Chelsea FC: Can Andre Villas-Boas Be Better Than Jose Mourinho?

To answer the question, probably not. But is that really the question we should be asking? I don't think it is. And the only reason we're asking it is because of what happened Monday night.

Here's what happened Monday night, if you missed it: Villas-Boas and his Chelsea squad upended the English Premier League title race by beating previously undefeated Manchester City. And suddenly a whole bunch of stuff changed.

Suddenly, City's lead over Manchester United was only two points.

Suddenly, Chelsea were a manageable seven points behind.

And suddenly, Andre Villas-Boas was a great manager again.

So, now that we're back to believing in Andre Villas-Boas, are we supposed to believe he's got what it takes to be better than Mourinho? Believe what you want but here's what we should really be asking.

Can Andre Villas-Boas succeed at Chelsea?

Plain and simple. Nothing to do with Jose Mourinho. Nothing to do with Monday's result, no matter how great it really was.

I think he can, and I've got five reasons why.

It's Only His First Season

Remember, this is Andre Villas-Boas' first season. If he doesn't win the title, he'd only be doing what Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson did in their first seasons at their current clubs.

The latter, in fact, had Manchester United second-to-last in the league in late November of his first season before finishing 11th.

Before we go any further, though, let's get this out of the way. Jose Mourinho won the title his first season at Chelsea.

And he didn't just win the title; he annihilated the field. Chelsea won 29 matches, lost once, drew eight times and finished with a goal differential of plus-57. They scored 72 goals, allowed 15 and earned 95 points.

Heck, even Arsenal's unbeaten Invincibles of 2003-04 weren't that dominant. They only reached 90 points with a goal differential of plus-47.

So why shouldn't we compare Mourinho's first season to that of Villas-Boas? Because the two didn't have the same tools to work with and their circumstances were different.

In the summer of 2004 alone, Chelsea bought Didier Drogba (then 26 years old), Michael Essien, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, Mateja Kezman and Tiago. All those new guys joined a squad that already featured John Terry and Frank Lampard in their primes.

Villas-Boas, on the other hand, inherited a squad that was expensively assembled over the years yet largely on the wrong side of 30. Terry, Lampard and Drogba were all still around but they were all seven years older. Fernando Torres was also there but he hasn't been the same world-beating striker he once was since sometime after Euro 2008.

The only first-team regulars Chelsea brought into the squad this past summer were Juan Mata and Raul Meireles. Others came, too, like Romelu Lukaku and Oriol Romeu.

Now, it's possible to fault Villas-Boas for the lack of new signings but before we do that, we also need to remember his astounding success as Mourinho's chief scout at Chelsea.

So did Villas-Boas suddenly lose his touch? Or was the ownership less willing to spend money on new players?

Consider two facts here. First, Chelsea and their owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, went on a historic spending spree of more than £70 million in the summer of 2004. How often would you spend £70 million, even if you had it?

Second, Chelsea spent €15 million to acquire Villas-Boas himself. Even for a Russian oligarch, that's a lot of money. And even Russian oligarchs have a limited amount of money to spend.

So, with that in mind, let's evaluate Villas-Boas four months into his first season. Four months into his first season, Andre Villas-Boas has Chelsea in third place behind only free-spending Manchester City and Manchester United.

In contrast, back when Jose Mourinho was annihilating the competition, his main competition was penny-pinching Arsenal.

The financial balance of football has changed. So has all of English football.

But Andre Villas-Boas could still figure out how to dominate both in time.

He Had Success in Portugal

I know, I know. Portugal is not England. And Porto is not Chelsea.

But Andre Villas-Boas did win an historic treble at Porto, taking the Portuguese league, cup and the Europa League all in the same season.

(Jose Mourinho, by the way, did it too, in 2002-03, when the latter was called the UEFA Cup.)

Villas-Boas also performed well in his first job at Academica de Coimbra, where he took over a relegation-threatened team mid-season and led them to safety.

He's been good everywhere he's gone. That's not going to change at Chelsea.

He Beat Manchester City

It wasn't exactly pretty but Andre Villas-Boas beat Manchester City at home Monday night.

Pretty or not, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur couldn't do that earlier this season.

United lost 6-1 to City at Old Trafford. Spurs lost 5-1 to City at White Hart Lane.

Granted, Chelsea's win wasn't a seismic shift in English football but it did throw the title race wide open and it did show that Villas-Boas can win big games against top teams.

He Has Fire

Andre Villas-Boas has been lampooned by the English press for his fire. They say it's a sign he can't handle the pressure of English football.

I disagree. I like it. It shows he cares. And it shows he's willing to fight.

I'd rather have a manager stand up to the press—especially if they make something up, as it appears they did—than let them run wild.

Chelsea Will Eventually Spend

Chelsea didn't go nuts in the transfer market this past summer, and it's possible they'll never repeat the craziness of the summer of 2004.

But Chelsea will spend money—lots of it—on new players at some point.

And that will do nothing but help Andre Villas-Boas.