André Villas:Abramovich does not need to back me

André Villas-Boas admitted he is unsure if he will still be in charge when Chelsea travel to Birmingham City in the FA Cup on Tuesday following his side's 1-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion. After a poor defensive display and Gareth McAuley's 82nd-minute winner, which meant Chelsea have won once in their past seven Premier League matches, Villas-Boas was asked if he will still be the manager in two days time. He said: "You will have to ask the owner." Neither Roman Abramovich nor any of his executives at Chelsea have publicly backed Villas-Boas. But the manager denied that this would help him and the club now: "I don't think the club need to back me. We just need to get on with our jobs and everyone has to be better, the players and management staff, everyone. For us to demand to be backed we have to improve. It's not for the owner to come and back us when things go like this." He did accept that the loss to West Brom would increase the focus on his job. "Every defeat that Chelsea suffer piles more pressure on any manager," he said. "Any manager who suffers a defeat at a top club has more pressure on them. It's acceptable that pressure piles. You have to agree that this result puts more pressure on me. We stick to the same position, fifth, but we are now three points behind fourth." Villas-Boas admitted West Brom were "far superior" as he praised Roy Hogdson's side. "Full credit to West Brom for their magnificent game, but we weren't good enough on the day," he said. "They won every first ball and every second ball and were far, far superior than us. It was a big disappointment that we didn't build on the win against Bolton and we didn't benefit from this weekend's fixtures. "It was a poor, poor display. We had an edge after 10 minutes when we had a couple of chances, and one goal earlier than them would have given us extra motivation and drive. But to be fair we deserved to lose because West Brom also had their fair share of chances and were superior. They created lots of problems, had a good intensity in their game and we weren't good enough. It's a big, big disappointment." This admission that West Brom were better and that he had failed to raise his team at half-time when the scores were level may be of most concern for Abramovich and supporters. Yet Villas-Boas is still adamant he is the right man to rebuild Chelsea. "If I didn't believe I was the right person I wouldn't have come. At the moment we have to win games. I'm not worried about the future, the present is more important." Hodgson offered his support to the 34-year-old. "I sympathise and empathise with André," he said. "The day we football coaches, especially those of us who have some experience, don't stand up for each other and make it clear we identify, empathise and sympathise with other coaches, it's going to be a sad day for football." Hodgson was sacked by Liverpool in January of last year after half a season, but he said there is no similarity with Villas-Boas. "I don't think you can compare my time at Liverpool to André at Chelsea," he said. "But you can make comparisons if you want about the fact I was constantly vilified, in particular by the Liverpool press, because they wanted someone different in the job."