Soccer: Andre Villas-Boas says it is up to him to turn Chelsea's season around after watching his side crash to another last-gasp defeat that left them in real danger of failing to qualify for the Champions League knockout phase.

Winger Florent Malouda claimed on Tuesday night Villas-Boas was not to blame for the Blues' worst start to a campaign since Roman Abramovich bought the club, but the new manager insisted it is his responsibility to arrest their slide.

Failure to do so quickly will test billionaire owner Abramovich's patience, with Chelsea having always finished in the Premier League top four and reached the last 16 of the Champions League during the Russian's tenure.

Almost anything that can go wrong is going wrong for the Blues at present, with Wednesday night's Group E defeat to Bayer Leverkusen the latest calamity.

Chelsea were heading for victory until the 73rd minute but conceded a stoppage-time goal to lose 2-1 at the BayArena. That followed another late defeat to Liverpool, their third loss in four Premier League games.

Villas-Boas acknowledged confidence was low, adding: "But that's when they expect the manager to inspire them. That's my job. That's my task, to inspire these people and motivate these people to change our faith.

"The responsibility is mine and it's my task now to inspire and motivate them to take them to a win against Wolves and certainly after to a win against Liverpool in the Carling Cup. We have two games at home. We need to get the focus, concentration right, I have to inspire my players and motivate them, and we need our fans behind us in these critical moments."

The result saw Chelsea drop to second in Group E and with Valencia completely overhauling their superior goal difference by beating Genk 7-0, it means Villas-Boas' side must either beat the Spaniards or keep a clean sheet at Stamford Bridge in two weeks' time to go through.

"We will need Stamford Bridge completely behind us to get the intensity right and the emotions right for the game," Villas-Boas said. "It's in our hands to qualify. It's a game at Stamford Bridge and we expect to do our job. That's our responsibility and we don't want to let the fans down."

You would not bank on Chelsea on current form, with their defence letting them down yet again tonight.

Villas-Boas insisted they had defended well but for two corner kicks, one which saw Michael Ballack hit the bar and the other which led to the winner.

"We left our back exposed," he said. "So we need to focus and concentrate on these issues. We're all committed to this squad and to these players and we believe a lot in their talent and they believe in us, and we need to find a way out.

"When they go into a series of defeats like we going through now, we get into the details a lot, to try to get them right and we just have to continue to work and believe that the win is close."

Leverkusen's comeback ironically began minutes after the much-maligned David Luiz was withdrawn for Alex, with the home side soon responding by throwing on Eren Derdiyok, who scored moments later.

Villas-Boas said: "David was feeling very, very dizzy at half-time and sick. He decided to continue, to make the effort for the team, but could no longer continue."