One used to be employed and one is employed by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, they are both from the Iberian peninsula and they both manage London clubs.
During the summer of 2011 Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had caught the eyes of the young Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas. No one could blame him, Villas-Boas had gone through the domestic league undefeated and won the Portuguese title with Porto basically without any competition,
so naturally Abramovich hired him on a three-year contract. Clearly there was a bright future for AVB, a high wage and basically infinite money to spend on new players. Anyone who knows anything about English football, knows that this was not the case. After a 1-0 away defeat to West Brom, Abramovich fired AVB, where Robbie di Matteo took over and Chelsea went on to win the Champions League and FA Cup. Nowadays Rafael Benitez is Chelsea's manager and everything is far from good. Constant failures from Benitez, such as FIFA:s Club World Cup, where they lost the final to Corinthians. They had a 2-0 lead against both Southampton and Reading, which both ended in 2-2 draws.
So why is AVB so successful without unlimited funds, and Benitez unsuccessful with unlimited funds?
Naturally they are different types of managers, and arguments can be made for Villas-Boas is a better manager than Benitez. I for one agree that AVB is the better manager at the moment, even though I doubted him during his Chelsea-spell in 2011-2012.
If i start with Benitez, what has he actually changed tactically since he took over the reigns from di Matteo? He has the same formation, basically the same players in the starting 11, so one might argue that he hasn't really done that much. In all truth he actually hasn't changed much, only one thing might be considered as changed. He is using Victor Moses much more than Di Matteo and when he does there is more options attacking wise for Chelsea, besides the delicacies of Mata and Hazard. To be fair to Rafa, when Moses is playing, Chelsea play much better football, even though results don't necessarily show it. During the match against Sparta Prague last week Eden Hazard scored an absolute screamer to make sure Chelsea made it through to the last 16 in the Europa League. Against Man City a few days later Benitez decided to substitute Hazard, while at a 1-0 deficit to the likes of Oscar. Without taking away anything from Oscar, Benitez can not make a decision like that and expect to be successful in winning the match. Just days before Hazard showed he can decide a match and that was the thanks from Benitez, in my mind outrageous. Don't get me wrong Benitez is a good manager in general, but making decisions like that doesn't exactly increase your popularity with the fans at Stamford Bridge.
Looking at AVB, why couldn't he succeed at Chelsea but is doing it at White Hart Lane?
Simply one answer: Gareth Bale. Without it making it seem like I have a schoolgirl crush on Bale (considering my latest post), he has been simply phenomenal. So what has AVB done to motivate him? He did what Pep Guardiola did to Messi, AVB let Bale have a free role. Looking at the spectacular hat-trick Bale scored at San Siro, all three goals were exactly the same, Bale ran down the left flank and ended up shooting from a bad angle and putting the ball back in the net. This season basically all of Bales goals have come from the centre of the field. In my opinion he is much more lethal with a clear angle towards goal than without and this is a major key to Spurs success throughout the latest weeks. With Bale in this form Spurs can beat any team in the world, lets just hope that Bale maintains the immense form he is in, otherwise, in all truth Spurs may not even make it to a top four finish this season.
During the summer of 2011 Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had caught the eyes of the young Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas. No one could blame him, Villas-Boas had gone through the domestic league undefeated and won the Portuguese title with Porto basically without any competition,
so naturally Abramovich hired him on a three-year contract. Clearly there was a bright future for AVB, a high wage and basically infinite money to spend on new players. Anyone who knows anything about English football, knows that this was not the case. After a 1-0 away defeat to West Brom, Abramovich fired AVB, where Robbie di Matteo took over and Chelsea went on to win the Champions League and FA Cup. Nowadays Rafael Benitez is Chelsea's manager and everything is far from good. Constant failures from Benitez, such as FIFA:s Club World Cup, where they lost the final to Corinthians. They had a 2-0 lead against both Southampton and Reading, which both ended in 2-2 draws.
So why is AVB so successful without unlimited funds, and Benitez unsuccessful with unlimited funds?
Naturally they are different types of managers, and arguments can be made for Villas-Boas is a better manager than Benitez. I for one agree that AVB is the better manager at the moment, even though I doubted him during his Chelsea-spell in 2011-2012.
If i start with Benitez, what has he actually changed tactically since he took over the reigns from di Matteo? He has the same formation, basically the same players in the starting 11, so one might argue that he hasn't really done that much. In all truth he actually hasn't changed much, only one thing might be considered as changed. He is using Victor Moses much more than Di Matteo and when he does there is more options attacking wise for Chelsea, besides the delicacies of Mata and Hazard. To be fair to Rafa, when Moses is playing, Chelsea play much better football, even though results don't necessarily show it. During the match against Sparta Prague last week Eden Hazard scored an absolute screamer to make sure Chelsea made it through to the last 16 in the Europa League. Against Man City a few days later Benitez decided to substitute Hazard, while at a 1-0 deficit to the likes of Oscar. Without taking away anything from Oscar, Benitez can not make a decision like that and expect to be successful in winning the match. Just days before Hazard showed he can decide a match and that was the thanks from Benitez, in my mind outrageous. Don't get me wrong Benitez is a good manager in general, but making decisions like that doesn't exactly increase your popularity with the fans at Stamford Bridge.
Looking at AVB, why couldn't he succeed at Chelsea but is doing it at White Hart Lane?
Simply one answer: Gareth Bale. Without it making it seem like I have a schoolgirl crush on Bale (considering my latest post), he has been simply phenomenal. So what has AVB done to motivate him? He did what Pep Guardiola did to Messi, AVB let Bale have a free role. Looking at the spectacular hat-trick Bale scored at San Siro, all three goals were exactly the same, Bale ran down the left flank and ended up shooting from a bad angle and putting the ball back in the net. This season basically all of Bales goals have come from the centre of the field. In my opinion he is much more lethal with a clear angle towards goal than without and this is a major key to Spurs success throughout the latest weeks. With Bale in this form Spurs can beat any team in the world, lets just hope that Bale maintains the immense form he is in, otherwise, in all truth Spurs may not even make it to a top four finish this season.
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