Chelsea vs Swans preview - Villas-Boas surprised by criticism

Posted Saturday, September 24, 2011 by PA

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has hit out at the pundits who branded his team "naive and stupid" in their Barclays Premier League defeat at Manchester United.

Almost a week has gone by since the Blues' controversial 3-1 loss at Old Trafford, but Villas-Boas was still smarting over the fallout from the game.

The former Porto boss, who had not lost a league match as manager for 17 months prior to Sunday, began this week by venting his frustration at the performance of the officials in Manchester, revealing he had made a complaint to referees' chief Mike Riley.

Villas-Boas has turned his attention to the pundits who criticised his players' display, insisting Chelsea had been the better team and were guilty only of failing to take their chances.

"I am surprised that people take the view to criticise us for being naive and stupid at Old Trafford," he said.

"What we did was defend the essence of British football and football well played.

"I find it strange that people related to football don't know where to position themselves regarding what is best for football and what is best for fans, because fans are the most important part of our game.

"It was an entertaining game for the world. Pity we didn't come away with the three points but I think we were superior during the 90 minutes.

"In the end, it's the victory that counts. We missed the victory.

"We are five points behind the leader and we have to try to shorten the distance as we try to progress with a couple of wins."

Chelsea could change all 10 outfield players for the Barclays Premier League game against Swansea.

A youthful Blues side were taken to penalties in their midweek Carling Cup third-round win over Fulham and Villas-Boas is considering whether to rest everyone who started bar goalkeeper Petr Cech, who has recovered from the head knock suffered on Wednesday.

Alex is suspended and Daniel Sturridge out with a knee problem, while Michael Essien is still recovering from a long-term knee injury.

Midfielder Mark Gower says Swansea will be going in search of "bonus points" at Stamford Bridge.

The Swans travel to London in buoyant mood having claimed their maiden Premier League win with a convincing 3-0 triumph over West Brom at the Liberty Stadium last weekend.

But Brendan Rodgers' side face a very different prospect this weekend against the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Juan Mata and Fernando Torres.

He said: "We know our home form is key to this season, we have to perform and get the majority of our points at home, but we need to go to Chelsea and play for the win, and if we can't get the win we need to try and get something from the game.

"There is a league within a league and these top three or four teams are class teams. If you can pick up points from them it's a bonus point. That's what we are after, those bonus points.

"We need to go there and play the way we can, and if we do that we know we will get a lot of ball, create chances and hopefully score some goals.

"We have learned we can compete at this level. They are world class players, but they are only human. The Arsenal game showed that, we very unlucky not to come way with something. We can take heart from that, and the win on Saturday gave us even more confidence that we can dominate games in the Premier League.

"It's nice to play these teams but it's also nice to get them out of the way. We will have our backs against the wall for the majority of the game on Saturday but if we can nick anything it will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season."

Rodgers has no fresh injury concerns.

Striker Danny Graham is set to be available after missing the win over West Brom with a back complaint, but may have to settle for a bench spot after Leroy Lita's goalscoring exploits against the Baggies.

Left-back Neil Taylor has recovered from the blow to the head he suffered in a challenge with Peter Odemwingie but Rodgers remains short of centre-halves with Alan Tate (broken leg) and Steven Caulker (knee) injured, so captain Garry Monk and Ashley Williams will again pair up in defence. Midfielder Kemy Agustien (hamstring) and striker Craig Beattie (ankle) are also sidelined.