Villas-Boas lashes pundits who branded team “naive”

CHELSEA manager Andre Villas-Boas yesterday hit out at the pundits who branded his team “naive and stupid” in their Premier League defeat at Manchester United.

Almost a week has gone by since the Blues’ controversial 3-1 loss at Old Trafford, but Villas-Boas was still smarting yesterday over the fallout from the game.

The former Porto boss, who had not lost a league match as manager for 17 months prior to Sunday, began this week by venting his frustration at the performance of the officials in Manchester, revealing he had made a complaint to referees’ chief Mike Riley.

Yesterday saw Villas-Boas turn his attention to the pundits who criticised his players’ display, insisting Chelsea had been the better team and were guilty only of failing to take their chances.

“I am surprised people take the view to criticise us for being naive and stupid at Old Trafford,” he said.

“What we did was defend the essence of British football and football well played.

“I find it strange that people related to football don’t know where to position themselves regarding what is best for football and what is best for fans, because fans are the most important part of our game.

“It was an entertaining game for the world. Pity we didn’t come away with the three points but I think we were superior during the 90 minutes.

“In the end, it’s the victory that counts. We missed the victory. We are five points behind the leader and we have to try to shorten the distance as we try to progress with a couple of wins.”

Today is an ideal opportunity for Chelsea to put pressure on United, who travel to Stoke in the early-evening kick-off.

The Blues’ game against Swansea will be finished by then and the Britannia Stadium is widely regarded as one of the toughest grounds on which to get an away win. But Villas-Boas was concerned about how Stoke would cope physically after their midweek Carling Cup tie with Tottenham went to penalties.

He added: “They are in the Europa League as well, so those legs will be tired. Stoke is always a difficult ground to go to. I don’t know what’s going to happen but it’s a difficult game for United, like we have a difficult game against Swansea.”

A youthful Chelsea also needed spot-kicks to see off Fulham on Wednesday night and played for more than 70 minutes with 10 men.

Villas-Boas revealed today he was considering changing all 10 of the outfield players who started that game, with goalkeeper Petr Cech having shaken off a head knock.

Daniel Sturridge is out with a knee injury but should be fit for Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Valencia.

Meanwhile, Villas-Boas has dismissed reports Michael Essien was set to be sidelined longer than expected following his latest knee injury.

Essien was ruled out until January after undergoing knee surgery in July but there were suggestions today he may be missing until March or April.

Villas-Boas said: “He lost a couple of days through infection after the operation but eventually recovered.

“He’s making good progress.”