Villas-Boas happy with Blues' belief

Posted Monday, December 05, 2011 by ESPN

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas saluted the belief of his players after they fought their way back into the Barclays Premier League's top four.

Saturday's 3-0 win at Newcastle came as a welcome relief after three defeats in their previous four games in all competitions, and set them up nicely for Tuesday night's Champions League showdown with Valencia and their clash with Premier League leaders Manchester City next Monday.

Villas-Boas, who had himself come under the spotlight after a difficult few weeks for the club, was delighted at the way his players responded on Tyneside.

He said: "It was a good solid performance for 90 minutes. The players were decisive.

"To find that inner-belief and strength was a major key.

"Coming to one of the best stadiums in the Premier League, plus one of the best defences in the Premier League and a team that was at full steam in terms of motivation was always a difficult challenge.

"We did fantastically well and the players deserve some applause for what they did in the game."

Chelsea were fortunate not to have to play the final 86 minutes of the game with only 10 men after central defender David Luiz somehow escaped with only a yellow card from referee Mike Dean for hauling down striker Demba Ba on the edge of the box.

Villas-Boas admitted: "I haven't seen it. Of course, the emotions from the stands and from the Newcastle bench, for them, it looked like a sending-off.

"I haven't seen it, to be fair, but it was Mike's decision and maybe, it went our way."

He added with smile: "Of course, [Newcastle boss] Alan [Pardew] won't be happy with that, but all I can say is with 10 or nine men, we play even better, so maybe we would have won the game more than 3-0."

But if they rode their luck initially, Chelsea made the most of Luiz's good fortune by taking the game to Newcastle with striker Daniel Sturridge enjoying a field day down the right.

The absence of the suspended Jonas Gutierrez left full-back Ryan Taylor cruelly exposed, and Sturridge exploited the situation to good effect.

It was his surge into the penalty area which prompted Yohan Cabaye's desperate challenge, and Dean pointed straight to the spot.

In what was to become something of a theme, keeper Tim Krul dived low to his left to turn Frank Lampard's 14th-minute penalty on to the post, and Sturridge was denied by the same upright two minutes later.

Petr Cech reacted superbly to keep out Ba's 24th-minute flick and the Newcastle striker then headed against the post.

But it was the visitors who took the lead seven minutes before the break when Didier Drogba finally beat Krul with a header from Juan Mata's cross.

Drogba passed up a glorious opportunity to make it 2-0 seven minutes after the restart when he fired wide after chesting down Branislav Ivanovic's cross at the far post.

He almost struck again with 55 minutes gone, but at the wrong end when, in his efforts to prevent Ba from connecting with Cabaye's corner, he headed across his own crossbar.

Brothers Sammy and Shola Ameobi both went close to an equaliser as the Magpies made their big push, but they were caught on the counter twice in quick succession as substitute Salomon Kalou made it 2-0 in the final minute of normal time and Sturridge got his reward for a fine individual display in injury time.

Villas-Boas said: "We could have got to 2-0 earlier in the game - 3-0 could be excessive, but it's the fairest of results.

"It was for Chelsea to win it because of the amount of times we went one-on-one against the keeper. Krul had a fantastic game and save the 2-0 a couple of times.

"Halfway through the second half, Newcastle had some good, good chances as well, but we managed to kill the game late on to take three points away and a much-needed win."

The Newcastle bench were unhappy with the way fitness coach Jose Mario Rocha celebrated Kalou's strike in front of them, although Villas-Boas, who apologised to Pardew, insisted the matter had been dealt with.

He said: "We are not provocative people, we are not arrogant people and that's why I made it clear to him that I wouldn't like him to do it again."