Mata’s words and deeds make all the difference to AVB

ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS needs all the friends he can get right now and while kind words can always be expected after a comfortable win, Juan Mata’s expression of support for his manager was welcome no matter what the context.

Five months into the job and Villas-Boas is already being reminded of Roman Abramovich’s notorious impatience and with the club once again suffering a disconcerting autumn slump, the Portuguese’s prospects could hardly be described as rosy.

The manager’s recent claim that the €15 million Chelsea paid out in compensation to FC Porto provides him with some kind of insurance policy convinced few.

There are bigger issues at play at Stamford Bridge and it is good results, not good housekeeping, that will keep Villas-Boas in a job.

On that score, things could hardly have gone worse for the 34-year-old who is attempting to overhaul an ageing squad and established playing style while maintaining pace with the two Manchester clubs.

Back-to-back defeats in their previous two home Premier League games and a 2-1 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, have done nothing to ease the pressure on Villas-Boas. Nor has the re-emergence of Guus Hiddink from his spell with Turkey.

The manager insisted before this game he will not countenance working alongside Hiddink if the Dutchman was brought in as a director of football. He may not have had to if his side had lost to a struggling Wolves. Would that have been the final straw for Abramovich? We will now never know and Villas-Boas will be quietly relieved his side were confronted by such unambitious opponents in his hour of need.

First-half goals from John Terry, Daniel Sturridge and Mata ensured this was a confidence-boosting stroll and was followed by Mata’s insistence that reports of disharmony between manager and senior players were off the mark.

“It’s never easy to have such negative results [over the past six weeks], but we all have a lot of faith in ourselves as a team, in our coach and in the quality of the squad,” said the Spain international.

“We do not have any doubts at all over what the manager wants. He is very warm with us and very close to us.

“Because of his age, he is roughly the same age as most of the squad, and that is a really good thing.

“His age is not important. Unai Emery at Valencia was only a little older, and he was a good manager, too. His age does not matter, and it is definitely not a problem.”

Chelsea were gifted a goal inside seven minutes, although they were given a helping hand by Nenad Milijas.

The Serbian was dispossessed in midfield by Ramires, whose shot was tipped around the post by the outstanding Wayne Hennessey.

From the resulting corner Terry headed home unmarked from Mata’s cross, as Villas-Boas and the majority of Stamford Bridge breathed a sigh of relief.

Sturridge made life more comfortable with a neat finish in the 29th minute to cap a swift Chelsea attack that also involved Ashley Cole, Raul Meireles and Mata.

Sensing his side could be on the end of a drubbing, Wolves manager McCarthy substituted the ineffective Milijas but the change did little good.

Mata killed the game off on the stroke of half time when he stroked home from Cole’s cross after Wolves had failed to clear their lines.

“It was really important that we won, and that we won well,” Mata added . “There is always pressure to win. It is always important to score a goal as early as possible in those circumstances and that was what happened — we scored within seven minutes and that helped us on our way.”

Wolves improved in the second half as Stephen Ward had a half-chance but by then this match was already over.

Ultimately, they had paid the price for an underwhelming start when perhaps in hindsight it would have been better for them to press Chelsea while they were still vulnerable.

McCarthy was magnanimous in defeat, however, this result, and perhaps more the manner of the defeat, will swing the spotlight in his direction once again.

When asked about the fact that there had been no managerial casualties in the Premier League so far this season, he retorted, perhaps somewhat too quickly: “I have had wonderful support for five-and-a-half years.

“It has been proven that just changing it doesn’t actually improve it all of the time so that’s been proven by League Managers’ Association stats that they put out. It doesn’t always work.”