Andre Villas-Boas has revealed he is aiming to take Chelsea to new heights while in the club’s managerial post, with 
Barcelona the benchmark for the Blues’ attacking style of play.
Chelsea have had a positive start to the season, collecting 19 points from eight matches and putting in some convincing performances in the Champions League.
And Villas-Boas says that the Catalan giants have shown the way for how other sides will hope to play, with Chelsea aiming to emulate Barcelona’s success both domestically and throughout Europe.
“When I became a manager I got excited with an idea for how football should be played,” he told reporters.
“Barcelona has set new standards for the way the game is played. They are the benchmark for modern football. Their success is a combination of events that has provided this team with the ability to play so well.
“It is the amount of talent that has come through the youth team and a manager who defends the club’s philosophy so well. I’m not sure it can be this way forever because there will be some years of talent and some of drought, but now they are setting new standards in the game.”
Villas-Boas’ philosophy of fluent attacking football has slowly clicked into the Chelsea squad, and the manager said that getting through the change in style was the most difficult time for him.
“The most important thing has been able to progress from the first three games when we were not fluent in what we want to achieve,” he explained.
“The confidence of the players has helped us become more fluent since the Sunderland game. In the match routines players are relating better with each other. It is not for me to say how well we are playing.
“I can analyse my own team but I’m not sure this is new. It is player talent expressed through the team. The players all want to get back to winning titles, when the focus is on that people are more receptive to receiving ideas.”