Despite suffering a second home defeat in a row, Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has insisted that his job is safe, saying that reports of his departure were ‘total nonsense’.
Speaking after the 2-1 defeat to Liverpool, he said: “He didn’t pay 15m euros (£13.2m) to get me out of Porto and another fortune to get me out of Chelsea. It is not a question of the owner having patience. I have said we have set out to build something new at this club and the club is committed to what we are building for the future. Our commitment is to the club and to what we are doing in the future and we have enough talent to compete in all competitions. This is our perspective at the moment.”
Those over at footballboots.co.uk note how the Chelsea boss then continued to speak positively despite his team sitting twelve points adrift of Premier League leaders Manchester City. The former Porto man still believes he can match the ambitions of the club.
He continued: “There is no running away from our responsibilities. There is no calling this a year of transition, no calling for time to do our work. Our responsibility is to win the most amount of trophies we can and at the moment we are in four competitions. It is not the brightest of starts in the Premier League for Chelsea in the last 10 years, but the belief is there from the team and that is what we have to focus on.”
Reports that Guus Hiddink has left his job at Turkey haven’t help speculation either. The Dutchman had a successful spell at Stamford Bridge and is still highly thought of by Roman Abramovich. All of this means that the pressure is on Villas-Boas. Whether this is harsh or inevitable considering recent results, it is happening. How the Chelsea manager deals with it is the next step.
One thing for sure though is that defeats at home to Arsenal and Liverpool are not the way to go. There is then the issue of being cast adrift in the title race and having what appears to be an extremely vulnerable defence.
He has to be given more time though. Patience is a difficult attribute for a football fan these days, but what good would come of bringing in yet another new manager?
Would appreciate your thoughts on the future of Villas-Boas, both in the short and long term.
Written by TCB reader Thomas Rooney