Andre Villas Boas put out of his Chelsea misery

Andre Villas Boas "parted company" with Chelsea today less than 24 hours after another disappointing defeat in the Premier League.

The 1-0 loss to West Brom proved to be the final straw for paymaster elect Roman Abramovich, as he acted to dispense with his £13 million signing from Porto. Chelsea now face tricky matches away to Birmingham in the FA Cup replay and must overcome a two goal deficit against a clinical Napoli side with Roberto Di Matteo in charge.

Less than a year after winning a domestic treble in his native Portugal, AVB finds himself cast aside from his own 'project' and you must wonder how Chelsea intend to revive their side if they insist on sacking the young manager tasked with overhauling the ageing side. As Villas Boas was keen to point out the job brief, to him, was a three year plan yet he was only granted eight months to make his mark on a dressing room which is dominated by its older egos.

Despite netting double figures in the league for a record ninth time, the form of Frank Lampard has been questionable for the last two seasons. That he has emerged victorious in his ongoing clash with AVB suggest how rife player power must be at Chelsea. Despite losing his place in the England team pundits and the media reacted with almost abhorrence whenever Lampard was left on the bench by the 34 year old manager. Lampard is very much a darling of the English media and a huge character, one that the young Portuguese manager, of no playing experience, had to compete with.

Villas Boas was attempting a complete overhaul of Chelsea's playing style and philosophy with a switch to a possession based 4-3-3, which he favoured at Porto and Academica. As such Lampard found himself without a role; not suited to playing as one of the two holding central midfielders and not technically proficient to play as the attacking midfielder. Chelsea's play was based less upon crossing into the box and second ball transitions on which Lampard used to pounce.

As it was Villas Boas was often in a no-win situation. If he left Lampard and fan favourites on the bench, he opened himself up to a barrage of criticism should the team lose and if he started Lampard then there was no guarantee that performances would be high enough. Lampard was in the starting XI against West Brom but again put in a poor performance, even missing a chance that would have levelled the score.

That transfer decisions were taken out of his hands hardly helped, with promising young talent like Courtois and De Bruyne being loaned out as soon as they were purchased. Courtois would have provided a real challenge to Peter Cech's dominance in the Chelsea goal despite years of under-performing and the winger De Bruyne would have increased competition amongst a bloated and ageing midfield.

Much of Chelsea's squad is still dining out on their meteoric two year title winning spell under Mourinho. Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Cech, Essien, Cole were instrumental in winning back to back league titles but these glories occurred over five years ago. Chelsea have failed to gradually evolve the team as Manchester United do and so are forced to change the ageing team now, with a tighter time-scale.

The cash injections that have been sanctioned by Abramovich recently appear to be cash cows. £75 million on Torres and Luiz looks extremely ill advised and the team still requires at least that amount again to replace the old stars and rejuvenate the squad.

Villas Boas never seemed to have the full backing of these older players, some of whom still keep in regular contact with another Portuguese manager, and this ultimately was his undoing. So many of the goals that Chelsea conceded were down to individual error, which even the best manager in the world can not legislate for. A young manager coming in should not make a defence turn to rubble as happened in several games this season, with several players needing to ask themselves serious questions.

One might even wonder about the relative strength of the Chelsea squad that AVB inherited from Carlo Ancelotti. In terms of depth I'd argue that Chelsea are outside of the top four and would even struggle to match up to Villas Boas' old team at Porto. The then attacking trident of Hulk, Falcao and Varela supported by the technically gifted Joao Moutinho from midfield would at the moment bear more of a threat than a Chelsea strike-force.

Any manager who can win a treble and produce a team who played such attacking football does not become a bad manager upon moving to another country. Again Abramovich has acted swiftly to deny any hope for continuity as Chelsea lurch from one short termed crisis to another. If Chelsea are ever to overhaul their squad and start competing consistently for the title then they need to invest in and stick by a manager for a minimum of three years. AVB could have been that man but the talented 34 year old has been moved on with his and Chelsea's project again in tatters.