• Champions League

Cole & Lampard felt they should have started - AVB

Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard both felt they should have started Chelsea's clash with Napoli © Getty Images

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Under-fire Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas admitted that Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard both felt they should have started the Blues' 3-1 defeat to Napoli in the Champions League last-16 on Tuesday.

Chelsea led through Juan Mata's first-half strike in Italy but quickly found themselves 2-1 down by the break. A potentially crucial third goal in the second period means Villas-Boas is bound to face criticism for his decision not to start either Lampard, Cole or Michael Essien.

Much has been made of the Chelsea boss' relationship with Lampard in particular, while the Sun reports that all three players were punished for speaking their mind in a recent team meeting. Villas-Boas insisted his team selection was purely tactical, while Cole did not start after only just recovering from injury.

"You can have your opinion but it was based on what was the best team in my thoughts," the Chelsea boss said. "Whatever explanation I give you, in the end it would be a fantastic explanation if we'd won the game.

"Any explanation is now useless given the result of the game, so there's no point."

Villas-Boas, who admitted one of the formations he had been toying with but did not end up using had been written on a piece of paper left at the team hotel, added: "I had a conversation with Ashley and Frank.

"We wanted two hard-working midfielders sitting in front of the defence. That's not to say Lamps could not do it, but that was the decision we took. They were technical decisions.

"Through the players that they are and the players with the experience they have, they felt they could have helped the team. That's perfectly understandable. Of course they were disappointed but they were decisions they had to accept and move on."

The Portuguese accepts speculation over his future will only intensify after Chelsea lurched to yet another defeat that left them in danger of Champions League elimination. Villas-Boas has repeatedly insisted he has the full backing of billionaire owner Roman Abramovich but Tuesday's performance will have done nothing to convince the Russian to deliver the vote of confidence his manager needs more than ever.

"Speculation will continue as the results don't happen," Villas-Boas said. "We have to solve these mistakes at the back. We need this concentration right and this efficiency right, for sure.

"At the moment, without John [Terry], a very important player for the team, we have suffered a lot of goals recently. We had improved a lot at the beginning of January, so we have missed John, but we have full belief in these players and we have to continue to work with them to get it right."

David Luiz's latest mistake was the most costly, gifting Napoli the third goal that made them firm favourites to win the tie.

"It's obvious that that player has become a target," Villas-Boas said. "He's a fantastic young player with a big future ahead of him, and he has to work to try and be a bit better. We suffered three goals. If he's linked to one, he might not be linked to the other two."

Only three teams have overturned a two-goal first-leg deficit in Champions League history but a defiant Villas-Boas said: "I want us to be the fourth."

He added: "It's a negative result, of course, but a result we are sure we can turn around at the Bridge due to the amount of chances we had."

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