Papering over the cracks at the Bridge

A good win for Chelsea last night against ten-man Manchester City, but is all well in the Kings Road?

There's no doubt that Andre Villas-Boas has inherited an aging first eleven that needs the injection of new blood, but I wonder whether he is going about it in the right way.

Frank Lampard has never struck me as one of life's prima donnas and - as an outsider looking in - I think he has done enough in his time with the club to merit an explanation from the boss as to why he is spending so much time watching from the subs bench. I'm not saying that Lampard shouldn't be on the bench, merely that he has done enough to earn the courtesy of that explanation.

While it might be frustrating or annoying to Lampard, his treatment will not have gone un-noticed by the rest of the squad who respect him. In turn they may be starting to ask questions about the style of the new manager and whether he will turn on them in the same manner. So much of football management is about how you deal with individuals. Villas-Boas's man management style is open to question at the moment in my opinion.

Interesting to see how (following the manager's request that, when Chelsea scored a goal, everyone should celebrate with him, his staff and the rest of the bench) the players stayed well away from Villas-Boas. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but body language or actions can sometimes tell a story.

With the spine of the team (Lamps, Drogba, Terry and Čech) reaching a certain age, Villas-Boas admittedly needs to make changes. But, if he does it the wrong way and it effects player morale, Chelsea could find themselves dropping out of the Champions League places. If that happens, it will be difficult to attract the types of players needed to find their way back in an increasingly competitive Premier League. Better to make the changes gradually and subtly and keep everyone on side than to take a sledgehammer to the situation in my opinion.

Sure Roman's billions will attract they the odd mercenary, but is that what the Chelsea faithful want? As a football fan, I would think not. They will want players who are prepared to run themselves into the ground for the shirt. Players, dare I say it, like Frank Lampard.