• Premier League

Chelsea in trouble - Ivanovic

ESPN staff
February 23, 2012
Branislav Ivanovic believes Chelsea can turn their season around © Getty Images
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Branislav Ivanovic has admitted Chelsea have serious issues to surmount if they are to turn their season around.

Chelsea are 17 points off the pace in the Premier League and must overcome a two-goal deficit if they are to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League after losing the first-leg of their last-16 tie to Napoli 3-1.

Manager Andre Villas-Boas remains defiant despite rumours circling that his job is in danger, and, amid ongoing reports of unrest in the dressing room, Ivanovic has called for the Blues to solve their problems and return to winning ways.

"For me this is the hardest moment during my four years here," Ivanovic said. "We didn't win a lot of games and the confidence is not in the best way. These things always happen when you are losing. They come out.

"Everybody has to still believe, try to do the right things. I don't know what the manager is saying. But I think this is more about Chelsea, more important than the relationship between managers and players. Chelsea has to be first for everybody, first for everyone, to get a result.

"The manager, who decides who plays, is doing his job. We have to do our job. Everyone has to think like that and try to make this position better. Because we have a lot of things wrong. But this is Chelsea. We have to solve these things."

Despite a report in Thursday's Times claiming Chelsea had contacted former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez with a view to replacing the beleaguered Villas-Boas, Ivanovic insists the Portuguese is going nowhere.

"I can say he will stay," he said. "For you [the media] this is interesting, but for us we have to be focused on our jobs. We don't have to care about these things. It is a hard position, very difficult, but of course it is important we stay together because our team, our squad, is not doing what people expect of us."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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