Andre Villas-Boas hits back at Chelsea critics

Villas-Boas has defended his team (GETTY IMAGES)

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas today hit out at the pundits who branded his team "naive and stupid" in their Barclays Premier League defeat at Manchester United.

Almost a week has gone by since the Blues' controversial 3-1 loss at Old Trafford, but Villas-Boas was still smarting this afternoon over the fallout from the game.

The former Porto boss, who had not lost a league match as manager for 17 months prior to Sunday, began this week by venting his frustration at the performance of the officials in Manchester, revealing he had made a complaint to referees' chief Mike Riley.

Today saw Villas-Boas turn his attention to the pundits who criticised his players' display, insisting Chelsea had been the better team and were guilty only of failing to take their chances.

"I am surprised that people take the view to criticise us for being naive and stupid at Old Trafford," he said.

"What we did was defend the essence of British football and football well played.

"I find it strange that people related to football don't know where to position themselves regarding what is best for football and what is best for fans, because fans are the most important part of our game.

"It was an entertaining game for the world. Pity we didn't come away with the three points but I think we were superior during the 90 minutes.

"In the end, it's the victory that counts. We missed the victory.

"We are five points behind the leader and we have to try to shorten the distance as we try to progress with a couple of wins."