Flair and style vital for Villas-Boas

Chelsea should be expected to compete for trophies and play attractive football, according to manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Villas-Boas succeeded Carlo Ancelotti as head coach of Chelsea on June 22.

The Portuguese is charged with returning the English Premier League title to Stamford Bridge and also ending Chelsea’s wait for a first Champions League success.

Jose Mourinho, Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Ancelotti have all been discarded by Roman Abramovich during the Chelsea owner’s quest to capture major European honours.

Villas-Boas did not reveal the full extent of the targets he has been set by the Russian billionaire, but did confirm the team are expected to entertain.

“I don’t think it is fair to share a lot of those conversations but let’s put it generally, all the competitions that we are in, we should try to win them and we must try to win them with a certain flair and a certain style and that’s our main prerogative,” Villas-Boas said.

Chelsea host Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday.

They reached the final of the competition in 2007/08 but lost on penalties to Manchester United.

With Villas-Boas at the helm, they are now aiming to go one better this season.

“I think it is good to be in this top European competition … we have been determined to make it one of our objectives throughout the season and we have not been far from achieving finals,” he said.

“We have been in one and we want to progress all the way to the end.”

Chelsea midfielder Raul Meireles, a transfer deadline day arrival from Liverpool, is looking forward to working with Villas-Boas, his boss at Porto for a short spell at the beginning of last season.

“I was aware that Liverpool wanted to sell me in the summer, which was a bit surprising to me,” Meireles said.

“When Chelsea showed an interest it was like a golden opportunity for me. I was very happy to come and join Chelsea.”

“I worked under Andre (Villas-Boas) for one month at Porto so I felt that they share the same mentality, Porto and Chelsea, which is the desire to win trophies.”

“The desire to win all competitions … Hopefully with Andre they can do that.”