Comment & analysis round-up

Quote of the day: “I had a conversation with Ashley and Frank before the game. As normal, given the players they are and the experience they have, they felt they could have helped the team. That’s perfectly understandable. In the end, Ashley had the opportunity to come on for [José] Bosingwa with his injury [after 11 minutes with a pulled hamstring], and Lamps later on in the game. Of course they were disappointed but they were decisions they have to accept and move on. It was a technical decision. Regarding the formation, with Mata playing behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1, we chose two sitting midfielders tonight who are two hard workers in front of the defence. That’s not to say that Lamps could not do it – for sure he could – but that was the decision we took. It was about sitting and covering up for the amount of gain the wing-backs of Napoli get. With Ashley, it was a difficult decision but he had just two days of training with the team. From tomorrow’s training onwards, he will continue to fight for his position as he normally does. People can have an opinion [on the selection] but it was based on what was the best team in my thoughts… We are sure we can turn this result around at the Bridge, just because of the amount of chances we had. Being more clinical and more efficient in front of goal was the difference between the teams. They had an efficiency we couldn’t find, while we paid a heavy price for the mistakes we made. But I’m confident. We created a lot of chances tonight and, if we do that in the return match, we’ll have every chance of getting through. We will analyse strongly what we did wrong because a couple of things need to get better. I agree we have to focus on reorganising this relationship between this back four and solve these mistakes at the back. We need to get our concentration 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 have missed him, but we have full belief in these players and we have to continue to work with them to get it right.” – Andre Villas Boas.

Runner-up: ”I wish to apologise sincerely and unreservedly to everybody I have let down and to whom my actions over the last few months have caused offence. My wish is to concentrate on playing football for Manchester City football club.” – Carlos Tevez.

Today’s top stories

AVB the fall guy as Chelsea lose at Napoli

Bench warfare (Rob Beasley, The Sun) “Lampard and Essien were forthright in their views — but it was Cole who spoke out most strongly. The England left-back told AVB, ‘I came here to win medals and trophies, but I’m never going to do that with your tactics’. Cole is also unhappy as he feels ‘like a robot’ with Villas-Boas telling him exactly how to play, rather than giving him freedom. Chelsea’s players were infuriated when their three team-mates were put on the bench for speaking out ahead of the Champions League last 16 clash. The boss even told Cole ‘you made it personal’.”

Where once it was men of steel, now we get men of straw (Martin Samuel, Daily Mail) “It was one of those teams. You know the sort. Death or glory. Hit or bust. And Chelsea bust. Not in the way Arsenal did in Milan last week. There is still hope. But if this is the team that is going to protect Andre Villas-Boas from the raging storm, he would be better off investing in an umbrella. If this is the new era, he is better off going back to the future. Chelsea’s manager played that most dangerous game in Naples: look how clever I am. Not as clever as he thinks, as it turned out. Villas-Boas is allowed some small mitigation as Chelsea’s greatest problem was beyond his control. John Terry pulled out of the game following his brief training session in the Stadio San Paolo on Monday night and the captain will miss the next two months following knee surgery. This, rather than any selection by Chelsea’s latest Tinkerman, left the defence holed beneath its waterline.”

Slapoli: AVB drops his rebels and gets thumped… surely he can’t survive now (Matt Barlow, Daily Mail)

André Villas-Boas contemplates a Chelsea ruin in the shadow of Pompeii (Richard Williams, Guardian)

Lavezzi’s brilliance beguiles Chelsea (Sam Wallace, Independent)

Chelsea’s hapless defender David Luiz is a fitting symbol for a club and manager in chaos (Paul Hayward, Daily Telegraph)

Carlos Tevez apologises

Carlos Tevez apologises but is this the end of the saga? (Jamie Jackson, Guardian)

Tevez says sorry and clears path to City recall (Ian Herbert, Independent)

Carlos Tevez’s apology to Manchester City and Roberto Mancini is an empty and cynical gesture (Ian Chadband, Daily Telegraph)

Manchester United

Man United debt dips below £500m for first time under Glazers (David McDonnell, Daily Mirror)

United cash balance drops £100m (Ian Herbert & Rob Harris, Independent)

Manchester United are to open talks with Nani over a megabucks new four-year deal — worth a whopping £130,000 a week.  (Phil Thomas, Sun)

Arsenal

Why Arsenal owe Wenger the chance to make the club great again (Ollie Holt, Daily Mirror)

Tottenham

50 million reasons why Jose won’t join Spurs (Martin Samuel, Daily Mail)

Gossip

Manchester City ponder summer move for Chelsea target Higuain as Real Madrid eye Aguero (Daily Mail)

Chelsea eye move for Walcott (Charlie Wyett, The Sun)

Rangers

Rangers’ case sounds tax warning football clubs would do well to heed (David Conn, Guardian)