Wednesday 29 June 2011

Villas-Boas Outlines Chelsea Plans


New Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has promised to bring a more attack-minded philosophy to the team as he begins his tenure at Stamford Bridge.

The 33-year-old has signed a three-year deal after replacing Carlo Ancelotti.

I am just one guy in this big club. Maybe I should be called 'The Group One'

He has appointed former West Brom boss and Blues midfielder Roberto di Matteo as his assistant.

The Portuguese said: "It's not just about winning, but winning with a certain amount of flair. Everyone likes attacking football."

He added: "If you see the technical staff in front of me, and my appointment of Roberto, these are people who like the quality of the game and have a philosophy.

"The Premier League has a certain amount of goals in every game and it should be an entertaining game for the fans and that is what we will look to do."

Ancelotti was sacked at the end of last season just a year after guiding the club to the double.

In depth - Villa-Boas on the need to succeed

Villas-Boas admits he will be expected to challenge for the Premier League title immediately, with the Blues opening their campaign at Stoke on 13 August, but will relish the challenge.

"The expectations are for the maximum. We want to win trophies, that is the challenge we face day by day in any business.

"Everyone wants to be the best and win something and the challenge is to win as soon as possible and to build a platform for the future."

Given the comparisons with one of his Chelsea predecessors Jose Mourinho, who proclaimed himself 'A Special One' on his arrival at the club, Villas-Boas was keen not to indulge similar notions about his own influence.

"This is not a one-man show, this is about creating empathy, ambition and motivation in everybody," he said.

"I am just one guy in this big club. Maybe I should be called 'The Group One'. I want to group people to be successful.

"It's not a question of me taking on Sir Alex Ferguson or other Premier League managers, it's about a top club like Chelsea challenging for the title.

"We need to be up there from the beginning; it's about trying to build something that can make us powerful, and help us threaten for the title as we have in the past."

Villas-Boas says he was offered an "extremely competitive offer" to stay at Porto and acknowledged it was a "difficult separation" from the Portuguese champions.

He revealed that pre-season training will start on 6 July and he will welcome back all current players.

"I'm more than happy with the actual squad," he said.

"Minor changes can be done and we can put some input here or there in certain sectors, but my confidence in them is for them to return to me and judge from that.

"We have plenty of time up to 31 August to make a decision."

FACT FILE
1977: Born in Porto 17 October
1993: Works as a trainee under Sir Bobby Robson at Porto
1994: Achieves Uefa C coaching licence in Scotland
2002: Becomes part of Jose Mourinho's staff at Porto
2004: Follows Mourinho to Chelsea
2008: Moves with Mourinho to Inter Milan
2009: Appointed manager of Academica
2010: Named Porto boss
2011: Wins league, cup and Europa League in first season
2011: Named Chelsea manager


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