Andre Villas-Boas: Firing Manager Won't Help Chelsea Finish in Top 4

Generally in sports, firing a coach or manager mid-season doesn't bode well for the team or club that axed its skipper, especially that season.

And while Chelsea has too much talent on its squad to not be competitive, don't expect the club to finish in the top four this season after firing Andre Villas-Boas.

Villas-Boas' tenure had probably run its course—it was said that the team's senior players, including Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, were at odds with the manager. There was more, according to Rob Draper and Bill Thornton of the Daily Mail:

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Others, including Fernando Torres, are also said to have been alienated by the Portuguese manager following a controversial radio interview. In that, Villas-Boas compared Spain striker Torres unflatteringly to previous Chelsea failures such as Mateja Kezman and Andriy Shevchenko.

The appointment of Villas-Boas last summer was an extraordinary risk by Chelsea. The former scout for Jose Mourinho at Porto, then Chelsea and Inter Milan, was just 33 years old and had only 21 months of managerial experience.

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But even if the squad begins to play better under interim manager Roberto Di Matte or is able to bring in a different skipper—Draper and Thornton reported the team has interest in Rafa Benitez—they still have to catch up to either Arsenal or Tottenham to reach the top four.

They currently trail Arsenal and one of the world's hottest players this season, Robin van Persie, by three points for fourth place and Tottenham is a distant seven points away (with a game in hand). The team still has Newcastle knocking on its door, trailing Chelsea by only two points.

Chelsea has an uphill climb and expecting them to reverse course from the mediocre stretch they are currently on—1-2-3 in their past six Premier League fixtures—seems a tall task now given a change in leadership.

Perhaps a new manager will provide a spark for the team. More than likely, it will simply give fans a new person to place blame upon when Chelsea finishes outside of the top four this season.

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