Andre Villas-Boas, the new Chelsea manager, has warned his side will have to be wary of the attacking threat of Norwich City ahead of the clash between the Canaries and the Blues this weekend at Stamford Bridge.
Paul Lambert’s side will be the second visitors to West London this campaign, after Roy Hodgson’s West Brom were narrowly beaten 2-1 last weekend. However, despite holding his hands up to not having seen an awful lot of Norwich last term, Villas-Boas has acknowledged their free-scoring nature.
Speaking during his pre-match press conference at Cobham this afternoon, he said,
‘I cannot go in depth on Norwich last season but I know they had a fantastic season, an incredible amount of goals scored last season and the season before, coming up twice.’
‘Paul Lambert likes to organise his teams and play good attacking football, that’s why they were the highest scoring team last year,’ he went on. ‘I can only assess what has been happening in pre-season and their first three games and there were some changes Paul made to his team.’
‘It leaves us a little bit trying to assess what he is going to do, it seems his principles are well established but to get the starting 11 right will be difficult for us because he changed dramatically his team in the last three games. In two difficult games coming out with a draw, almost a win against Stoke, means Norwich is here to play a part and I look forward to playing against him.’
Villas-Boas does have one new addition to his squad since last weekend; Juan Mata. The Spanish midfielder was bought from Valencia this week for a deal reported to be in the region of £23M. AVB indicated it might be too soon to throw the 23-year-old into the first XI, although hinted he’d probably make the bench on Saturday.
‘It is too early,’ he said. ‘This league is very specific in terms of intensity and emotionally and culturally. It doesn’t mean he is not threatening the starting 11 but two training sessions is short for playing and creating new relationships with the players, so we will assess tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow is the decisive day for the strategic part of our game and we will decide tomorrow.’
Eager for more information on his latest signing, the hacks pushed Villas-Boas further on what his plans were for Mata.
‘He can play right, left and through the middle,’ he said. ‘He has been tested as well in 4-4-2, not just 4-3-3 so it gives us flexibility in formation as well. He has an eye for goal and a magnificent record for assists throughout his career.’
‘Now comes one of the biggest challenges for his career now in the Premiership and he has made public his comments on that, it is a step up for his career and we hope he can add to the quality of our squad.’
There was also an update from the boss on David Luiz, yet to feature this campaign, and Petr Cech:
‘David Luiz is coming back to full training, today he had a full intensity training. It will be too early for him but he is selected for Brazil and I am going to let him go to add a couple of minutes.’
‘On other fronts there is nothing special. Petr has made a tremendous recovery and is looking good for after the international break, and Essien is long-term. Everybody is up for selection.’
‘At the moment the funny thing is we are on full weeks running into a game, then when the transfer window finishes we have two games a week. It seems now we went into a pattern of the 18 and 11 but it doesn’t mean changes won’t happen after.’
With the transfer window deadline less than a week away now, there is fevered speculation in the press. AVB would not be drawn on the continuing Luka Modric saga, choosing to pass on the opportunity to add more fuel to the fire.
‘I just have to speak to the owner when this kind of thing happens,’ he said. ‘When there’s an offer, there’s a counter-offer and then you reach an agreement.’
‘Modric’s name is already out too much in the press. Let’s leave it. He’s Harry Redknapp’s player. He’s not my player, unfortunately.’
However, he did admit that a bid had been made for Porto’s Alvaro Pereira:
‘I can confirm that we have made a bid for him but we are very far apart in terms of numbers. It’s a big, big difference. I am not very confident.’
Those Pereira stories also suggested that Florent Malouda would be on his way out of the Bridge, a suggestion quickly shot down by the manager.
‘He is an excellent professional, very driven and determined throughout his career, so we can’t let ourselves sell talents of this quality,’ said Villas-Boas.
‘As you know I have no problems whatsoever with the average age of the squad because I believe in their competence and I believe in Malouda’s competence.’
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