Andre Villas-Boas not to blame for Chelsea crisis, says Petr Cech

24 November 2011 12:27
On a wing and a prayer? 

Andre Villas-Boas Petr Cech has handed under-fire Andre Villas-Boas a vote of confidence, saying the players are to blame for Chelsea's current crisis - not the manager.

The young Portuguese boss finds himself under increasing pressure after the Blues alarming slump continued following a potentially costly 2-1 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen. Chelsea's Champions League hopes are hanging in the balance with Villas-Boas left on a knife edge barely four months into his tenure at Stamford Bridge. While Villas-Boas admitted it was his job to 'motivate' his players in an attempt to kill off their poor form, goalkeeper Cech insists the 33-year-old is not to blame. 

'There are no excuses,' said Cech in support of his embattled boss. 'We need to look first at ourselves and then we can criticise the other people because we put ourselves in the situation where we were 1-0 up and we could have killed the game off.   

'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.' 

Cech was left frustrated after he let Manuel Friedrich's last-gasp header slip through his grasp,'It (the header) was too good,' Said Cech. 'I tried to reach it but I couldn't and that was the reason why the goal went in.', Chelsea must now beat Valencia to reach the knockout stages.  

Confidence is low in the Chelsea squad, admits Villas-Boas, Chelsea must beat Valencia or draw 0-0 to progress. The Czech Republic international insists his team-mates must now prove they are one of the best on the continent in their decisive clash at home to the Spanish side next month.

'We have put ourselves in a difficult situation because we could have had qualification done a month ago but that is the way it is,' he added. 'We play at home and it is up to us to deal with the situation. 'We are one of the top teams in Europe and this is not a situation we want to be in, Don't blame the boss.'

'The reaction of the players is that we can show on the pitch that we really mean what we say.' 

Villas-Boas sent out an SOS to Blues supporters to help him turn the club's calamitous season around. 'We will need Stamford Bridge completely behind us to get the intensity right and the emotions right for the game,' said Villas-Boas. 'It's in our hands to qualify. It's a game at Stamford Bridge and we expect to do our job. That's our responsibility and we don't want to let the fans down.'  

Chelsea host struggling Wolves this weekend in the Barclays Premier League where Cech and co will be expected to win.

Source: Daily_Mail