Andre Villas-Boas has given a progress report on his first two months as a Barclays Premier League manager.
The 33-year-old was appointed in June and has quickly gone about making his mark at Stamford Bridge, bringing in several new faces to the squad and introducing an exciting, winning brand of football, not to mention the addition of some animated touchline acrobatics.
With five wins, a draw and a defeat in the league, two Champions League group victories and progression sealed in the Carling Cup, Villas-Boas has made an impressive start, but nothing he considers out of the ordinary.
'I think things have been going okay. We had a good start up to the Old Trafford game where we had a good performance but were unlucky with the result,' the Portuguese told the official Chelsea website. 'Bearing in mind the performance, normally with so many opportunities you come away with a win but it didn't go for us in the first half in terms of efficiency and the scoreline was difficult to recover at half-time.
'We are doing nothing else than what we need to do. We are expected to win every game and that's the challenge that we have. Some results have gone our way a little bit better and others haven't.'
Villas-Boas has previously spoken of the limitations of a manager's impact once his players cross the white line onto the pitch, believing that 'players of this talent you cannot teach about football, just show them a way', but the influence his arrival has had on the form of players like Jose Bosingwa and Ramires suggests otherwise.
Their elevation from fringe players to first choice picks are a result of necessary improvement given the increased competition at the top of this season's Premier League. That so many teams are expected to challenge for the title and the top positions is the one surprise Villas-Boas identifies after four years away.
'The main difference from a couple of years ago is that there are much more teams competing for the Premier League title, and more teams are also competing for the Champions League spots,' he said.
'I think money has a part to play, a lot of new players have come across for various teams. Tottenham look different from before, Liverpool the same, Stoke City will be a threat for the European places and Newcastle are back on top form.'
And what about the Chelsea left behind by the scout and the Chelsea discovered by the young manager?
'We have evolved in the different departments,' he said. 'The most important thing for us is to make the necessary judgments for the things that we need.
'We made a couple of changes to a couple of staff to satisfy our needs. Not that the ones before were not competent - just that it's important for us to have everything at our disposal that we like - so we made changes to the medical department and a couple of structures at the club.
The club has evolved naturally to an even more powerful club, a more powerful brand commercially, and is on the right track.'
The 33-year-old was appointed in June and has quickly gone about making his mark at Stamford Bridge, bringing in several new faces to the squad and introducing an exciting, winning brand of football, not to mention the addition of some animated touchline acrobatics.
With five wins, a draw and a defeat in the league, two Champions League group victories and progression sealed in the Carling Cup, Villas-Boas has made an impressive start, but nothing he considers out of the ordinary.
'I think things have been going okay. We had a good start up to the Old Trafford game where we had a good performance but were unlucky with the result,' the Portuguese told the official Chelsea website. 'Bearing in mind the performance, normally with so many opportunities you come away with a win but it didn't go for us in the first half in terms of efficiency and the scoreline was difficult to recover at half-time.
'We are doing nothing else than what we need to do. We are expected to win every game and that's the challenge that we have. Some results have gone our way a little bit better and others haven't.'
Villas-Boas has previously spoken of the limitations of a manager's impact once his players cross the white line onto the pitch, believing that 'players of this talent you cannot teach about football, just show them a way', but the influence his arrival has had on the form of players like Jose Bosingwa and Ramires suggests otherwise.
Their elevation from fringe players to first choice picks are a result of necessary improvement given the increased competition at the top of this season's Premier League. That so many teams are expected to challenge for the title and the top positions is the one surprise Villas-Boas identifies after four years away.
'The main difference from a couple of years ago is that there are much more teams competing for the Premier League title, and more teams are also competing for the Champions League spots,' he said.
'I think money has a part to play, a lot of new players have come across for various teams. Tottenham look different from before, Liverpool the same, Stoke City will be a threat for the European places and Newcastle are back on top form.'
And what about the Chelsea left behind by the scout and the Chelsea discovered by the young manager?
'We have evolved in the different departments,' he said. 'The most important thing for us is to make the necessary judgments for the things that we need.
'We made a couple of changes to a couple of staff to satisfy our needs. Not that the ones before were not competent - just that it's important for us to have everything at our disposal that we like - so we made changes to the medical department and a couple of structures at the club.
The club has evolved naturally to an even more powerful club, a more powerful brand commercially, and is on the right track.'
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