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Villas-Boas must emerge from Mourinho shadow - Cech

Andre Villas-Boas has attempted to reject comparisons to former Chelsea boss Joe Mourinho © PA Photos

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Petr Cech claims that new coach Andre Villas-Boas could become the first Chelsea manager to step out of the shadow of Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho won back-to-back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, but was ousted by owner Roman Abramovich in September 2007 after failing to bring home the Champions League. Still, Cech says that Mourinho set the standard for other coaches at Stamford Bridge and is the reason why four managers - Avram Grant, Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti - have come and gone in seven years.

"Jose Mourinho set a standard here and the others have had to try and do better than him," Cech explained. "Managers have their own philosophy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

"You change the manager when you see there is no way to continue. That's the philosophy here, but I hope there will be a way for Andre to continue for many years.

''Six managers have been appointed at Chelsea since I joined the club and, unfortunately, apart from Jose, who was here for three-and-a-half years, nobody lasted long. But if we have a great season, then we will build the base for the manager to stay for many years."

Villas-Boas has already worked at Chelsea, joining as a coach under Mourinho, and Cech believes this experience will hold him in good stead."Since Andre was here before, many things have changed. 'The club itself has changed. Andre has changed from a person who was on the technical staff to being a manager. The boss has got his own ideas on how he would like us to play.

"We have always had a strong defence and built from that. So far we have not conceded a goal in pre-season, which is a good sign. It is always good to win games without conceding. That builds up confidence."

Meanwhile, Cech also rejected claims that Fernando Torres is following a similar path to that of £30.8 million misfit Andriy Shevchenko.

"The time will come for Fernando. There are no similarities with Shevchenko,'' he said. ''Torres will score goals and will be fine. With Andriy, it did not work from the start. But you can see with Fernando that he is working, improving all the time. We need to improve as a team to play with him. It's just a matter of time."

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