Petr Cech

Petr Cech came to the defence of the under-fire Chelsea manager

Chelsea stopper Petr Cech has come out in defence of under-fire manager Andre Villas-Boas and believes the players must take the blame for the 3-1 defeat to Napoli.

The Blues have not won for five games and their league season is on the brink of disaster.

“We know that he (the manager) keeps working hard for the team. He prepares for every game with 100 percent commitment in everything,” Cech said.

“We appreciate it as players. We know that we play a big part of it because we are on the pitch and, in the end, the manager gives you instructions but if you don’t do things right on the pitch then you can’t help him.

“We went 1-0 up and had a spell where we controlled the game but they got a goal just before halftime that made a difference because they could sit back and wait for the counterattack.”

Napoli’s third came after David Luiz failed to clear a long ball, but Cech was quick to defend his defender and insisted it was a piece of misfortune.

“I think David (Luiz) was there to clear the ball and you could see he cleared the ball well, but unfortunately it took the bounce off the player and it was another one who tapped it in,” the 29-year-old added.

“When everything goes wrong, then you have the rebound like that – it could have bounced anywhere, it could have gone closer to me.

“I went there to cover him and you could see the ball went right in the perfect place for them.”

Chelsea have the chance to get back on track on Saturday at home to relegation threatened Bolton.