Andres Villas-Boas admitted his side's performance in the FA Cup was not up to the mark but he is confident his players will rise to the occasion on Tuesday.The Chelsea boss saw his side fail to overcome Birmingham and so last week's summit meeting with his players, in a bid to motivate the team to produce better results, does not have appeared to have produced any effect on his players. The club have just won once in their past six meetings with Serie A sides and Napoli will be hoping to add to the Portuguese's woes by beating them and holding their own.
Napoli have been in terrific form in the past few weeks, unlike Chelsea, and are eyeing the Chelsea game as a platform to announce their credentials on the European stage. The Italian side survived the 'Group of Death' after impressive performances against Manchester City and Bayern Munich. They even beat the current Premier League leaders 3-1 in November last year handing Roberto Mancini's side the first defeat of the season. Villas-Boas, however, refused to show any signs of weakness in what will be a significant match where all eyes will be trained on his Chelsea side who have failed to reach as far as the semi-final since 2009.
"The situation is we don't have enough good results for us to feel a bit strong," said Villas-Boas according to AFP. "But we are still in these competitions (FA Cup and Champions League) and will continue to push for them. "It will be a difficult game against Napoli but we have shown in the group games we can overcome adversity."
Napoli beat Fiorentina 3-1 last Friday with Uruguayan marksman Edinson Cavani scoring a brace taking his Serie tally to 15 goals. He is optimistic that the game against Chelsea will be an evenly-matched encounter. Cavani was reported to have said on FIFA.com: "Having seen this game [against Fiorentina], this is the right path and the right attitude that we must have against Chelsea," said Cavani.
"It will be tough but we're in good shape. Nothing is sure in football and that's why we don't have an advantage, anything can happen.""What matters is playing with the same attitude."The Blues coach was openly questioned about his methods by some of his players last week and reports in the media indicate that the former Porto boss could have his days numbered.Asked if he was worried about losing his job if Chelsea failed to get a good result at Naples, he said: "No, not at all."
"You have to ask that question to the right person," he said. "The team commitment was there and the team response was there straight after we suffered the setback," he said, pointing out how the side immediately retaliated after npower side Birmingham secured the lead. Juan Mata missed the penalty, however, and the frustration prevented Chelsea from playing their game."If the penalty goes in, it's 1-1 a little bit earlier and it gives you time to find the winner.
"It took us too much time to score the leveller."Fernando Torres did not do much to help his side either as the Spaniard did not even sit with his team-mates on the bench for the second half, which Villas-Boas said the Spaniard watched from the dressing room.He added: "I'm sure that he didn't take it lightly but it's a decision for the benefit of the team."The UEFA Champions League encounter between Chelsea and Napoli takes place after Real Madrid's match against CSKA Moscow.
Chelsea are hoping for positive news with regards to the fitness of England internationals John Terry and Ashley Cole. Villas-Boas had indicated on Saturday that Terry's inclusion in the squad was a "50-50" situation and he will wait till closer to the match before making a final decision.
