to be passionate about the club" etc etc. As stated earlier Rafa wasn't really associated with such passion and he did an alright job.

I guess you'd want Roy Evans then.

Not sure about his football philosophy because i don't know enough about him, I will say that he did try to change things too quickly in Chelsea ( Souness esc). What worries me is he didn't even realize the strength of a squad given to him at Chelsea and didn't seem to motivate them at all. Just seemed to turn a whole squad agains't him in only a matter of months which doesn't say much about his man management skills.

Does anyone know how long he managed Porto for and if he inherited a winning team or if he built a squad from scratch?

I think it's worth saying that for the more inexperienced candidates, we can't simply rely on their managerial records to get a feel for how they might perform at Liverpool because by definition they're still in the early stages of their managerial careers and haven't had the time to establish one as complete as the other, more experience candidates have.

You have to look more deeply at what they'e done; to ask not just what their sides have won, but how they've done it and in what kind of circumstances. What were the resources aailable, how much of the squad was the manager's, and what kind of football did they play. Another consideration to make, and I think this stands AVB in particular in greater stead than some of the others, is what kind of tutelage they've had. The fact that Bobby Robson saw enough in AVB at such an early age to allow him to have some input into the coaching and that Mourinho then did the same tends to support the view that he is a guy who really knows his football. In the absence of a long managrial record to bear out his suitability for the job, those are the kinds of questions you want to be asking about the candidates for the job.

He had a CL winning side but he couldn't see it and single handedly nearly fu**ed up Chelsea's season this and next.
He could not motivate his players and if it wasnt for Matteo Chelsea would have won nothing and quite possibly finsihed below us.

We don't have a crystal ball so we don't know how AVB would have done in CL with Chelsea. But AVB had Chesea higher in the Premier League table than where they finished with DiMatteo, so the media spin that DiMatteo did a better job in the league is inaccurate.

He can have all the philosophy in the world, but if he can't control all the millionaire super star playboys in the dressing room, then he's fu**ed from the off as his spell at Chelsea at proved

He done alright in portugal as on the whole, continental players are more disciplined than their English counterparts.

That's easily done though isn't it?

AVB: Ok John, I am not going to put up with your attitude any longer, I've warned you enough. You are:

a) fined 2 week wages
b) suspended from the club for 2/4/6/8 weeks
c) consigned to the reserves until I see a change in your attitude
d) on the transfer list

Any mix of the above.

I just don't understand how players get so much power. Or more specifically, why they are allowed to have so much power.

Not sure about his football philosophy because i don't know enough about him, I will say that he did try to change things too quickly in Chelsea ( Souness esc). What worries me is he didn't even realize the strength of a squad given to him at Chelsea and didn't seem to motivate them at all. Just seemed to turn a whole squad agains't him in only a matter of months which doesn't say much about his man management skills.

Does anyone know how long he managed Porto for and if he inherited a winning team or if he built a squad from scratch?

You bring up a fair point about his Chelsea time. It's that one worry I have about him. While I like him and wouldn't complain if he were hired, perhaps a Capello or someone similarly experienced would handle the pressures of the media and a strong locker room better. Not sure...

I believe the Porto club he had was strong when he started, so probably the fairest assessment of him there is to say he took a good club and made it virtually unbeatable.

That's not really being fair to Di Matteo as Chelsea's focus was divided between huge games in the CL and FA cup at the same time as they were trying to maintain a challenge for fourth. Inevitably one or the other was going to give and it was their league form. The idea that their cup wins were down to 'destiny', that it was 'written in the stars'  is also a load of mystical sh!te that doesn't do Di Matteo credit. They dug in, rode their luck, got the goals they needed and won the games that brought them the cups. Were people expecting them to go to Barca and play them off the park with ten men or something? Or go to Bayern and put in a comprehensive possession-dominating performance? It's b0llocks.

It's not that AVB tried to change things too quickly at chelsea, it's that he wasn't given enough time to change things at chelsea.

Subtle difference.

That's not really being fair to Di Matteo as Chelsea's focus was divided between huge games in the CL and FA cup at the same time as they were trying to maintain a challenge for fourth. Inevitably one or the other was going to give and it was their league form. The idea that their cup wins were down to 'destiny', that it was 'written in the stars'  is also a load of mystical sh!te that doesn't do Di Matteo credit. They dug in, rode their luck, got the goals they needed and won the games that brought them the cups. Were people expecting them to go to Barca and play them off the park with ten men or something? Or go to Bayern and put in a comprehensive possession-dominating performance? It's b0llocks.

I didn't mean to demean DiMatteo. I like him and think he did a good job, but let's be honest he had some luck along the way. Nothing wrong with that. I think AVB did a decent job there too, more than the media stated.

Raised this on another thread, but think it kindof got lost:

What about AVB's handling of the John Terry racial abuse?

Kenny got slaughtered for maintaining Suarez innocence.
AVB got an easy ride despite saying that he would defend JT whether he was innocent or not. He even said he shouldn't be criticised for it cos he was the F***ing England captain!

Do you think AVB's genuinely soft stance on racism is going to continue to be forgotten if he becomes our manager?
How long do you think it will be before the "is Liverpool a racist club?" canard raises it head again if we appoint him? Couple of days? Or  in the build up to the next Man U game?

I don't think we should be appointing a guy with that stance on racism to begin with, as a matter of principle.
But if we appoint him after the whole Suarez debacle, then we are off our heads.

He wasn't out of his depth at Chelsea. If there was a fault to AVB at Chelsea, it was to take on too much at such a short time. He pretty much put the squad through a form of exaserbating 'shock therapy' which, although not delivering the results at the time, was necessary for the future. It is difficult for any team to jump from being a Route 1 direct football approach to the slick pass and play, and quite frankly, players like Lampard and Terry etc weren't up for it. The pace of the Chelsea side is largely slow and slick play relies on a lot of fast technical players - hence why he bought in Juan Mata, who fitted into AVB's philosophy perfectly and has since been the best player for Chelsea this year. If given time to bring in the right players, and players like Lampard etc accepted their fate, then he would have been brilliant.

Last night in Munich was the last hurrah for Chelsea, and credit must be given to Di Matteo for doing something no other Chelsea manager did. He certainly appeased the old guard and it paid off as evident last night, but this is only beneficial for the short term. As it showed last night, they did have some quality left there, so in actual fact it was the wrong place at the wrong time for AVB.

Liverpool is a completely different kettle of fish though. I feel LFC is more adaptable to his tactics, and given the transfer kitty to bring in his own players, I feel there is so much potential for greatness there. I personally think that he would be a great appointment for the long term. Perhaps in the short term he doesn't get the top four but that's missing the point because time needs to be given to these sort of tactics. You might say there isn't enough time to create such a project but I disagree. The youth system has been overhauled brilliantly by Benitez and is bearing fruit with techincally gifted young players. AVB is the perfect manager to bring these guys through, adhering to his philosophy and his world class scouting knowledge gives him the added benefit of finding bargains. In short, he's the one for me.

I find his approach interesting. He at least seems to have studied Liverpool which is interesting. I voted for AVB on the poll. I found his scouting report posted elsewhere to be a good read.

I would like Rafa back. I would like AVB also.

In a side note I had a dream that Rafa got the DOF role... won't happen though.

He had a CL winning side but he couldn't see it and single handedly nearly fu**ed up Chelsea's season this and next.
He could not motivate his players and if it wasnt for Matteo Chelsea would have won nothing and quite possibly finsihed below us.

To be honest, what sane minded person thought at the start of the season that Chelsea were capable of winning the Champions League?

Simply, in response to my previous post, the novelty of having a nice guy 'yes man' like Di Matteo at Chelsea will wear off the players next season. It was a breath of fresh air for them the last two months after the strict, no nonsense approach AVB took - primarily the reason why they decided to perform. Mark my words, the fickle Chelsea 'fans' will be calling for Di Matteo's head by Christmas and they will be searching for a new manager again.

I just don't understand how players get so much power. Or more specifically, why they are allowed to have so much power.

Because people like Roman and Purslow allow them to.

Because people like Roman and Purslow allow them to.

You mean they go over the manager's head?

No wonder Maureen left

The way i see it working for AVB with the reds is that we play a crisp passing and moving game ( ok we dont find the net at the moment but its quick and affective). the chavs just humped the ball for Drogba to fall over again and then they had set plays which come on they must practice 24/7 12hrs a day. which is why they finished the season on a high. W*n***s.
 the foundations are already there with a few tweaks here and there has the potential to go places and i think our dressing room would be a bit more accomadating to AVB's new system of play as our long standing players have lfc blood in them and will want better things to come even when they have moved on,retired or joined the coaching staff (ie carra)
if AVB gets the job then i will chant his name as that is what we do with our beloved LFC and get right behind him and is team. We never had this negative attitude before so come on lads and ladies lets not start it now.   
who ever comes will never walk alone whilst im still a LFC fan