Has Chelsea Crisis Deepened After Roman Abramovich 'Weighs In On Ashley Cole'?

Are Chelsea Ripping Themselves Apart?

The club haven't won any of their last five games, and Tuesday night's 3-1 defeat at Napoli has intensified the chaos at the club, who face elimination at the round-of-16 stage for the second time in three years.

Villas-Boas' future meanwhile has been plunged into further doubt, after The Times revealed that ex-Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has been approached as to whether he would take over at Stamford Bridge.

Andre Villas Boas settles down at Eastlands to watch former club Porto lose 4-0 to Manchester City

Abramovich had to pay FC Porto £12m in compensation to acquire Villas-Boas in the summer, yet the Russian been briefed that the seventh manager of his eight-year reign has lost faith irretrievably amongst the squad.

Benitez, who won the Champions League - which Chelsea are still yet to yield - in his first season with Liverpool, has a relatively successful track record in the competition. Liverpool reached another final in 2007 and the semi-final a year later, only to be defeated 4-3 on aggregate by Chelsea, under his stewardship.

He has been out of work since December 2010, when he was sacked after a disastrous six-month spell at Internazionale. During his reign at Anfield, Liverpool faced Chelsea eight times in four successive seasons in Europe; twice in the semi-finals and once apiece at the quarter-finals and group stage.

Rafael Benitez on the Stamford Bridge touchline during Liverpool's league loss to Chelsea in October 2009

Domestically he was much less successful. A fortunate 2006 FA Cup win over West Ham was his sole silverware acquired in five seasons on the British front, while his famous "fact" tirade against Sir Alex Ferguson in January 2009 sparked a poor spell of form for the Reds, who relinquished first place at the expense of Manchester United.

Villas-Boas' man-management, meanwhile, has been openly criticised by squad members. This has in fact angered Abramovich, who, according to The Sun, has construed criticism of his manager as criticism of his judgement. Cole is reported to have told Villas-Boas that the club won't win any trophies with "your tactics".

Cole has his supporters within the British press however:

Thirty one-year-old Cole was a substitute for the Naples match, with Villas-Boas citing a calf injury as to his decision to play the right-footed Jose Bosingwa at left-back. Cole replaced the ex-Porto man when he came off injured after only 12 minutes, yet the Chelsea manager admitted to Sky Sports' Geoff Shreeves that Cole and the demoted Frank Lampard had questioned his decision.

He said: "I had a conversation with Ashley and Frank. Normally, through the players that they are and the players with the experience they have, they felt they could have helped the team."

Lampard has been at Chelsea for over 10 years, but Villas-Boas is eager to move him on due to his affiliation with past eras. His contract features a £1.5m loyalty bonus to be received at the end of his contract in June 2013, and the England international, is unlikely to seek pastures elsewhere unless a club matches his £130,000 a week wages.

Serbian defender Branislav Ivanovic also went on to the record to acknowledge factions within the squad, becoming the first definite loyalist to Villas-Boas in light of players airing their disharmony at his managerial style.

He said: "Everybody has to believe still and do the right things. This is more about Chelsea. That is more important than the relationship between managers and players," reported the Daily Mail.

"We have to do our job. Everyone has to try to make this position better because we have a lot of things wrong. But this is Chelsea. We have to solve things."

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