Summary: Phil and Anto are joined by Oliver Kay of The Times of London to have a discussion about the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea to try to unpack the variables for the departed Portuguese manager himself, Chelsea Football Club as an organization and ultimately Roman Abramovich who has slowly watched the club unravel over time based on a succession of very bad decisions that now leave him faced with some very hard decisions. We take a look at how the early years under the Russian billionaire were very smart to set the club straight, but somewhere along the line a club without a firm plan directed by agents and advisors served to undermine the longer term objective and what should have been in terms of performing both in the Premier League and the Champions League. We also examine whether Abramovich will continue to have the same level of interest in football given some personal challenges and the specter of UEFA Financial Fair Play. Then we turn to the matter of Liverpool who lost a heart breaker on Saturday at Anfield and if this does indeed signal an end to Champions League ambitions for Liverpool at the hands of Robin Van Persie. Then we close on the matter of what Manchester United were able to do this weekend against Tottenham to determine if this was an ominous sign ahead for Manchester City who have improved but do not seem to have recaptured their early season magic when it all seemed so easy. Clearly this Premier League season should be determined in April at Etihad as neither Manchester club looks to be surrendering many points any time soon.
