• Villas-Boas leaves out Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole
• 'We still have every chance to go through' manager claims
Chelsea's hopes of progressing into the quarter-finals of the Champions League are hanging by a thread after they were beaten comprehensively by Napoli on Tuesday night, with André Villas-Boas left to defend a controversial team selection that saw Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard start on the substitutes' bench.
The England internationals had expressed their intense disappointment at being omitted in conversation with the manager before kick-off, both insisting they felt they could offer plenty to the team in such a critical tie. But Villas-Boas, who had already been denied John Terry, who will on Wednesday undergo an exploratory arthroscopy on his knee that will rule him out for up to two months, stood by his lineup in the aftermath despite his team, who had led through Juan Mata, succumbing 3-1.
The selection took on greater significance given the undercurrent of discord that has emerged from within the squad over recent weeks, discontent which prompted the manager to admit last week that not all his players had bought into his approach. "I had a conversation with Ashley and Frank before the game," Villas-Boas said.
"As normal, given the players they are and the experience they have, they felt they could have helped the team. That's perfectly understandable. In the end, Ashley had the opportunity to come on for [José] Bosingwa with his injury [after 11 minutes with a pulled hamstring], and Lamps later on in the game. Of course they were disappointed but they were decisions they have to accept and move on.
"It was a technical decision. Regarding the formation, with Mata playing behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1, we chose two sitting midfielders tonight who are two hard workers in front of the defence. That's not to say that Lamps could not do it – for sure he could – but that was the decision we took. It was about sitting and covering up for the amount of gain the wing-backs of Napoli get. With Ashley, it was a difficult decision but he had just two days of training with the team. From tomorrow's training onwards, he will continue to fight for his position as he normally does. People can have an opinion [on the selection] but it was based on what was the best team in my thoughts."
Only three teams have recovered from a two-goal first-leg deficit in this revamped competition to prevail, and Villas-Boas can add the hamstrung Bosingwa and the suspended Raul Meireles to his list of absentees for next month's second leg. Yet, while Chelsea were arguably fortunate to escape trailing only by that amount – Cole scrambled an attempt from Christian Maggio from the goal-line in the latter stages, while both Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani might have added to the hosts' plunder – the manager insisted his side can still prevail at Stamford Bridge to progress into the last eight.
"We are sure we can turn this result around at the Bridge, just because of the amount of chances we had," Villas-Boas said. "Being more clinical and more efficient in front of goal was the difference between the teams. They had an efficiency we couldn't find, while we paid a heavy price for the mistakes we made. But I'm confident. We created a lot of chances tonight and, if we do that in the return match, we'll have every chance of getting through.
"We will analyse strongly what we did wrong because a couple of things need to get better. I agree we have to focus on reorganising this relationship between this back four and solve these mistakes at the back. We need to get our concentration right, for sure. At the moment, without John [Terry] – a very important player for the team – we have suffered a lot of goals recently. We have missed him, but we have full belief in these players and we have to continue to work with them to get it right."
The result will merely serve to increase the pressure on Villas-Boas, who has seen his side win only two of their past 10 Premier League games, slipping to fifth place in the process, and held by Birmingham City of the Championship in a fifth-round FA Cup tie on Saturday. "We know he [Villas-Boas] keeps working hard for us," said the goalkeeper, Petr Cech. "He prepares every game with 100% commitment and we appreciate it as players. But if you have players on the pitch making mistakes he can't help it.
"At the moment, we always say we keep working hard on the training ground but unfortunately we don't seem to transport that onto the pitch. We have quality players who can turn it around but it could be better because we don't have time to recover. We have a lot of games coming up and we are not in a position to drop many points in league. It's not an ideal situation, but we are still in the Champions League and we will fight to the end."