AVB still defiant after his nightmare week
Chelsea boss stands by his methods as QPR star Ferdinand reveals “strong feelings” over his clash with Terry, by James Goldman
CHELSEA manager Andre Villas-Boas admits he and his side have endured “a disastrous week” but insists he is still on course to produce a side capable of winning the Premier League.
The past eight days have seen Villas-Boas suffer back-to-back top-flight defeats sandwiching the John Terry racism inquiry, three red cards, and potentially up to three Football Association fines.
The 34-year-old accepted he and his players needed to learn from their recent travails, capped by Saturday’s 5-3 defeat by Arsenal, but was defiant about his Stamford Bridge project.
“There’s always a learning curve in winning and in losing,” he said. “I think you have to be frank and say that our progress was stopped in a disastrous week for us in terms of results. But you cannot say it’s all gone to ruins. That’s not true.
“There is, of course, back-to-back defeats in the Premier League, which take their toll in terms of the league table.
“But that doesn’t mean that what’s being built is wrong, that the philosophy is wrong, and that we’re not on the right track.
“We are on the right track. What we are building is still right.
“We have been punished in the last week in terms of the results, but it’s up to us to take on the challenge.
“We represent a massive club and we’re not running away from the mistakes, but we have to move on.”
The FA, meanwhile, are continuing their investigation into the row involving England skipper Terry and QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.
But the governing body have now been provided with a full statement from Ferdinand, who made his first public comment on the saga yesterday.
After submitting his account of the exchange with Terry, Ferdinand released the following statement: “Today I finalised my statement with the Football Association with regards to the incident that occurred last Sunday at Loftus Road in our Barclays Premier League fixture against Chelsea.
“I have very strong feelings on the matter, but in the interests of fairness and not wishing to prejudice what I am sure will be a very thorough inquiry by the FA, this will be my last comment on the subject until the inquiry is concluded.
“I would like to thank the club, Tony Fernandes, Amit Bhatia, Neil Warnock, the supporters and my fellow professionals for their unwavering support.”