Gary Cahill has urged fans to give his partnership with David Luiz at the heart of Chelsea's defence time to gel.
Blues defender admits things have not been easy
Gary Cahill has urged fans to give his partnership with David Luiz at the heart of Chelsea's defence time to gel.
Cahill has been given an opportunity in Andre Villas-Boas' first team recently following an injury to influential captain John Terry.
The ex-Bolton man started their games against Birmingham and Napoli alongside Luiz, but neither match has produced a clean sheet.
Cahill was not expecting things to click straight away, while the use of different full-backs has also hindered things for the England international.
Chelsea tackle his old club Bolton on Saturday and the 26-year-old is eager to return to winning ways by beating Owen Coyle's men.
Changes
"There have been changes made so it's not something that will click right in to place straight away," he told
Chelsea TV.
"It's different. The full-backs have changed so I'm not going to lie and say it's fantastically easy.
"We have had some sticky results of late and I have been plonked straight in the middle of it all so it's been difficult, but the more work we do on the training ground the better it will be.
"Training has been really sharp. The lads got back to work really well. We have to be determined to bounce back with a win.
"Saturday is a big day for us and when you have results like (the one in Naples) sometimes the best thing you can hope for is a fixture straight after."
Time
Manager Villas-Boas is refusing to panic over the club's problems in defence and he has echoed Cahill's sentiment that more time is required.
"At the moment we have a new partnership that we are trying to fine tune to be more stable at the back, like we were in January," said Villas-Boas.
"Both of them are very extrovert, Gary speaks a lot, organises a lot. It is not about communication.
"It just takes time, it's a new partnership and you have to get used to the person next to you.
"I am happy with Gary. He has been excellent in the games he has played."
