[Chelsea FC News - Chelsea Football Club | The Chelsea FC] Andre Villas Boas on Chelsea vs Fulham

[Vishal Marathe]

Ahead of the derby tie against Fulham in the Carling Cup at Stamford Bridge tomorrow evening, Andre Villas Boas had a press conference where he shared his thoughts on many aspects of the game including the the team likely to face Fulham.

Andre Villas Boas had already stated how tough it is when your team is involved in so many competitions. Here is where squad rotation comes into picture and he has made it clear that a young side will be taking on Fulham with the likes of Josh, Romeu, Lukakau and Bertrand to be part of the starting XI.

This is something even I had predicted when picking what could be my probable starting XI against Fulham. He also stated that Didier Drogba is available for selection after recovering from concussion he had suffered three weeks ago against Norwich. Hilario is out due to back problem, so Ross Turnball could fit in.

Chelsea FC - Team news pre Fulham

Andre Villas Boas on facing Fulham in the Carling Cup:

"Since last year the club has given these kind of opportunities to the young players and it is good for us that Fulham is the challenge because it is a Premier League team, so it gives us a good idea of where we are regarding the young players that we are trying to bring through."

"I am excited to put them against Premier League opposition. I don't know what [Fulham manager] Martin Jol's thoughts are on what he is going to do because you can approach the Carling Cup in various different ways."

"He has come across saying the same way for Fulham as we are taking which could make it a good spectacle for the fans."

"Fulham are also in the situation where they want to grab some points in the Premier League and they have the West Brom trip ahead of them, plus they have the Europa League and a trip to Odense next week so maybe that will play an important part in Martin's decision for the squad that he selects."

Andre Villas Boas on his policy of selecting a young side for Carling Cup unlike the ones selected by Jose Mourinho

"It is a different approach and I am not making comparisons, I am not to judge Jose's choice. We also want to win the most amount of trophies possible but we have taken this approach to the Carling Cup to promote the youngsters. That time before there was an aggressive approach to winning the first trophy available."

"It is a trophy and for us as a top team it is for us to try to win it. We have enough good players to try to win the trophy and we try first to give opportunities to players that have been used less and opportunities will be given to our youngest players."

Andre Villas Boas on the shoddy match officials at Old Trafford on Sunday:

"Our objective was to win and we managed to create so many opportunities and they should have translated into a better result for us."

"I am glad it was a spectacle that everybody wanted because the game belongs to the fans but I am very unhappy with the poor performance from the referees which in the end had the decisive role in the result."

"I don't take it very lightly because of those two first goals. You expect the linesman to do his job and I have already gone ahead with the situation by speaking to the correct people."

"We all feel very down when the officials had such an impact on the result but I am very happy with the display and the resilience we showed after such a negative impact."

And finally he also expressed his thoughts on Frank Lampard, as to why he was substituted and what role does he play ahead.

Andre Villas Boas on Frank Lampard:

"It was a decision we had to make bearing in mind the score at half-time. It was an attacking substitution that we thought played right, not because Lamps was playing badly because he wasn't."

"He was having quite an impact on our game and he recovered a couple of balls in our midfield and he had a couple of shots. It was just something that we had to do to adapt the team to a more attacking style, not that he doesn't give to the attacking style because he does and he has proved it throughout his career."

"When you have won so much in the game and you have proven quality and prestige gained nationally and internationally, Frank doesn't have to prove anything to anybody."

"He is a top player in the world and he could add to any team in the world. Jose Mourinho wanted him for all the top teams that he went to when he left Chelsea so that is the importance of Frank."

"The substitution is nothing dramatic because Frank is a fantastic player and he will be one of the key players for the rest of the season."

Follow me and my blog on Twitter - http://goo.gl/BAIzZ
Follow the blog on Facebook - http://goo.gl/XHt5d
Grab my RSS Feed - http://goo.gl/WSEcV

--
Posted By Vishal Marathe to Chelsea FC News - Chelsea Football Club | The Chelsea FC at 9/20/2011 10:20:00 PM