Villas-Boas: I need to inspire Chelsea

Wednesday  night’s 2-1 Champions League reverse at Bayer Leverkusen was the Blues' fourth defeat in their last five games in all competitions, and the West London side are now perilously close to crashing out of the competition unless they win their final group game at home to Valencia, or draw 0-0.

And with their last win coming at the end of October, a 2-1 Carling Cup win away at Everton, the Portuguese tactician acknowledges it is up to him to inspire the squad in order to get the team back to winnings ways.

"That's when they expect the manager to inspire them,” the 34-year-old said when admitting the squad was low on confidence.

"That's my job. That's my task, to inspire these people and motivate these people to change our faith.

"The responsibility is mine and it's my task now to inspire and motivate them to take them to a win against Wolves and certainly after to a win against Liverpool in the Carling Cup.

"We have two games at home. We need to get the focus, concentration right, I have to inspire my players and motivate them, and we need our fans behind us in these critical moments.

"It's in our hands to qualify. It's a game at Stamford Bridge and we expect to do our job. That's our responsibility and we don't want to let the fans down."

Chelsea host Wolves on Saturday in a game they must win in order to ease the pressure on the under-fire manager.

By Ben McAleer