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Blues ready for crucial tiff versus Valencia

Comment: 0 December 6th, 2011 by: admin

FOR Andre Villas-Boas, he and the rest of his players at Chelsea are the ones to blame for the predicament they’re in right now.

They are in a make-or-break situation when they face Valencia at Stamford Bridge. A bad result would give them an exit before Christmas for the first time and for the Portuguese coach, more pressure would pile up in connection with his post as manager.

But the 34-year-old Villas-Boas insisted his job would not depend on the result of the fixture which the Blues need to win or keep a clean sheet in order for them to reach the last 16 of the tournament.

“We just have ourselves to blame,’’ said Villas-Boas, whose men squandered winning chances in their three away Group E matches against Valencia, Genk and Bayer Leverkusen.

Villas-Boas said that if those did not materialise, they would not be sitting on their current position and that like in the past, they should have qualified already.

The Portuguese added his personal pride won’t be hurt if he fails. “My focus is on our game against Valencia and not what’s going to happen after that game.’’

He also said their mindset is to continue in the competition so they are treating the game with maximum care and confidence.

Knowing that Valencia would try to get something since a goal means a lot to them, Villas-Boas also added there would be no change in their new attacking philosophy. “We will try and take the initiative again and won’t change our strategy.’’

The Blues are presently buoyed by their clean-sheet performances in their back-to-back 3-0 Premier League wins against Wolves and Newcastle United.

But Villas-Boas remains wary. “Just because we won at Newcastle, we don’t fill ourselves with arrogance and say we’re on the right track again.’’

He said they need to go all out in the coming games against top opposition and achieve consistent results.

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