Napoli V Chelsea: 6 Things We Learned About Andre Villas-Boas and His Team

What were you doing in the spring of 1996?*

If you supported an English team that season, you probably weren't interested in the final three rounds of the UEFA Champions League. That was the last time the English Premier League failed to place a team in the quarterfinals of Europe's premier club competition.

Watch out. We're two matches away from a repeat.

Actually, that's too generous. Two English teams remain in this year's competition, but only one has a prayer. And that's all Chelsea have right now. Arsenal's 4-0 loss last week at AC Milan all but eliminated the Gunners from the Champions League, and Chelsea's 3-1 loss Tuesday night at Napoli nearly did the same.

How bad was it for Chelsea? Well, the Blues did create chances, but Andre Villas-Boas' defense was so porous and error-prone that Fernando Torres could have hit a hat trick.

OK, that was a low blow. But Chelsea are so low after Tuesday night that they probably wouldn't even notice.

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*I was in middle school.

AVB Is on the Brink

Before Tuesday's match, Avram Grant warned Andre Villas-Boas that he could lose his job at any moment.

Grant would know. The Israeli manager got the ax in 2008 despite the fact that his Chelsea team posted an undefeated home record and finished second in the league during his only season at the helm.

Villas-Boas has no hope of doing so well in his first season. The Blues are languishing in fifth place, hopelessly adrift of the leaders, and now that their European campaign is in serious danger, so is AVB's job.

Chelsea will host Napoli in the return leg in three weeks, and it stands to reason that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will give Villas-Boas the chance to right Tuesday's wrongs (more on those later).

But few of us would be surprised if Abramovich decides to pull the plug Wednesday morning—or even earlier. After all, you don't part company with five managers in five years (Jose Mourinho, Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti since 2007) by having a slow trigger finger.

What Was AVB Thinking?

If Villas-Boas does lose his job in the coming days, media coverage will surely concentrate on the Portuguese manager's questionable decisions Tuesday night. And for good reason.

Simply put, Villas-Boas had a bad night.

With John Terry injured, Villas-Boas opted for a back line that included Champions League debutant Gary Cahill. That was understandable, but playing Jose Bosingwa out of position and in place of the vastly experienced Ashley Cole was curious at best.

In the middle of the midfield, Raul Meireles and Ramires looked uncomfortable playing together. Villas-Boas brought on Michael Essien and Frank Lampard in the second half, but by that point, Chelsea were losing 3-1.

It's hard to understand Villas-Boas' thought process here. If he wanted more experience in his team, then he should have started Essien and Lampard. Instead, he used up his final two substitutions to tweak the midfield.

With Chelsea trailing by two goals and with the Bosingwa injury already having taken up a valuable substitution, a more offensive change would have been more prudent.

Predictably, Chelsea struggled to find cohesion all night. Each defensive player experienced at least one boneheaded moment. Ramires couldn't stop giving the ball away in the midfield, and although the attackers created some excellent chances, they failed miserably to take advantage of Napoli's own defensive issues.

The bottom line is that Chelsea played poorly Tuesday night, and Villas-Boas' unorthodox decisions had a lot to do with that.

Defense? Who Needs Defense?

For the second time in as many weeks, a big name English club pulled off a great impression of a typical Pac-12 defense.

What does that mean? It means Chelsea's defense sucked.

And it was truly a team effort. Nearly everyone chipped in.

Gary Cahill, who struggled throughout his Champions League debut, tried and failed to catch Edinson Cavani offside in the 10th minute. Cavani nearly scored the opener moments later.

Minutes later, Ashley Cole—who had replaced the injured Jose Bosingwa only moments earlier—gave Napoli another big chance down the flank with some lackadaisical defending.

Midfielder Raul Meireles got in the act next, backing off from Ezequiel Lavezzi when the latter had the ball at his feet just outside the Chelsea box. The perpetually dangerous Lavezzi didn't need further invitation to open the scoring in the 38th minute.

Branislav Ivanovic was next. Just before halftime, the fullback was caught ball-watching as a high pass bounced in front of him inside the box. Cavani raced in and scored the go-ahead goal, and while he was probably guilty of illegal touching with his arm, that doesn't change the fact that Ivanovic had gone inexcusably AWOL from his defensive duties.

Finally, David Luiz got his chance in the second half—on another long Napoli pass. The Brazilian defender somehow contrived to let Cavani win the ball on the edge of the box, and moments later Lavezzi scored Napoli's third.

Few teams could have overcome such poor defending.

No, Chelsea Were Not the Better Team

English football is in danger of having zero teams in the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time since 1996. And yet some of the nation's pundits are still in denial.

Television commentator Gary Neville spent much of the second half trying to explain how Chelsea were, in fact, the better team—or at the very least that Napoli weren't two goals better.

Neville was wrong. Napoli were the better team, and the result did not flatter them.

Much of Neville's argument had to do with the fact that Napoli's defense often looked creaky. That was true, but while Chelsea did create some excellent chances, Napoli still managed to out-shoot the visitors 15-14 (and 7-5 on target).

Chelsea did hold the ball more, finishing with a 58-42 edge in percentage of possession. But Napoli presented a constant counter-attacking threat, and their finishing was superb.

Chelsea, on the other hand, scored just once. And remember, that goal came entirely against the run of play, and it happened only because of Paolo Cannavro's egregious defensive error.

So, then, which team played the better game?

Chelsea created several chances, failed to score from any of them, took advantage of one defensive mistake and made several defensive errors of their own. Napoli created just as many chances, scored more of them and paid dearly for one of a handful of defensive errors.

Clearly the answer is Napoli, who admittedly had defensive problems but counter-attacked very well.

When Manchester United do something like that, the English pundits hail Sir Alex Ferguson for taking a winning approach and exploiting the weaknesses of his opponents.

Napoli did exactly that Tuesday night. So what's the difference?

But Chelsea Are Still Alive

Chelsea will enter the second leg in three weeks with plenty of work to do. But the task will not be impossible thanks to that away goal.

The last time Chelsea faced a must-win situation in the Champions League, they routed Valencia in their final match of this season's group stage. A similar performance is not out of the question.

In this case, Neville is correct. Napoli's defense is suspect, and that means Chelsea will have opportunities to score in the return leg. But will Chelsea be able to correct their own defensive issues by then?

That question might determine whether Chelsea's European campaign continues or not—and whether Villas-Boas' time as manager is over.

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Buy 'Em

Chelsea have long been linked with a move for Napoli's Edinson Cavani. The Uruguayan's performance Tuesday night reaffirmed how much he could help the Blues.

But Cavani wasn't Napoli's best player. That honor goes to Ezequiel Levazzi, who terrorized Chelsea's defense relentlessly until being subbed out in the 74th minute.

Don't be surprised if the rumor mill connects the dots in the coming days.