Villas-Boas: I'm no wizard

Andre Villas-Boas is no Albus Dumbledore. Following his team's limp exit of the Carling Cup at home 2-0 at the hands of Liverpool, the Portugal boss of the Blues admitted he's "no wizard". Dumbledore, the wise old wizard of Harry Potter film fame would struggle to turn this Chelsea team into anything like the side of old. Two second half goals were enough to consign Chelsea to their third home defeat out of four. If there is a crisis at Chelsea, then Villas-Boas refuses to see it. "The next set of games in December are important," he argued. "We are 10 points behind the leaders now and we need to make the most of the December fixtures where we play a number of top teams. "If we are able to do that, then we are back on track. "I'm no wizard, and I don't know what will happen latter in the season." Villas-Boas did admit that his team are not playing well. "We need to get the fans behind us. Stamford Bridge is becoming too anxious." As a distraction tactic, it smacks a tad of desperation - blaming the fans will not endear them to him. "We haven't been good enough, this was an inferior performance," he added. "Away from home we are more solid." Villas-Boas then dissected his players' performance. "We set out to play the kids in this tournament. We wanted to win, but we won't change our philosophy. "Ryan [Bertrand] showed a good level, Oriel [Romeu] also. Josh was unlucky he got injured, but he is a proven talent. Lukaku's game was the worst of the three he has played. Ross [Turnbull] showed a good level and we can count on him in other tournaments" Villas-Boas refused to adversely criticise referee Philip Dowd's performance. "Philip's decisions did not affect the outcome. It was his decision-making. It happened at Old Trafford [denied a penalty] and now here. He saw the decision as a dive by Luiz because he booked him. Looking to ahead to the Valencia encounter, he said: "The Champions' League is life and death, this standard of performance won't be enough. Talking about his misfiring striker Fernando Torres, Villas-Boas said: "We believe in him. But it's up to the technical staff to give him confidence, if we don't do that we will have failed. "Fernando faces tough competition. We will go to Newcastle on Saturday and play 4:3:3. "He will have to compete with Didier Drogba who is showing good form." Asked about the loss of Drogba for up to six weeks in the new year, due to African Cup of Nations tournament, Villas-Boas said: "We will have Lakaku, Sturridge, Torres and Kalou. "We have enough options in the strikers to play 4:3:3." Villas-Boas forgot that Kalou will also be away.