Andre Villas-Boas had nothing to say to his defense. Another loss, Chelsea’s 7th in the Premier League this season, this time to West Brom, 1-0 coming late in the match. The away form, the general from, the thundering silence from Roman Abramovich and the potential exits from both the FA Cup and the Champions League, and the storm clouds just aren’t going away.

Away form for Chelsea this season? Not exactly splendid. Only 5 wins in 14 matches but probably even worse, it’s not just the results. WBA were simply the better side throughout the match, creating twice as much attempts at Petr Cech’s goal than Chelsea were able to attempt at Ben Foster.

Image: Source

Again, the aggression, the urgency and anything resembling some organized playing system was not there. Villas-Boas has  taken steps towards a new Chelsea and then took steps back, losing direction of whatever he was trying to do and envisioned when he first accepted the job. Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba are still here, but nothing from the spirit of the old Chelsea, champions or not, is here.

The centre backs look confused and uncoordinated. Not having an Alpha-CB is always a bad recipe, and despite John Terry not being the same central defender he once was, his leadership and influence haven’t been replaced by the Gary Cahill and David Luiz duo. Cahill himself has been a train wreck since arriving, with Luiz not being much better.

I don’t think the club need to back me. We just need to get on with our jobs and everyone has to be better, the players and management staff, everyone. For us to demand to be backed we have to improve. It’s not for the owner to come and back us when things go like this. Every defeat that Chelsea suffer piles more pressure on any manager. You have to agree that this result puts more pressure on me. We stick to the same position, fifth, but we are now three points behind fourth.

It seems Villas-Boas has finally realized that his vision about a new Chelsea doesn’t really matter anymore. It’s about survival, and making the Champions League, and surviving an away FA Cup replay against Birmingham. If I didn’t believe I was the right person I wouldn’t have come. At the moment we have to win games. I’m not worried about the future, the present is more important.