Andre Villas-Boas delivered a spiky retort to the media at Friday's press conference as he answered questions over a recent radio interview during which he hinted he feared for his future at Chelsea.

Villas-Boas was quoted as saying earlier in the week: "We are now in the exact same moment as last year. It is an exact copy. The pattern of behaviour of the owner has led to a [manager's] downfall in similar situations or even 'better' situations.

"What will be the reaction? It will be one of the two, a continuation of the project and full support or just the cultural pattern that has happened before. We don't know."

Unsurprisingly Villas-Boas' comments were splashed across the back pages of the national newspapers in England, with the Chelsea boss under increasing pressure to deliver results. His team appear to be heading out of Europe, they are currently not in the top four, and they face a tricky FA Cup fifth round replay at Birmingham.

The Portuguese has always spoken of Roman Abramovich's full confidence in his abilities as a manager, so his comments to the Portuguese press proved something of an eye opener. However, Villas-Boas insists he said exactly the same to the British press, only to be ignored.

"I said exactly the same thing in the press conference but you guys were a bit distracted. I said exactly the same thing," Villas-Boas said.

"What would be the impact of a change in the results? What would be the projection of the future? The only thing I said in the radio interview, which was open to you guys but you left, was that there was a doubt over the future, which lies in every job in our lives - in mine and in yours.

"We have to compete to be successful and everybody is more or less under threat as you look for results."

Villas-Boas has witnessed further headlines surrounding his squad this week, with David Luiz claiming he was misquoted following a report in which he allegedly told Frank Lampard to focus on football. The Chelsea boss gave little