Villas-Boas braced for criticism

Villas-Boas braced for criticism

Published Nov. 5, 2011 9:15 a.m. ET

The former Porto coach took charge of Chelsea in the summer, and is yet to experience any negativity during his career from the terraces. But Villas-Boas is unfazed by the prospect of receiving criticism from his own fans, as The Blues face the prospect of one of their worst starts to a season in a decade. "It's inevitable," Villas-Boas said. "(Arsene) Wenger went through it. Sir Alex (Ferguson), for sure, went through it. "In the Latin countries, you see these kind of expressions all the time from one negative result. "I've never had it because I've only had a two-year career, but one day it will come." Villas-Boas also revealed that he has no intention of carrying on doing the job for as long as the likes of Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson - who celebrates 25 years in charge of Manchester United this weekend. "It's a stressful job, which is why I don't want to be doing it for a long time," said Villas-Boas. "It affects your personal life, that's part of the job. Any negative result gets you down." Villas-Boas is adamant Chelsea's recent blip is nothing to do with their off-field travails. "Personal problems are not affecting us," he said. "We want to be based on the positives and the positives we have are that it's a group that is unified and talented. "Things will 'invert' soon. I believe a win will put us back on track. We did that after QPR, then suddenly lost it. "So you need to continue to win." Indeed, despite Chelsea being nine points behind Manchester City after just 10 games, Villas-Boas has insisted the gap is far from insurmountable and is already targeting the points-rich Christmas period as the ideal time for his side to pounce. "It's a stress situation in terms of the Premier League fixture list," he said. "I think it'll be an important month. I want to get the most amount of points from that run." But cleaning up in December will be meaningless unless Chelsea can hang on to City's coat-tails in the meantime, starting against a Blackburn side Villas-Boas is refusing to take for granted. "They have nothing to lose," he said. "Just like QPR, they will play with a competitive attitude. "Steve Kean has made some changes to his team to bring him benefit. "(Ruben) Rochina and (Junior) Hoilett are looking sharp, and (Morten Gamst) Pedersen is playing well from central midfield. "They can surprise everybody."

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