Villas-boas defiant in defeat

Last updated : 29 October 2011 By Paul Lagan

Andre Villas-Boas attempted to shug off this defeat to Arsenal as just one of those days at the office.

He said: 'In the beginning - in the first 15 minutes we had a good period with lots of chances and should have scored mo than one goal.

'There were two decisive moments in my perspective, we could not score more in that good period, then near the end we missed two chances.

'At the end, when it was at 4-3 we missed two chances with Mata and then we are punished with an unlucky situation.

'For John Terry's slip - it could happen to anyone. It left Van Persie with a one on one with our keeper.

'It was a very open and attack-minded game for both teams. 'We were unbalanced at 3-4, trying to score to make it 4-4 and Arsenal made the most of it [to get their fifth].

'As if to hammer home the point, Villas-Boas reiterated how the opening period was important.

'So in first 15 minutes we should have scored more than one.

'You have to take two goals out of this situation. One is a slip from a player and the other is when we are trying to do something with three minutes left - it had nothing to do with defensive organisation.'

Sensing a possible criticism, Villas-Boas wheeled out the stats and how good Chelsea are at the back. 'Before the game we are in the top three in defensive terms in the league, so I will argue that we had defensive problems,' he suggested.

Trying to explain away the defeat as something that could happen to anyone, he then commented on last week's Manchester derby as an example. 'We will try and stop the defensive mistakes but there was a 3-1 with 15 mins left [at Old Trafford] and they [City] scored six - today it was the same.

'We fought hard to get it to 3-3, we tried to get four but were punished.'

Chelsea fans can expect more of the same to come under Villas-Boas's tenure at SW6.

'I won't change my philosophy - it's a personal and club value and we will not sell it cheaply. It makes us proud with the way we are playing.

'We will stick to it, it's our way of playing, we just have to correct things.'

On the subject of John Terry's performance, Villas-Boas said: 'I have not had to console JT - it's just a defeat - It [the alleged racist comment in last week's defeat at QPR] was a misunderstanding. For me there is no situation.'

When talk turned to the slump Chelsea suffered last season, he was quite bullish in response. 'It was later, in November, but games are so open between the top teams so things can dramatically change.

'Last year we were on the bad side and I hope now we are on the opposite.'

With thoughts turning to the future, Villas-Boas said: 'We can get in a good position [in the Champions League group] if we win the game in Genk on Tuesday. We can qualify depending if Leverkusen wins.

'But regarding Blackburn Rovers in the league next weekend? 'We have lost two league games in a row and we have to find our winning ways.'