Villas-Boas wants vote of confidence

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has suggested that the club’s hierarchy should make it clear that they back his long term vision for the club. According to the Daily Mail.

Villas-Boas has repeatedly fended off dispersions on his long term future at Stamford Bridge and maintains that he has the full backing of owner Roman Abramovich.

The Portuguese manager is growing tired however of mounting speculation that he is on borrowed time by dropping a hint to his employers: “These words would be more valuable coming from the top. I cannot keep saying them.”

Villas-Boas has presided over the club’s least successful period since Russian billionaire Abramovich took control of the club in 2003. The West London outfit have accrued a miserly 3 points from their last 4 league games and have not won since 14 January.

They currently lie fifth in the Premier League, are out of the League Cup and face an FA Cup fifth round replay at St Andrew’s after being held 1-1 by Championship side Birmingham City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Speaking on the day before the Blues Champions League game with Napoli, AVB insists he is in the middle of a three year restructuring process that will “sustain” their long term success.

“In terms of the results this year,” added Villas-Boas. “The speculation is normal given the cultural past of this football club, but you have to understand that there’s a different perspective now.

“We had a three-year project to change not only the team, but the culture and structure of the club.

“There’s a lot we needed to do, a lot of plans. That’s why I’m excited about the future.

“Having said that, we have to build a team to win trophies.

“We’re no longer in the Carling Cup and don’t have a chance to win the title. But we are still confident we can do well in the Champions League and the FA Cup.”

The club’s joint top scorer Daniel Sturridge had insisted earlier in the day that they are not “a divided unit”.

“We are a family and we’ve got a good unit going,” the 22-year-old told Chelsea TV. “Maybe we will see that in the next few games.”

Fellow Blues striker Didier Drogba said: “We feel that no one really believes in us.

“We are going to show we deserve to be here. It’s a top game and we are going to have to get a good result.”

Drogba denied that he gave a half-time “team talk” to Chelsea when they were a goal down in Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Birmingham before coming back to draw.

Cameras picked up footage of Didier Drogba giving a pep talk in the Stamford Bridge tunnel just before the start of the second half.

Drogba’s apparent motivational speech will have done nothing to quell talk of growing rifts between Chelsea players and the manager but the Ivorian said:

“The manager made the speech at half-time. He has leaders in the squad and we are here to help him.

“We wanted to gee the team up at half-time and nothing more.”

Arsenal’s deadlock: Wenger won’t budge, Van Persie won’t stay, The Ox won’t play

The ‘In Arsene We Trust’ banners are finally showing signs of ceasing.

Few managers have enjoyed the kind of die-hard support that the trophy-less for seven years Wenger has enjoyed at the Emirates.

However, not any more it would seem.

A three-way deadlock involving Wenger’s transfer funds, Robin Van Persie and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

After reports emerged that Wenger has £50millon sitting in his transfer kitty, Gunners fans now want to know why he has not spent it.

The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust are demanding answers from club owner Stan Kroenke and the Emirates board, according to a report in The Sun.

Questions raised at a lively AST meeting on Monday night, included why bitter rivals Spurs are so far ahead despite having a 40 per cent lower wage bill.

Arsenal are expected to announce pre-tax profits of about £45m — boosted by the sales of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.

It might be worth noting that having £50millon is one thing – buying the right player is quite another.

Wenger’s buy ‘em young watch ‘em grow policy worked only until he was winning trophies.

Then the young ‘uns upped and left.

Arsene Wenger meanwhile will reportedly refuse to be held to ransom over Robin van Persie.

Arsenal are determined to keep their prize asset this summer even if the Dutchman does not sign a new contract, according to media reports, and talks are underway to offer the striker a mega deal.

Then there is the question of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, an emerging talismanic figure for the Gunners. Wenger has also stated that he will not push the dynamic winger into playing too much, too early, much to chagrin of Arsenal fans.

Gunners boss Wenger ended up selling Samir Nasri to Manchester City for £22m last summer because he only had one year left on his deal and Wenger feared he could end up leaving on a free transfer.

But Arsenal are prepared to take the risk of Van Persie running his current contract into next season before it expires in 2013.

The Arsenal board know selling their captain, talisman and star striker would cause fury among the fans.

Van Persie would be 30 in 2013, is four years older than Nasri and so it will be a different dilemma for Arsenal this summer making it increasingly likely they will take a gamble on his contract situation.

However, Wenger shows no signs of buying an out and out top-ranked player ready to impact Arsenal’s cup fortunes.

Indications already are that all inquiries concern players with great potential – but no established stars.

The latest news on that front is his interest in 21-year old defender, Daniel Opare from Ghana.

At least the good news for Gunners’ fans is Wenger is finally showing interest in shoring up his defence.

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Fergie eyes United post-managerial job

Manchester, United Kingdom – Alex Ferguson believes that he will stay on atManchester United even after he steps down as manager, he said in an interview to be broadcast on Monday.

“I will remain active. I think there will be a role for me at United after I finish,” he told the BBC in an interview, extracts of which were published on the corporation’s website.

Ferguson, now 70, began his managerial career at Old Trafford in 1986 and has won an array of honours, including 12 Premier League titles, two European cups and five FA cups.

He had been due to retire at the end of the 2001-2002 season but changed his mind.

He said in the interview that he could feasibly continue for two or three more seasons, depending on his health.

One possible role he could fulfil at the current Premier League champions after stepping down is as a club ambassador, he added. – Sapa-AFP

Poll of the day: Should Fernando Torres start for Chelsea against Napoli?

Chelsea striker Fernando Torres last week revealed that he ‘expected things to be better’ after failing to find his form since joining the Blues for £50 million over a year ago

The Spaniard netted 24 times in his first campaign with former club Liverpool and went on to become a favourite with the Anfield crowd, but after his record move to London in January 2011 the 27-year-old has not looked half the player.

He told ESPN: ”To be honest, after one year I was expecting things would be better than they are now.”

In his 34 appearances since his transfer to Stamford Bridge, the former Atletico Madrid man has scored just three times in the Premier League. In the Champions League, Torres has featured nine times for the Blues and only contributed with two goals.

And the Spain international admitted he just cannot score: “Personally I have to improve.

“In my time at Liverpool there were games where I would not be playing well or I would be doing nothing but every time I touched the ball I scored.

“It’s such a strange feeling now because I am feeling better than ever physically. I am not finding the chances and, when I do find the chances, I cannot score.”

The west London club face a tough first-leg tie away at Napoli on Tuesday and Andre Villas-Boas will need to think carefully when selecting his squad.

The Italian side have plenty of quality going forward so the Portuguese might sacrifice a frontman of his own and go with a more defensive team to set up the return game at Stamford Bridge.