ANDRE Villas-Boas has defended his decision to field a weakened team for Tuesday night's Carling Cup defeat against Liverpool.

The Chelsea boss made nine changes from the side that beat Wolves at the weekend, with youngsters Ryan Bertrand , Josh McEachran and Romelu Lukaku handed rare starts.

But the Blues were brushed aside by an efficient Liverpool team who booked their place in the last four.

“We set up in this competition to play the young kids,” said Villas-Boas. “We wanted to win but we won't change our philosophy.

“Ryan has shown a good level and someone we can count on. Oriol [Romeu] is improving very well for the team.

“It was Lukaku's worst of his three games [in this competition], but he showed good qualities against Fulham and Everton.

“It was an opportunity for Ross [Turnbull] to show the level he's at, which is good because we can count on him in other competitions.”

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest Chelsea news.

Follow me on Twitter.