Posted by Thomas Rooney
Following the 2-1 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League this week, there is no doubt as far as those who bet in play are concerned that Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas is under pressure.
It may be too early to suggest that the former Porto man is to be shown the door at Stamford Bridge, but defeats have been far too regular of late.
In the league, they have lost their last two home games – against top four rivals Arsenal and Liverpool no less – and this came soon after the 1-0 reverse at newly promoted Queens Park Rangers.
It looked as though the Blues were set for some light relief last night as they went 1-0 up against Leverkusen in Germany, but goals in the 73rd and 91st minute saw them lose the game.
There can be no denying that things aren’t going for Chelsea or Villas-Boas at the moment. They are 5th in the league and still in need of points to qualify for the knock-out stages at Europe.
The manager shouldn’t be blamed though according to Chelsea goalkeeper Pett Cech who believes that the players are at fault for the poor run of form recently.
He said: “The manager is not on the pitch, we are on the pitch and we are making mistakes. He cannot do anything about individual mistakes while he is standing by the bench.”
“So the players are to blame and we know it and we try to make things happen and change. It is not easy but we keep going.”
Referring to the Leverkusen defeat specifically, Cech continued: “We can't really wonder how we lost because we didn't kill the game off and we repeated the same mistakes.”
“We have been talking recently about the same mistakes - concentration and little details when we don't go to clear the ball. I think we need to be much more aggressive in terms of defending and we get punished all the time.”
Chelsea certainly need to get themselves back on track this weekend. They face Wolves in the Premier League in a game that they must get three points from. If they fail to win this one, the pressure will go up another notch on Villas-Boas.
Given the important period of games coming up – there are seven Premier League games between now and the new year, as well as European fixtures – Chelsea need to get a comfortable win on Saturday and hope it is the start of an improved run of form. |
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World Football Daily