UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Valencia v Chelsea: Venue: Estadio Mestalla Kick-off: Tonight, 7.45pm On TV: RTÉ Two, UTV:A VISIBLY irritated Andre Villas-Boas has accused critics of wanting to "finish" the careers of established Chelsea players such as Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba as he prepares his team for the Champions League group game against Valencia tonight.
Yet the Portuguese refused to confirm that Lampard would start at the Estadio Mestalla.
Drogba missed a month of football due to concussion suffered against Norwich City late last month before returning as a substitute in the 4-1 win over Swansea City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and Lampard has not completed a full match since the 2-1 victory at Sunderland on September 10th.
The 33-year-old midfielder, who began the opening four Premier League games, remained on the bench against Swansea.
Yet Villas-Boas became annoyed when asked about Lampard.
“Why has he not been playing? How many games did he start in the Premier League?” he said. When Lampard’s record was relayed, he said: “So you just took the negative part instead of the positive part. I think I’ve answered it enough.
“Frank is a magnificent player. Frank is an established, top-quality player, one of the most important at the club and will continue to be. He has nothing to prove to the football world and will continue to show that. He is a spectacular team player and professional and I hope he will continue to succeed in this club for many years to come, as long as I am here.
“He is (also) a big player for Chelsea and England. It’s 26 players for 11 places. What is the dramatic thing here?”
When it was put to Villas-Boas that he is the first Chelsea coach since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003 to rotate high-profile personnel such as Lampard and Drogba, he said: “It’s not a question of dramatic change in what’s happening. It’s not taking the case where you want to make it: that these players are finishing. That’s not true, it’s not true.
“I just go on managing my team. The biggest challenge (is) motivating everybody – all want to play and compete for a place. There is no mystique. It’s day-by-day life of a manager. You have it in wrong perspective. I am not being brave. It’s for the benefit of the team. You’ve got it all wrong. There should be no negative criticisms.
“It is choices for the team and there is nothing wrong with it. We all see things as team objectives. At the moment what we manage is a squad ready to challenge. We are three behind (the) leaders in the Premier League, and challenging for all competitions.”
Lampard last began a match at Manchester United on September 18th in a 3-1 defeat in which he was replaced at half-time. Whether he will start tonight is unclear after the manager said: “It depends on the strategy we want to use. I make choices like any manager does. Nothing unusual in that.”
Villas-Boas, speaking after Chelsea were delayed for four hours on the runway at Gatwick before changing planes, was reluctant to accept he is freshening up the squad by bringing in less established players than Lampard and Drogba.
“We made the changes on the things we needed to do to reinforce the squad,” he said. “Raul Meireles had a fantastic year at Liverpool (last season). We analysed (the) squad and did what we did because it was good. We went for a mixture, not just younger players, (Juan) Mata was the best player in Valencia with (a) proven record. I wanted to add competence to the squad. It’s about competence and we have that at all levels in the squad.”
Mata is set to start against his former club. Alex, Josh McEachran and Paulo Ferreira have been left behind and Villas-Boas was asked if Chelsea, who previously beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0, were favourites against Valencia. “I don’t like being favourite in any game,” he said. “It only implies big surprises. It will be a game of great intensity that will be extremely difficult. We believe in our football, which is attacking and we will try to play that. We are looking to get the result.”
Guardian Service
