Nov 22

Andre Villas-Boas looks to leave Chelsea’s domestic anxiety behind

• Chelsea manager not worried by Premier League form
• Difficult night awaits against in-form Bayer Leverkusen

André Villas-Boas spoke of “medium” and “high blocks” as he contemplated how to transform a team toiling in the Premier League into a side capable of securing passage into the knockout phase of the Champions League, though the mention that best summed up his current predicament centred more upon a block of the chopping variety. “When results like this happen, the head of the manager is called for execution,” he said. “But I’m not worried. I understand that.”

There have in reality been no concerted calls for Chelsea to dismiss a fifth manager in four years, though the Portuguese’s gallows humour revealed the paranoia that invariably grips this club and the fragility within his own setup as it endures early teething troubles. This team feels set-upon, almost beleaguered, at present.

It was with apt if grim timing that the Football Association duly confirmed Villas-Boas had been warned as to his future conduct and fined £12,000 for comments made about the referee Chris Foy after last month’s defeat to QPR, just as he was preparing to take training at the BayArena on Tuesday night. The Portuguese intends to wait on written reasoning before deciding whether or not to appeal against that sanction, but the fighter in him is unlikely to back down.

This campaign is becoming something of a slog. Throw in the continuing police and FA investigations into John Terry’s conduct and recent domestic toils, with three defeats in four league games leaving Manchester City a dot on the horizon in the title race, and the underlying sense of anxiety feels understandable. Life has at least proved more comfortable in Group

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Nov 20

Chelsea v Liverpool: five things we learned | Dominic Fifield

André Villas-Boas is under increasing pressure while big-money signings are still struggling to settle at both clubs

1 André Villas-Boas is already a manager under pressure

It was arguable that, given the summer transfer outlay, Kenny Dalglish should have come into this fixture as the manager under greater scrutiny. But in ensuring he has now gone 12 matches unbeaten against Chelsea while in charge of Liverpool he left the focus fixed on André Villas-Boas. The 34-year-old has never experienced toils quite this troubling in his fledgling managerial career. Chelsea had never lost successive home league games under Roman Abramovich’s ownership, though three defeats in four league matches is squeezing confidence at the club. Of course, Villas-Boas is charged with more than short-term success. He has to rejuvenate the team while the squad continues to evolve – transfer policy is aimed at more youthful recruits these days – which can only be a long-term project. He needs time to impose his ideas and make his influence properly felt. But Chelsea are understandably terrified of ever failing to qualify for the Champions League. Those fears did for Luiz Felipe Scolari in the winter of 2009, though the Brazilian dropped only seven points in his first 12 games in charge. The Portuguese has shed twice as many in the same time.

2 The days of Chelsea’s stingy defence are long gone

To suggest Chelsea are not as watertight as they once were is hardly revelatory. The runaround Arsenal administered here this month in plundering five proved as much, as does the sorry tally of two clean sheets in the Premier League to date all term. Yet this team are contriving to concede increasingly ridiculous goals. Petr Cech’s implausible throw to Mikel John Obi just after the half‑hour provided Liverpool with their opener, Charlie Adam’s snapped tackle and Craig Bellamy’s awareness duly cutting a swath through panicked defenders. The ease with which Glen Johnson glided past Ashley Cole and Florent Malouda for the winner was ridiculous. Chelsea may be experimenting with a more attacking approach but they have conceded 17 times in 12 games this season, two more than they did in the entirety of José Mourinho’s first season at the club. And Alex, a tower of strength in the blanks achieved at Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers in two of his three appearances this season, was not even in the 18-man matchday squad here.

3 Liverpool are still a work in progress

This was a result for Dalglish to savour, a victory to make the rest of the division sit up and take real notice. Yet, as his team contemplate a nine-match unbeaten run that has put them level on points with fourth place, there will be frustration at the wastefulness that has ensured Manchester City remain so distant at the top. Had Liverpool prevailed in matches they would have expected to win – most notably at home to Swansea City, Norwich City and Sunderland, but also even against Manchester United and Stoke City in games they dominated – they would be title contenders. Their unbeaten sequence suggests consistency, though that is deceptive. They are a team capable of startling results but they remain a work in progress. Even so, under Dalglish, the future feels decidedly bright again.

4 Big money arrivals are still to settle at both clubs

The dust has settled on the frenzied transfer dealings involving these clubs on the final day of the mid-winter window in January but Liverpool and Chelsea are still waiting to see any real return on their money. Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres began this match as £85m worth of substitutes, the pair granted a combined eight minutes to impress. Throw in Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing, who began on the visitors’ bench, and Raul Meireles among the home replacements at the start, and there are plenty of new arrivals waiting to settle. Yet it is the forwards’ toils that hog the limelight. Torres and Carroll have now contributed seven goals in 41 Premier League games between them since leaving their previous clubs. Villas-Boas had been quick to praise the Spaniard in the build-up to this contest with former employers, only to leave him out. That said much. As did the decision to introduce Daniel Sturridge at the break rather than the £50m record signing.

5 Yet there was one solid signing on deadline day

The best piece of business achieved on the eve of the closure of the January transfer window still feels as if it was Luis Suárez’s £22m signing from Ajax. The Uruguayan has concerns off the pitch, with a Football Association charge for racially abusing Patrice Evra hanging over him, but his form is impressive. He was at his best slipping Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt, such willing runners, through Chelsea’s obligatory high line in the opening period with clever reverse passes aplenty. His involvement in the rat-a-tat of passes that pre-empted Maxi Rodríguez’s goal was almost inevitable. The striker was not involved in Johnson’s winner here, but that was bizarre: he feels integral to every attack this Liverpool team muster at present.

Premier League 2011-12ChelseaLiverpoolPremier LeagueDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

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Nov 02

Roman Abramovich admits giving bagfuls of cash to friend

High court hears how Chelsea FC owner made payments to former friend Boris Berezovsky

Roman Abramovich made payments totalling several hundred million dollars to his former friend Boris Berezovsky, often handing over bags of cash, the high court heard on Wednesday.

The Chelsea FC owner said he paid him $80m in 1996, $50m in 1997 and 1998, and $80m in 1999. Sums of up to $5m were delivered in cash to Berezovsky’s Moscow office and club.

“Yes, he [Berezovsky] did call me and quite often. Of course, when he needed money he did call me,” Abramovich said. He insists the payments were for Berezovsky’s political services and his influence over then president Boris Yeltsin.

Berezovsky says the money represented his share of profits from his Russian oil giant Sibneft. Berezovsky, the Kremlin critic and London-based exile, is suing Abramovich for more than $5bn in what is the world’s biggest private litigation battle.

He says that Abramovich exploited his situation after he fell out catastrophically with Vladimir Putin in 2000. Abramovich forced him to sell his interests in Sibneft at a knockdown price, he asserts.

Giving evidence for a third day, Abramovich admitted Berezovsky had played an “extremely important role” in Sibneft’s creation in 1995.

The company was a beneficiary of Russia’s infamous privatisation programme in which state assets were virtually given away to a small group of businessmen – the oligarchs — in return for political support.

At one point, Berezovsky’s barrister Laurence Rabinowitz QC quoted from Yeltsin’s autobiographical Midnight Diaries. The book describes Yeltin’s ultimately successful battle against a resurgent communist party ahead of the 1996 presidential elections. “I don’t think this book was written by Mr Yeltsin,” Abramovich observed wryly, speaking via a translator in Russian.

The court also heard that Abramovich used a series of opaque intermediary companies to reduce Sibneft’s tax bill by hundreds of millions of dollars. After Sibneft won control of an oil company and refinery he “inserted” third party legal entities between the two.

These entities bought oil from Sibneft, then sold it back to Sibneft for “two or three times” the price, siphoning off the difference.

The court heard these intermediary companies qualified for tax exemptions because they employed disabled people – a common, and legal, tax avoidance ruse in Russia at the time. “I don’t recall why it was done,” Abramovich admitted. He insisted, however: “These were real people. We paid them salaries.”

The case continues.

Roman AbramovichBoris BerezovskyRussiaEuropeChelseaLuke Hardingguardian.co.uk

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