Former Chelsea captain Marcel Desailly believes Andre Villas-Boas will face a players revolt if things do not go their way. Nobody understands the Stamford Bridge set-up better than Desailly, who spent six years there and was the first captain of the Roman Abramovich era.
He declared in The Sun: "A squad like this, full of really established players, could be a problem for a young coach who has had only one season with Porto.
"If I was there, a World Cup winner with France, I would be expecting the coach to show how clear his vision is in training, in his substitutions and his tactics.
"If he makes any mistakes, you will see that the Chelsea players will not follow him.
"They will be thinking the guy supposed to be managing them is not on their level.
"So Villas-Boas has to be very clever how he manages this team. That is the challenge for him. His age is a big consideration for the players.
"It's vital Chelsea get off to a good start to the season. If they don't perform, like Liverpool last year, the players and their consideration will change.
"Chelsea will face problems if the players have less confidence in Villas-Boas and don't follow his vision. I've seen the manager in his Press conferences and I could feel he is already getting annoyed. But he is the guy with the vision and the ambition. He should be talking his players up. Jose Mourinho got into a lot of fights to get attention but still got the respect of his players.
"He made it them against the rest of the world.
"But the players don't follow that. They follow the training sessions. And training sessions are where Mourinho is the best.
"This is the challenge for the new manager. It's a training consideration issue for me and for him - plus his young age."
