Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has ordered
manager Andre Villas-Boas to field his youngsters in the Carling
Cup.
Villas-Boas revealed the new philosophy is seen by the Blues'
Russian chief as a way of developing their best young players.
It means the likes of Josh McEachran, Romelo Lukaku, Ryan
Bertrand and Oriol Romeu will play against neighbours Fulham on
Wednesday night, instead of established first teamers.
Abramovich’s new attitude towards the competition perhaps gives
Villas-Boas hope that the club's trigger-happy owner is ready to be
more patient and build a lasting legacy.
“It’s a club philosophy. A decision the owner wants, to promote
talent," said the Portuguese. "But there is a responsibility to try
and win trophy as well. I think there is prestige in the
competition.
“Arsenal have been doing it for years. We can discuss if it has
been useful or not for the talent. But I think it has been, they
[Arsenal] reached the final last year and a couple of semis.
Important to get feeling of competition for them.
“The Carling Cup is an opportunity for us to put our best young
talents across and give them experience for us. It’s not a
completely new approach as we did it last year.
“We want them to have these opportunities. It’s a good
challenge, as Fulham are a Premier League team, and it gives us an
idea of where we stand.”
Chelsea won the Carling Cup twice under Jose Mourinho and the
Special One put a great deal of importance on it, as it represented
his first ever trophy at Stamford Bridge.
And it is clear Villas-Boas is happy to buy into the new
attitude to the competitiion, especially after trying to sign young
players to lower the age of the squad.
McEachran is a shining example of young talent breaking through
at Chelsea, while Belgian forward Lukaku is from the other end of
the scale, having been signed for £16m this summer.
Fielding youngsters in the Carling Cup has had limited success
for Arsenal but, last season, Arsene Wenger used more experienced
line-ups as they got to the final, where a shock loss to Birmingham
delivered a devastating blow for the rest of the campaign.
Villas-Boas, unlike Wenger, certainly won’t survive six years
without a trophy and to gain success he may have to be ruthless
with some of his old guard.
Frank Lampard, now 33, was substituted at half time against
Manchester United on Sunday and is the player feeling most heat in
that regard at the moment, but Villas-Boas has given the England
midfielder a vote of confidence.
“He is a fantastic player, he will be a key player for the rest
of the season," he said. "I think he can adapt his game, see that
different kind of versatility in other players, but it’s not an age
or slowing problem.
“Frank has played 90 minutes in all games before with maximum
intensity with extremely good physical stats as always in
career.”
Chelsea: Turnbull; Ferreira, Chalobah, Luiz, Bertrand; Romeu,
McEachran; Malouda, Kalou; Drogba, Lukaku.
