Chelsea midfielder Mikel Obi is believed to be among the senior Blues players that are not happy with manager Andre Villas-Boas’ handling of the team.
The Super Eagles player, who has been left out of the national squad by coach Stephen Keshi, deliberately ignored Villas-Boas’ handshake after he was substituted for Salomon Kalou in their 1-1 draw with Birmingham in the FA Cup on Saturday.
It is becoming apparent that the Portuguese has little control over some of the players even though he continually denies any friction with them.
According to ESPN, there was the evidence of player power when the network saw Didier Drogba host an impromptu team talk in the tunnel shortly before the start of the second half.
Drogba and Frank Lampard started the game on the bench, a situation that did not go down well with the players.
The players bypassed Villas-Boas and took decision into their hands when skipper John Terry visited referee Martin Atkinson’s room during the interval to complain about what Chelsea thought was Birmingham goalkeeper Colin Doyle’s first-half time wasting.
It is believed Drogba, Terry and Lampard have considerable influence over the other players, and Mikel, who joined the club from Lyn Oslo in 2006, has since been in loyal ties with the trio.
Villas-Boas, however, will not accept there was mutiny in the team as he maintained he was in control. He was amazed last week when details of the secret meeting he had with the senior players leaked to the press.
It was also revealed that some of the players have been reaching out to their former manager, Jose Mourinho, discussing issues of tactics at Chelsea with the Real Madrid manager.
When asked if his backing as manager was based on the team’s results, Villas-Boas responded bluntly: “No, it’s unconditional.”
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