• André Villas-Boas praises Sturridge for sacrificing central role
• Chelsea manager hints at more signings in January window

André Villas-Boas has hailed the rise of Daniel Sturridge while also hinting Chelsea may sign players in the January transfer window.

Sturridge has outscored Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres, with seven goals in his 15 Chelsea appearances this season, as he establishes himself in the side after a successful loan spell at Bolton Wanderers.

Villas-Boas said Sturridge’s preference is to play a central role but after a discussion the 22-year-old is content to operate out wide. The manager said of Sturridge’s improvement: “Most of it is down to his natural ability plus the motivation he has got from playing out wide, which was not always there. This is meant as a compliment.

“He has reached that focus where you can do better for the team and sacrifice yourself for the team and when you know you can help the team by playing in that position. This might be the decisive factor from one year to another. We spoke in the beginning about his role and he had no problem. He has found the discipline to work on that position.

“Daniel knows he is strong in the striker position. He was strong at Bolton in that position [where he scored eight in 12 appearances]. It doesn’t mean he cannot play there but we count him as a winger in the squad and we will continue to count him as a winger. There is no purpose in using Daniel up front, myself, [Fabio] Capello, [Carlo] Ancelotti, all felt best place on the wings. He likes striking position but [not at the moment].”

Chelsea travel to fourth-placed Newcastle United for the early kick-off on Saturday trailing Alan Pardew’s team by a point, and the leaders, Manchester City, by 10. During a busy closing month to the summer transfer window Villas-Boas recruited Juan Mata for £23.5m, Romelu Lukaku (£18m), Oriol Romeu (£4.35m), Raul Meireles (£12m) and Ulises Dávila (undisclosed), and the manager suggested there could be further business next month. “We have not spoken about money at January [but] money has never been a problem at this club,” he said.

Regarding Newcastle, Villas-Boas said: “This is away against a team which is surprising everybody and which I think will continue to surprise. Pardew has brought serenity to Newcastle. In the past couple of years there has been turmoil there with managers and relegation and sold to another owner. There is empathy with the city and the club. [This will be] an excellent challenge for us.”

A feature of Chelsea’s difficult run has been their home form, with three defeats already, including Tuesday’s Carling Cup exit to Liverpool, yet Villas-Boas claimed his side have not become wary of performing before their own fans.

“We are not inhibited at Stamford Bridge – there is not a problem with Stamford Bridge, a problem with the results,” he said. “We might perform better away because players are more concentrated. We have done some good focused performances [the players] are less relaxed: sometimes extra tension makes you more concentrated. We have shown more quality and focused attention away from home.”

ChelseaAndré Villas-BoasNewcastle UnitedJamie Jacksonguardian.co.uk

• Portuguese coach agrees three–year contract at Chelsea
• ‘Don’t expect something from one man,’ says Villas–Boas

The most important weapon in Chelsea’s assault on next season’s Premier League and Champions League was finally put in place on Wednesday as the club confirmed André Villas-Boas as its new manager, one month after sacking Carlo Ancelotti.

The 33–year–old signed a three–year contract at Stamford Bridge 24 hours after Chelsea paid a £13.3m compensation fee to release him from Porto, the club where, in the space of just one season, he became the most sought–after young manager in Europe.

His success rate has brought inevitable comparison with José Mourinho, for whom he formerly worked as an assistant at Porto, Chelsea and Internazionale, but his first public comments since taking charge at Stamford Bridge showed that he is no Mourinho clone, as his introduction was quite different from his compatriot’s famous “Special One” inaugural address. “Don’t expect something from one man,” Villas-Boas told Chelsea TV.

“Expect us to create a group dynamic of everybody getting together, with the fans getting together, with people getting excited with the motivation that is in and around us. In the new way of communicating and the new leadership – this is the most important thing. It is not about my arrival. It is about the continuous success of this club.”

At Porto Villas–Boas went through the domestic league season unbeaten en route to a league and cup double and crowned that by also winning the Europa League. He declared his determination to carry on that triumphant momentum: “There is no doubt that the challenge for me is to keep winning,” he said. “I am an individual who has that hunger for success and I want to keep it that way.”

Villas–Boas brought not only success to Porto but also excitement, cultivating a more attacking style of football than the one most commonly associated with Mourinho. That will have weighed on the decision of Roman Abramovich, who wants his extravagant investment in the London club to be rewarded with entertainment as well as the biggest trophies.

“André was the outstanding candidate for the job,” read an official statement from Chelsea. “He is one of the most talented young managers in football today and has already achieved much in a relatively short space of time. His ambition, drive and determination matches that of Chelsea and we are confident André’s leadership of the team will result in greater successes in major domestic and European competitions.

“André will bring his coaching experience back to a club he is already very familiar with, having previously worked here for three years. He has always been highly regarded at Chelsea and everyone here looks forward to welcoming him back and working with him.”

Chelsea’s senior players do not return from holiday until 2 July but Villas–Boas is already in London, running the rule over Stamford Bridge and the club’s training ground in Cobham and discussing the other components in the club’s rebuilding plan, following the disappointing season that lead to his predecessor’s dismissal.

The club is expected to spend heavily on new players, with Tottenham’s Luka Modric remaining a target and Villas–Boas contemplating a bid to bring the Colombian striker Radamel Falcao with him from Porto. One indication that the transfer may be imminent is that Falcao recently changed agents, hiring Jorge Mendes, who has close links with Chelsea. Villas–Boas had wanted his assistant at Porto, Vítor Pereira, to come with him to London but Pereira has instead decided to take up the offer of replacing Villas–Boas as Porto manager.

Ancelotti’s former assistant, Ray Wilkins, welcomed the new appointment but warned Villa-Boas that he will have to impose his authority on the dressing room quickly. “His man-management skills from what I can read from the players he has worked with have been first-class,” said Wilkins.”That will be required at Stamford Bridge because these are big players, big guys, and it will be very interesting to see how this young man goes on.”

André Villas-BoasChelseaPaul Doyleguardian.co.uk

The Chelsea striker needs to rediscover his scoring mojo fast or risk being seen as a busted flush

Excuses are like those miracle diet tips you see advertised on the cover of women’s magazines – the more there are, the less credible they are. Over the past year or so a host of explanations have been offered for the poor form of Fernando Torres: his confidence is low, non-stop football has left him jaded, he needs a long run of games to fully shake off injury, the players around him are unworthy, his motivation is drained, he is trying too hard. And so on. Much more of this and Chelsea fans will be forced to conclude that the most expensive footballer in British history is, in fact, a waste of money.

It could be, as many have suggested, that he just needs one goal with his new club for his confidence to be restored and his old prolific self to re-emerge. At international level a goal in the opening game at Euro 96 for Alan Shearer, on the back of a two-year international drought, propelled him towards becoming the tournament’s top scorer – but even during his fruitless streak with England Shearer was banging in goals for Blackburn; conversely, when Andriy Shevchenko, the Chelsea flop that Torres must dread emulating, was failing to score frequently for his club, he continued to net regularly for Ukraine.

Torres’s performances, however, have generally ranged from tepid to torpid for both club and country for well over a year: if at Liverpool it was plausible to blame the poverty of his supporting cast, the same excuse hardly washes with Spain, and yet he did not score for his country during their triumphant expedition to South Africa last summer nor even during any of their World Cup qualifiers. Since 2008 his only competitive goals for one of the greatest sides ever seen have come in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Liechtenstein, whose every mention must be accompanied by the words little and lowly.

FC Copenhagen are not as lowly as Liechtenstein but, given that they come to Stamford Bridge for Wednesday’s Champions League tie 2-0 down from the first leg, their visit represents an ideal chance for Torres to open his account for Chelsea, in his sixth outing. Hence Carlo Ancelotti is unlikely to rest him.

The manager needs him to rediscover his scoring mojo fast and if confidence is the problem then it must be boosted at the earliest opportunity, or rather, at the next opportunity, given that in his last game Torres failed to score against Blackpool, the Premier League’s most porous defence. The fact that Didier Drogba has been left on the bench for half of Chelsea’s matches since the Spaniard’s arrival suggests that Torres is seen not merely as the future of the club but very much the present and, as such, the man whom Roman Abramovich expects to shoot Chelsea to glory in the Champions League, the one trophy that they can realistically win this season. A