Andre Villas-Boas, new to London, new to Chelsea, new to the English Premiership and, to some degree, new to football management. Having been a professional football manager for only a handful of years and, considering his relatively youthful age (in comparison to others in the same profession), yet to experience any serious issues the Chelsea manager is on course for one now.

On the same day as reports that Chelsea players responded to Andre Villas-Boas harsh critique of their recent performance by giving it right back to him, Porto president Pinto da Costa announced that Villas-Boas is being undermined by players who still exchange text messages with Jose Mourinho.

Help me, I'm having nightmares. More, after the jump:

Cold as ice

I'm not even sure this match is as important as what's transpiring around the orbit of England's Once Brave (Twice-Removed) John Terry- henceforth known as EOBTRJT. Jack cooked up some brilliance on the matter, as always, which I recommend you all read at once.

By Josh Clarke

On initial inspection, similarities between Andre Villas-Boas' Chelsea and Edgar Allan Poe seem most abundantly clear in a shared propensity for an excruciating and painfully drawn-out narrative (think Fernando Torres and The Pit and Pendulum).

Valentines Day I hate it. Why? Because it means I have to go to the shops and get a card and other crap for a day invented by people to fleece me of what little money I have. Anyway back to the story. Today saw Carlton Cole show his twitter followers what he had [...] Related posts:

1. Should Cheryl Cole Take Back Ashley Cole?

With underwhelming results on the pitch and discord between the players and Andre Villas-Boas in the dressing room, Roman Abramovich must once again decide whether to keep his current manager or sack him and try another one. This, is the Roman Abramovich Game. This week's contestant: Roman Abramovich.

By Alan Duffy

Swansea City 1-1 Chelsea Premier League 31th January 2012

A last-gasp Neil Taylor own-goal saved Chelsea from another disappointing defeat on Tuesday night, after Swansea gave the home fans another superb display of pacy attacking football.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

FIFA is considering a number of rule changes that could have a major impact on the international game going forward.

The major proposal that FIFA's board is facing would allow teams to use a fourth substitute in extra time in an attempt to cut down on player injuries.

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech is extremely impressed with Swansea City's home record and suggests that the toughness of the Welsh outfit at Liberty Stadium should ensure survival in the Barclays Premier League.

Following last night's 1-1 draw with the Blues, the Swans are now nine points clear of the relegation zone with a little over a third of the season left to go.

It's a massive game on Sunday and two sides in contrasting situations. Chelsea are not playing as well as we would like to see them playing and are still struggling to create chances and feed Fernando Torres. We find ourselves 12 points behind United.
United, with plenty of injuries are still picking up vital wins and are now back on level par with City.

Fresh off a transfer from the struggling Bolton Wanderers, defender Gary Cahill is reportedly already unhappy at Stamford Bridge. Cahill found himself on the bench for Chelsea's recent match against Swansea City, as he was hoping to fill in for the injured John Terry.

Goal.com is reporting that an inside source close to the Chelsea training camp noted that Cahill looked as if "his head has gone," but noted that Cahill has not filed any official complaint with manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Big game at the Bridge on Super Sunday. Personnel decisions are likely to play a significant role in the outcome. So, let's channel our inner Andre Villas-Boas and sort this one out.

Cool? Cool.

I see you.

Andre Villas-Boas faces all kinds of issues entering our match against Manchester United.

It looks like the forecast is clearing up in London. That still doesn't mean we'll play, but it's enough reason to have a rant at least.

Team news and the like from 2:30pm EST.

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Manchester United head into Sunday's fixture at Stamford Bridge off the back of three consecutive victories in the Premier League and an opportunity to back on level points with City.

Penalties from Javier Hernandez and Dimitar Berbatov either side of half time on transfer deadline day lead Manchester United on their way to 3 points as Manchester City were being beat at Everton thanks to a strike from former Red Devil Darron Gibson.

What was a dream at 3-0 quickly morphed into a nightmare near full time for the Chels, as Manchester United with a helping hand from good friend Howard Webb clawed back to secure a 3-3 draw in a breathless encounter at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Yeah, that's a difficult result to accept.

We've had a week to digest what happened against Manchester United. Plenty has been said and written about last week but now is the time to look forward and focus on Goodison.
Roman Abramovich has been at the training ground this week and it will be interesting to see the level of performance from Chelsea today, to see if his presence has given the players a kick up the arse to refocus their efforts on climbing up the table.

I'm going to attempt to keep this short because, quite frankly, spitting viciously vile vitriol is not how I'd like to spend my Saturday afternoon. Virulence really isn't going to get us anywhere.

But, shit, I'm fucking pissed.

Don't worry, it got much worse.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has made headlines today after confessing that certain players of the Blues' squad are losing faith in his methods but to prepare adequately for Saturday's FA Cup clash against Birmingham City, the boss has quickly shifted focus to the return of several key members of the side.

Right Chelsea fans, after a long week and plenty of headlines, it's time to get back down to business and Saturday's lunchtime kick off against Birmingham.
We know from AVB's press conference that Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Ashley Cole are missing from the game and John Terry has only just started training again this week so could be held back for Napoli next week.

By now you have probably heard of the tenuous attempt to link Aaron Ramsey's occasional goal-scoring to several notable deaths that have happened in the days that followed. Osama Bin Laden, Steve Jobs, Muammar Gaddafi and, most recently, Whitney Houston have all coincidentally died in the days after a Ramsey goal for Arsenal (his goals for Wales apparently do not have fatal powers).

Chelsea's failure in beating Birmingham City provides more pressure for Andre Villas-Boas side ahead of their Champions League clash against Italian side, Napoli, in the midweek as the Portuguese coach admitted that his side's confidence is rather low at the moment.

Villas-Boas hopes that his players can overcome that mental problem as they will be facing much more difficult task in Southern Italy rather than their recent FA Cup tie against Birmingham that ended 1-1.

Napoli 3-1 Chelsea Recap & Match Stats Champions League 21 February 2012 - The 90th Minute Soccer Blog

Napoli defeated Chelsea 3-1 in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, February 21, 2012.

Napoli 3-1 Chelsea Recap

Napoli scored two second half goals to build a solid lead heading into the second leg at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea lost tonight 3-1 away in Naples in a strange game that literally was end to end. After a difficult start, Chelsea nicked an away goal after a bobble on a dodgy pitch found Juan Mata who calmly slotted the ball past the keeper to make it 1-0.
With that you'd expect Chelsea to keep their shape try and remain solid and compact but it never happened.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

England is in danger of having no teams in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1995-96 after Chelsea were defeated by Napoli 3-1 in the first leg of the Round of 16.

Juan Mata's fortuitous goal midway through the first half was cancelled out by Ezequiel Lavezzi's brace and Edinson Cavani's goal just before halftime.

Once again Chelsea took the lead away from home in a Champions League tie, and just like they did in the group stages, they let that led get away as they 3-1 in Napoli in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 tie.

It was three really poor goals that Chelsea gave up in Italy tonight.

Just when it seems that we have reached our lowest point it seems to get worse doesn't it. As Chelsea fans all we want to see is our side give a good performance week in, week out just like any other set of supporters in the country. We want to see everyone pulling together as one unit and in the same direction but this is clearly not happening.

By Chris Wright

Chelsea got spanked in the Stadio San Paolo in their last-16 first-leg tie against Napoli last night, losing 3-1, which is, in all actuality, not quite as bad-a-result as it first seems. It's easier said than done, but a 2-0 win at the Bridge will draw them level which isn't exactly beyond the realms of possibility.

Being a football manager must be a lonely job at times, but the role seems even worse if you are in the dugout at Stamford Bridge.
The manager's position at Chelsea is something of a poisoned chalice, with a dressing room dominated by over-influential senior players and an impatient owner with a itchy trigger finger creating a perfect storm whereby manager after manager is whipped up on high before being flung unceremoniously to the floor.

In what should not come as a surprise, Chelsea coach Andres Villas-Boas has admitted that some of his senior players questioned his team selection for the Napoli fixture.

According to AVB, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole who both started from the bench were disappointed at his decision to leave them out of his starting line up.

No room for big Joe Lewis. Goalkeepers: Scott Carson (Bursaspor), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Robert Green (West Ham United). Defenders: Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Leighton Baines (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur).

By Chris Wright

"Kids and Psychos love them so..."

Interim England manager Stuart Pearce has just announced his 25-man squad for the Holland friendly at Wembley next Wednesday a squad that sees a couple of surprise call-ups handed out to Micah Richards and Frazier Campbell.

Goalkeepers: Scott Carson (Bursaspor), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Robert Green (West Ham United).

Defenders: Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Leighton Baines (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur).

England v Holland Wembley Stadium 29 February 2012 - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

England host Holland at Wembley in their first international friendly this year. A 'transitional' England team take on World Cup finalists Holland on Wednesday, 29th February 2012, kickoff at 8pm GMT.

England caretaker manager Stuart Pearce has included three Reds in his 25 man squad to play Holland in a friendly next week. Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and Stewart Downing have all been given the nod by the new manager. Andy Carroll has been left out of the squad but if he keeps putting in performances like he has in recent weeks for Liverpool we don't think it will be too long until he is recalled.

Andre Villas-Boas can say it as much as he likes, but no-one will truly believe that he has the support of owner Roman Abramovich until the Russian says it himself.
The billionaire is notoriously silent on club issues, in public at least, therefore he is often judged on his actions.
So the news that he flew in to view training, hold meetings with staff and players as well as demanding an explanation as to the manager's team selection, suggests he isn't too happy with the
goings on at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has revealed that the club's hierarchy questioned his team selection for the 3-1 defeat away to Napoli in the Champions League on Tuesday as owner Roman Abramovich finally begins to lose patience.

The Blues have endured a horrible campaign on both the domestic and European fronts, with the league title well beyond their reach and the European dream on the verge of an end as they aim to climb the mountain in the second leg against their Italian conquerors.

Stuart Pearce has named his England squad for next week's game with the Netherlands at Wembley with striker Fraizer Campbell a shock call-up.

Pearce, acting as caretaker manager for this match, picked the in-form Sunderland forward whose first senior inclusion caps a remarkable turnaround following a spate of injuries.

'Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor I met a girl so fair.

Or, you know, where we met a young Portuguese manager on the cusp of receiving the sharp end of Roman's gold-encrusted hatchet. This was, well, not good. Not good at all.

We've been putting off writing a recap of this match for a couple of reasons, the first being that Devin and I simply are lacking in inspiration these days.

England Under 21s have doubled their quota of former England left-backs after Phil Neville joined the coaching set-up. The side is already managed by veteran England left-back Stuart Pearce, and now have his international replacement involved in their coaching too. The 35-year-old will be involved ahead of next week's match against Belgium.

29 August 2010. A scream of agony reverberated through the Stadium of Light, as he collapsed to the turf. Unbridled pain soared through his knee, wincing with every second of that agonizing afternoon. Leaving the pitch on a stretcher, one thing was sure in his mind it would be a long time before he was to be afforded the luxury of kicking a ball again.