birmingham 1-1

Independent:

Doyle's heroics leave Villas-Boas in limbo
Chelsea 1 Birmingham City 1: Outlook for the Chelsea manager is no brighter as crucial penalty save stops Premier League side in their tracks and earns an under-strength Birmingham a replay from a game notable for another Torres failure

STEVE TONGUE STAMFORD BRIDGE

That fine old anthem "Keep right on to the end of the road" rang round Stamford Bridge as Birmingham City celebrated a deserved draw. Schadenfreude being such an integral part of football these days, it was intermingled with chants from the visiting support directed at Andre Villas-Boas of "You're getting sacked in the morning."
That would be an odd time for even Chelsea's owners to make a change, just before a critical Champions' League tie away to the accomplished Napoli, but it is clear that much more of this and the end of the road will arrive much sooner for a bright young manager than he would have expected.
There are some things no manager can control. Had Colin Doyle, Birmingham's second-choice goalkeeper, not made a superb diving save from Juan Mata's penalty immediately after David Murphy put the Championship side in front, then, as Villas-Boas claimed, the eventual outcome would almost certainly have been different.
It was significant that Mata, not Fernando Torres, was on penalty duty and the confidence of the £50m striker can only have been further shredded by being removed at half-time after yet another inconsequential performance. He has now gone 20 games since a goal, way back in October, when it briefly looked as if things might be turning his way.
With John Terry and Ashley Cole injured – both are doubtful for the Napoli game – Villas-Boas also kept Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba in reserve, hoping the younger "new Chelsea" replacements would have enough about them to see off a team sixth in the League below. Not so. Birmingham, unbeaten in 14 games under the impressive Chris Hughton, threatened at set pieces, defended with discipline and were well worth the replay that will have St Andrew's shaking in just over a fortnight's time.
The "Bosman Blues" as they have been called after a new squad was put together on free transfers after relegation last May, were even missing their two main strikers, Marlon King and the lanky Nikola Zigic, as well as losing their captain Stephen Carr after only a dozen minutes.
They played five in midfield with a striker by the name of Rooney – Adam – working hard up front and the 17 year-old Nathan Redmond showing flashes of his precocious talent down the left. At the back Curtis Davies and the former Spanish international Pablo Ibanez stood firm until one crucial moment just after the hour when they lost Daniel Sturridge, who headed the equaliser.
Ibanez was once a team-mate of Torres at Atletico Madrid and must have been aware of how wretched is the former golden boy's form. Torres had failed miserably to seize his opportunity while Drogba was away at the African Cup of Nations. He had one good moment here, heading down a long clearance for Sturridge to volley just past the angle. Again the service was poor from an insufficiently creative midfield of Ramires, John Obi Mikel and Raul Meireles, and Chelsea only improved once Sturridge was given his wish to play more centrally, with Mata moving off the flank to play behind him and Drogba, who replaced Torres at half-time.
"An excellent performance in the second half, compared to the first," Villas-Boas said, which was one way of looking at it. "The aggressiveness, desire and ambition were there but Birmingham matched us for that and their goal gave them further motivation. You can never be satisfied when you draw at home to a Championship team and it was not good enough." To the inevitable questions about Torres he replied: "Fernando is a super talent. Eventually things will get better for him and as he gets back to his goals he'll have more confidence."
The problem, of course, is that Chelsea cannot afford to indulge their absurdly expensive striker any longer when there are games to win, or to save. So Drogba came on to encourage a more direct approach, having first been seen delivering his own pep talk to team-mates in the tunnel.
Nothing much happened for 20 minutes, except that Carr, Birmingham's experienced right-back, was forced off with a recurrence of recent knee trouble. Then Redmond won a corner on the left which several different Chelsea defenders failed to clear, allowing the left-back Murphy at the far post to drive a shot past Petr Cech. The home side immediately put together their first coherent move, which was ended when Wade Elliott tripped Ramires. Mata's penalty was by no means badly placed, but Doyle modestly admitted to "guessing right" and sprawling down to push the ball against a post.
Before the interval, he turned David Luiz's fine free-kick over the bar and held Mata's header. He was let down by his defence, however, in the 61st minute after Mata swept a pass to Branislav Ivanovic, whose perfect cross was neatly headed in by an unmarked Sturridge. "I'm even more delighted with the performance than the result," said Hughton. "At 1-1 you'd think the emphasis could swing with them. I'd still see Chelsea as favourites but I hope we can give them as good a game as we did today."

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Bertrand; Ramires, Mikel (Kalou, 57), Meireles; Sturridge, Torres (Drogba, h-t), Mata (Lampard, 83).
Birmingham (4-2-3-1): Doyle; Carr (Spector, 12) , Davies, Ibanez, Murphy; Fahey, Gomis; Elliott (Burke, 83), Mutch, Redmond; Rooney (Jervis, 71).
Referee Martin Atkinson.
Man of the match Ibanez (Birmingham).
Match rating 6/10.

AVB watch
His tactics With a Champions' League tie at Napoli on Tuesday, Andre Villas-Boas kept half a dozen of his most experienced players as substitutes, before having to send three of them on to save the game. Even before half-time he switched from the original 4-3-3 to a 4-3-1-2, which worked better, with Daniel Sturridge moving into the middle as a second striker.
His demeanour The manager was as busy as ever on the touchline, where he spent most of the game, cajoling and directing. He responded to Juan Mata's penalty miss with a series of encouraging handclaps but had to endure booing from his own supporters when taking off the Spaniard to send on Frank Lampard.
His verdict In summary, better in the second half than in the first, but not a good enough result or performance. Confidence, he admits, is lacking and will only return to the team as a whole, as with Fernando Torres, when results improve. "It will be a difficult game at St Andrew's, where Birmingham are undefeated in the League."
His prospects The Napoli tie, he insists, will be decided over two legs, by which time there will have been three winnable League games and the Birmingham replay. Confident about his future? "It's not up to me to decide that."


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Observer:

Sturridge saves Chelsea and André Villas-Boas against Birmingham
Jamie Jackson at Stamford Bridge

Not yet mortally wounded, André Villas-Boas limps on with his disjointed and disgruntled band of Chelsea players to Napoli in the Champions League on Tuesday night.That test in a last-16, first-leg Champions League encounter follows this dire FA Cup showing against Birmingham. The chants of "You're getting sacked in the morning" from the wags in the travelling crowd found a barbed echo from the Chelsea fans, who informed their beleaguered manager he should depart now for the good of their team, and then booed when Juan Mata, who had had a penalty saved, was the player Frank Lampard replaced late on.Villas-Boas, to his credit, did not shy away from questions about the performance and applauded a fine display from Chris Hughton's team. "No, it was not good enough, for sure it wasn't," the Chelsea manager said. "But we take the game to St Andrew's [for the replay] – a difficult game and Birmingham are undefeated in the league there – and I am sure that there we'll put on a more decent challenge."[In] the first half there were a lot of opportunities for us, and [it was] better in the second half, but not enough to win the game. So it is never satisfying when you draw at home to a Championship team."With Chelsea's perpetual warrior John Terry injured (he is doubtful for Napoli, along with Ashley Cole) they lacked a spikiness that only Villas-Boas displayed when after the match he was asked about a television report that Didier Drogba had given his troops an ad hoc half-time team talk in the tunnel.The response of the Portuguese, who had removed the now perennially disappointing Fernando Torres at the break, came laced in sarcasm. "Yeah, right, fantastic, of course," he said. "Because he has to do team talks, it's up to him. It's ridiculous. Which channel is it?"When informed it was ESPN, he said: "It makes no sense. It's a pity because I just gave an interview to ESPN and I'm sure I wouldn't have done it if I knew that was the case."After to the 2-0 loss at Everton, Villas-Boas had spoken on the need to find a positive response. Asked why it had not happened, he said: "There was a level of anxiety that we suffered first which didn't help. But the team commitment and the response was there straight after we suffered the setback. In the end, if the penalty goes in it's a 1-1 a little bit earlier [than the second-half equaliser] and gives you more time to find a winner. But with the game 1-0 it took us too much time to score the leveller."Before the two first-half minutes that had threatened to consign Villas-Boas to an embarrassing footnote in this club's history even before the trip to Italy, there was a sign of how Chelsea would go behind. This involved David Luiz, the calamity of a central defender the manager continues to favour. Jordon Mutch's corner was floated in from the left and when the Brazilian fashioned a header it did not go safe but hit David Murphy, before bouncing out for the goal-kick.Fortune now turned against the man with the fuzzy hair and his colleagues. From a further Mutch corner from the left, David Luiz this time missed the first header, along with Raul Meireles, and the ball was allowed to bounce twice in the area – sacrilege even in park football. Curtis Davies then missed an overhead kick, Branislav Ivanovic became the second Chelsea man to suffer a clearance failure, and Murphy, from close range, smashed home.As the Bridge sucked in a collective breath Villas-Boas stood transfixed on the touchline. Then, he tried to get the attention of Mata, who had moved to the centre-spot for the restart. But as the City fans celebrated, the Portuguese's two-fingered whistle at the Spaniard was lost in the uproar.When Ramires won a penalty moments later after Wade Elliot had needlessly brought him down, near-instant redemption beckoned. But although Mata's effort was struck well Colin Doyle palmed the ball on to his right post. Chelsea walked off to jeers at half-time and Villas-Boas was required to act. On came Drogba and off came Chelsea's £50m striker Torres."It was a decision that we had to make," Villas-Boas said. "We were going much more direct, based on the running of the game we wanted to up the tempo [so] Didier could act as a target man. I'm sure he [Torres] didn't take it lightly but its a decision for the team."Hughton, operating on an extremely threadbare shoestring at a financially stricken Birmingham, and his players deserve all the praise they will get for being faster, stronger and sharper throughout. The visitors' manager said: "I'm delighted not so much with the result but the performance. I thought that we came here with a shape, I thought we were very disciplined with how we played. But you've also got to have your periods of the game where you've got to keep hold of the ball and pose a threat yourself."I thought over the 90 minutes we were able to do that. You have to say that was our best performance of the season, coming here at a Premier League outfit with the quality they've got."After the break Chelsea did improve. Daniel Sturridge's header from an Ivanovic cross was this game's classiest moment. But for Villas-Boas, booed at half-time and at the end, concern continues to pile up.


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Telegraph:

Chelsea 1 Birmingham City 1
By Duncan White, at Stamford Bridge

When a manager is subject to the kind of pressure Andre Villas-Boas is under, every detail of behaviour is scrutinised for omens and portents.
Whether it is the body language of his players, his reaction to questions from the press or his deportment on the touchline, it is all forensically examined. Ultimately, though, these are just symptoms: it is results that are the illness. And this was not a healthy one.
Villas-Boas, certainly in public, remains convinced he has Roman Abramovich’s backing. Not that he needs it but if he wanted an object lesson in the impatience of men who own football clubs he only needed to look across the technical area at Chris Hughton, a man sacked by Newcastle last season for seemingly having done nothing wrong.
After this underwhelming result, Villas-Boas is under intense pressure to pull out a job-saving result in Naples on Tuesday night.
Even that might not be enough for a manager who has a worse record than Luiz Felipe Scolari. He must hope that Abramovich stays true to the reasons he hired him (for £13?million remember) in the first place – the long-term reform of this squad.
In the short-term, what Villas-Boas would have wanted was his team to start with conviction, to demonstrate their loyalty to him by throwing themselves into this game. He had left most of the old guard on the bench – six of the seven substitutes were from the Jose Mourinho era — and was expecting a performance from the players who are more minded to support him.
Instead Chelsea were flat. Too often they tried to force it by playing out from the back and both Gary Cahill and David Luiz were caught in possession.
They had few options in front of them. Fernando Torres was anaemic in the central striking role while Danny Strurridge and Juan Mata flickered inconsistently in and out of the game.
Chelsea’s lack of conviction was only highlighted by the way Birmingham City were working hard and passing the ball around with crisp confidence.
They were missing several players, lost their captain Stephen Carr to injury here after 12 minutes and have had to work through an exhausting season, including the Europa League remember, with a modest squad. With the owner, Carson Yeung, facing a court hearing in Hong Kong, this has hardly been the most conducive environment to success. Yet Hughton is delivering it.
With 20 minutes gone his side took the lead.
Jordan Mutch’s corner dipped into the near post where Adam Rooney flicked the ball on. Chelsea’s defence were frozen as the ball bounced across the six-yard box without being cleared. At the far post, Birmingham’s left-back David Murphy smashed the ball past Petr Cech.
Chelsea nearly snatched an immediate response. Wade Elliott rather rashly hacked down Ramires in the area for a clear penalty. Mata’s effort to pass the ball into the bottom corner from the spot was anticipated by Colin Doyle, who pushed it on to the post and to safety.
From then on, Birmingham stood resolute, their defence founded on the excellent partnership of Curtis Davies and Pablo Ibanez.
The boos sounded at the half-time whistle. Something had to change. Villas-Boas decided to replace Torres with Didier Drogba and the Ivorian, freshly returned from the Africa Cup of Nations, talked animatedly to his team-mates in the tunnel. That this qualified as a team-talk was witheringly dismissed as “ridiculous” by the Chelsea manager.
Players seemed to be doing what pleased them. John Terry apparently went off to complain to referee Martin Atkinson about Birmingham’s supposed time-wasting while Torres did not emerge to join his colleagues on the bench, choosing rather to sulk in the dressing room.
The Chelsea comeback was slow in arriving. Nathan Redmond, City’s promising 17-year-old winger, volleyed Mutch’s corner over on 56 minutes but, with the introduction of Salomon Kalou and a shift in formation to a 4-2-3-1 a minute later, Chelsea began to dominate.
Just after the hour they equalised. Branislav Ivanovic found space on the right and had the time to pick out Sturridge with his cross. It was one of the few times that the visiting defence had switched off and the Chelsea striker had the luxury of jumping unchallenged to glance his header into the net.
Villas-Boas summoned Frank Lampard with seven minutes left to try to snatch the winner, but he hardly seemed thrilled with the way he was being used and the crowd were even less pleased with the choice of Mata as the man to go off.
As it transpired, the best chance for a late winner fell to Birmingham, when Jake Jervis slipped through Redmond, who could not make a clean connection with the goal at his mercy. Had that shot flown into the back of the net, the boos that greeted the final whistle would have been sounded deeper and longer.


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Mirror:
Chelsea 1-1 Birmingham
By Paul Smith

The storm clouds continued to gather over Stamford Bridge as Chelsea were forced to come from behind to grab a replay against Birmingham City.
Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas and his team felt the full fury of the home fans who booed off their lacklustre team at the end of another poor game.
And the under-fire Chelsea boss faced fresh controversy when TV station ESPN claimed that Didier Drogba delivered a team-talk in the tunnel at half-time and that Fernando Torres, who made way for the Ivory Coast striker, refused to leave the dressing room for the second half.
A furious Villas-Boas said: “It is ridiculous for the TV station to say Didier was doing a team-talk in the tunnel. I did an interview with them and if I had known they were saying this, I would have refused.” On Torres, he added: “We had to go much more direct in the second half so we brought on Drogba. Torres didn’t take it lightly but he didn’t storm off.”
But significantly, amid all the debate, AVB admitted Chelsea didn’t deserve to win.
He said: “We were not good enough but we take the game to a replay at St Andrew’s.
“In the first half, we created plenty of opportunities but didn’t take them. We were much better after the break but Birmingham matched our desire and aggression.”
Birmingham boss Chris Hughton couldn’t praise his Championship players enough.
“I was delighted with the performance,” he said. “We were very disciplined bearing in mind we had our two first choice strikers out and lost our captain Stephen Carr early in the first half.
“That was as good a performance as I have seen from my side and they deserve all the praise they receive. I’m very proud of the lads and I hope they can keep this momentum going for the rest of the campaign.
“There were times when we had to stick in there but you knew you would face that against a quality side like Chelsea.
“At times, towards the end, Chelsea were playing with four players up front and to hold them off was not easy.”
After just five minutes, Villas-Boas left his seat and observed play from the touchline, a sign that Birmingham were taking the game to Chelsea.
And when Birmingham punished some calamitous defending in the 20th minute to take the lead through David Murphy you suspected this could be another nail in the coffin of Chelsea’s young boss.
Yet, barely a minute after the goal, Chelsea were awarded a penalty when Wade Elliot almost committed GBH on Raul Meireles.
But a stunning save from Colin Doyle, who dived to his right and tipped Juan Mata’s spotkick on to the post, cut short the Chelsea celebrations. There was no room for optimism either as Chelsea rarely threatened, although two shots did go narrowly wide of Doyle’s goal from David Luiz and Daniel Sturridge.
Torres, who started the game, faced further ­humiliation by being withdrawn at the break and replaced by Drogba.
And it says something about his rapid decline when he’s hauled off against a Championship side after ­failing to have one shot on goal.
Chelsea finally drew level in the 62nd minute when ­Branislav Ivanovic sent an inviting right-wing cross into the box and Sturridge rose unchallenged to head home. Relentless home pressure followed as Birmingham defended deep to contain waves of Chelsea attacks.
The only respite came when Jordon Mutch brought a save out of Peter Cech from a 25-yard free-kick.
Eight minutes from time, and in a last-ditch bid to ­secure victory, Villas-Boas threw on Frank Lampard, but even his introduction came with widespread disapproval as he chose the popular Juan Mata to be withdrawn.


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Sun:
Chelsea 1 Birmingham 1

DANIEL STURRIDGE forced a replay against Championship outfit Birmingham but it was another miserable afternoon for Andre Villas-Boas and his side.
The young England striker rose to head home Branislav Ivanovic's cross just after the hour to ensure his side avoided a shock FA Cup fifth-round defeat.
Birmingham took a surprise lead after more calamitous Chelsea defending gifted City full-back David Murphy an opening goal inside 20 minutes.
Juan Mata could have immediately equalised from the spot but was denied by a fine Colin Doyle save.
And although Chelsea improved in the second-half, they never looked liked building on Sturridge's equaliser and were promptly booed by the Stamford Bridge crowd at the final whistle.
The Blues now travel to Napoli for the first-leg of the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday night.
And AVB will be all too aware that defeat in Italy could spell a premature end to his time as Chelsea boss.
Michael Essien and Frank Lampard were both left out for the hosts, while Fernando Torres was given another chance in the starting line-up.
But it was a dreadful first-half display from Torres and his team-mates, as the shambolic defending that cost them at Everton last week came back to haunt them as early as the 20th minute.
Nathan Redmond's corner should not have posed any problems but David Luiz and Raul Meireles allowed the ball to skid through the six-yard box and, after Curtis Davies had a swipe and missed, Murphy was on hand to drill home at the far post.
It should have just been a momentary blip for Villas-Boas' men as they immediately won a penalty at the other end when Wade Elliott tripped Ramires.
But Mata's spot-kick was brilliantly saved on to the post by Birmingham stopper Doyle as the underdogs held on to their lead.
The Premier League side looked the more threatening but Doyle was on hand to save Luiz's well struck free-kick and Sturridge's 25-yard volley flew just over.
A chorus of boos rang round Stamford Bridge as the half-time whistle blew with the away fans happily taunting AVB with chants of "you're getting sacked in the morning".
The Portuguese boss knew he had to make a change and it was the misfiring Torres who was swiftly hauled off for Didier Drogba — back this week from the African Nations Cup.
Even that change did not have the desired effect and just before the hour defensive anchor Mikel was replaced by Salomon Kalou.
This time the substitution paid off as within minutes the home fans finally had something to cheer.
Ivanovic whipped in a pinpoint cross from the right flank which Sturridge met with a bullet header into the bottom corner past a helpless Doyle.
Chelsea went in search of a winner with a Meireles deflected effort hitting the turf and looping just over the bar.
Birmingham were not out of it and Jordan Mutch forced Cech into a save with a low 40-yard free-kick.
Lampard was eventually brought on for Mata with just six minutes to go but a second goal for the hosts never looked forthcoming.
And it was actually City who could have snatched it late on, only for Redman to hit his shot tamely at Cech.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Bertrand, Ramires, Mikel (Kalou 57), Meireles, Sturridge, Torres (Drogba 46), Mata (Lampard 83). Subs not used: Hilario, Essien, Malouda,Bosingwa. Booked: Cahill,Luiz. Goals: Sturridge 62.

Birmingham: Doyle,Carr (Spector 12),Davies,Ibanez,Murphy, Redmond,Fahey,Mutch,Elliott (Burke 83),Gomis,Rooney (Jervis 71). Subs Not Used: Butland,Caldwell,Asante,Reilly. Booked: Mutch. Goals:Murphy 20.
Att: 36,870


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Express:

CHELSEA 1 - BIRMINGHAM 1: AVB TWO GAMES FROM THE CHOP AFTER LUCKY ESCAPE
By Colin Mafham

CHELSEA were last night left with just 180 minutes to save their season – and their manager’s job.
The first 90 minutes will come at Napoli on Tuesday night when they carry the hopes of their country in a Champions League battle that could decide the fate of Andre Villas-Boas.
The second will come at Birmingham’s St Andrew’s in a last 16 replay they were probably a tad fortunate to get after what, for them, was a dismal draw yesterday.
Brave Birmingham, without five regulars and a recognised striker, played their socks off. Chelsea didn’t – or couldn’t. Nor could they complain at the boos they left the pitch to.
Either way it is nothing like the dream owner Roman Abramovich started with when he appointed rookie AVB seven months ago. He is not a man known for his patience.
Chelsea are a mere shadow of the team Villas-Boas inherited from Carlo Ancelotti.
And there couldn’t have been a clearer indication of their woes right now than what happened in two desperate minutes in the first half.
You’ll need to ask Messrs Cahill, Meireles and Ivanovic what they thought they were doing with Jordan Mutch’s corner in the 20th minute.
Whatever it was it didn’t work and defender David Murphy was given an embarrassing amount of time and space to fire Birmingham in front.
You might also suggest that the wheels really are in danger of coming off at Stamford Bridge when, just a minute later, Colin Doyle brilliantly turned Juan Mata’s spot-kick against the post and away after Wade Elliott brought Ramires down.
And City’s stand-in goalkeeper repeated the heroics from a David Luiz free-kick soon afterwards.
Birmingham fans didn’t waste any sympathy on Villas-Boas with cruel chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning”.
His misery continued as Daniel Sturridge drifted into the middle against orders and Fernando Torres went from bad to worse in a Chelsea side that stuttered through the first half like a car firing on two cylinders.
It was no surprise when the sad Spaniard was replaced by Didier Drogba for the second period.
But Chelsea were so dreadful that AVB could have justifiably substituted at least half-dozen others.
What followed in the 62nd minute can only be described as a bittersweet pill for the young boss.
He presumably noticed Sturridge wasn’t exactly doing as he was told but he couldn’t complain either when the striker he prefers to play on the wing popped up in the middle again to head home a classic equaliser from Branislav Ivanovic’s cross.
Even though Birmingham then rode their luck, there is definitely something missing for Chelsea.
Too many long balls, too little close control – and, perhaps, too long without John Terry and Frank Lampard. And, of course, a £50million flop whose confidence is clearly lower than a snake’s belly right now.
Lampard eventually came on – with just 10 minutes left – but the boos that greeted AVB’s decision to take Mata off to accommodate him only fuelled fears over the Portuguese’s future.
If Nathan Redmond hadn’t missed a sitter right at the death it could have been sealed there and then.
Delighted Birmingham boss Chris Hughton said: “We have had some really good highs this season but this is probably the best. I am really proud of what the lads have done and I hope we can keep the momentum going.


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Mail:

Chelsea 1 Birmingham 1: Sturridge saves AVB's blushes after another woeful show
By MARK RYAN

If he cannot beat depleted Birmingham, then what chance does Andre Villas-Boas have against brilliant Napoli in Italy on Tuesday?
The under-fire Chelsea manager was asked the question on Saturday night, yet remained defiant about his troubled side’s hopes of pulling off what would now be seen as a major Champions League shock.
‘Because it’s football, sometimes it can happen like that,’ said the Portuguese, rather optimistically.
It is 30 years since the Rolling Stones took the Stadio San Paolo in Naples by storm, sending 80,000 fans into raptures with a song called Start Me Up, after maintaining an electric pace for three hours.
Chelsea are due to enter the same cauldron on Tuesday for the most important match of their season. They need to perform for only half the time Mick Jagger and Co did all those years ago. But just who is going to start Chelsea up remains to be seen.
Villas-Boas may not be capable, and his team’s performance on Saturday was almost enough to make a grown man cry if you were a home supporter.
Saturday, however, saw a wonderful display from the other Blues, a team full of players who look up to their manager rather than down on him, a real team from front to back. Birmingham were missing five normal starters, either by choice or through injury, but it did not seem to matter.
No wonder Chris Hughton’s battlers were able to hold their own and more, despite losing their captain Stephen Carr to a niggling knee problem inside 13 minutes.
When Jordon Mutch swung in a corner just seven minutes later, his straightforward delivery exposed Chelsea’s defensive frailty vividly.
‘Birmingham have done well from set-pieces this season and we knew that,’ said Villas-Boas. ‘But we left a man free at the far post.’ What the Chelsea boss neglected to mention was that three of his players - Raul Meireles, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic - were quite useless as they allowed the ball to drift across the face of goal.
David Murphy could hardly believe his luck as he had time to set himself and smack his half-volley past Petr Cech for his fourth goal of the season.
Chelsea responded swiftly and Ramires was tripped in the area by Wade Elliott. Birmingham goalkeeper Colin Doyle said later that he could tell from Juan Mata’s run-up which way he was going to hit the spot-kick. Even so, Doyle’s save was spectacular, as he tipped the ball on to the post and away to safety.
‘We weren’t good enough today, for sure,’ said Villas-Boas, ‘though we were better in the second half.’
With the ineffectual Fernando Torres substituted at half-time and Didier Drogba providing some much-needed inspiration, Chelsea came out fighting after the break.
Mata swung a superb pass to Ivanovic, who made up for his earlier error by finding Daniel Sturridge with his cross. The restless striker’s header was perfection and the favourites were back in the game.
But they failed to press home what should have been a clear superiority and it was Birmingham who had the opportunity to progress first time.
Nathan Redmond was through on goal in the dying seconds but tried to place his finish with his instep. The end product lacked power and Chelsea lived to fight another day.
‘Nathan had the best chance of the game, but we will hope to give them another tough game,’ said Hughton. ‘As for Andre, he is in a transitional phase but you don’t get that job without being an exceptional manager.’
Exceptional or not, the Chelsea boss cannot afford to limp along like a lame duck while subversive elements continue to undermine him. He has to axe those who do not support him, surround himself with those who do and educate the newlook line-up on precisely what his long and short-term targets are.
To do nothing would leave his superiors with no option but to sack him and hope the team respect the replacement more. But it must be doubtful whether even owner Roman Abramovich would wish to sack Villas-Boas just a few days before the game in Naples.
Whatever happens, something has to change quickly, otherwise not even the consolation of Champions League qualification will be a realistic season-saver.
Soon after the Stones played that gig in Napoli, they hit the charts with a live version of their Sixties classic Time Is On My Side. In the case of Villas-Boas, it clearly is not.

THIS IS NO WAY TO WORK OUT SQUAT'S WRONG

AVB went into overdrive with his demented squatting routine as the pressure told on the touchlines. The Chelsea boss looked a tortured soul when he was standing but struck a bizarre figure when crouched down on his haunches in front of the dug-out. He did so no fewer than 27 times and the habit is becoming the talk of football. Used by the Portuguese almost once every three minutes, he often adopted this position to issue instructions.Wearing an inconspicuous black Mackintosh and with crowd noise to contend with, it is odd for AVB to try to grab his players’ attention by making his body shape as small as possible.