AVB still has much to learn from his mentor Jose Mourinho

His predecessor as prime minister, Gordon Brown, had no such comparable gift of either natural or affected nonchalance. He let it show too often when he was hurt or angry, never more revealingly than when Vince Cable, then acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, quipped in the House of Commons that Brown had been transformed "from Stalin into Mr Bean".

Andre Villas-Boas is in every sense the protégé of Jose Mourinho. His mentor certainly allows his anger and irritation to show but he does so largely for effect (apart from when losing the El Clasico to Barcelona, as Real Madrid did on Saturday evening), and because he uses it as a source of inspiration for himself and his players as well as to unsettle opponents.

Watching Mourinho as he antagonises Arsene Wenger or Pep Guardiola or assorted referees, you never feel that he is rattled or losing it - only that this is all part of the game for him, all part of his egomaniacal desire to be the best, the first manager to win national titles in England, Italy and Spain (not forgetting the title he won in Portugal as well). He's a strutting Napoleon with the looks and hair of George Clooney - and he keeps on winning trophies wherever he goes. Whatever he has, it works.

By contrast, Villas-Boas, who worked under Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan, has shown himself to be desperately naive in the short period since Roman Abramovich came a-wooing, as we should perhaps expect of a 34-year-old manager. His candour and melodramatic outbursts have proved amusing enough for the rest of us, yet you could also say that he talked himself into a early crisis after the 5-3 home defeat by Arsenal.

Since then his pronouncements have become more jittery and hyperbolic - such as absurdly describing last week's Champions League match against Valencia as a "life and death" encounter. In recent days, he has been ranting about Gary Neville, the former England and Manchester United-defender-turned-pundit. Sky must be delighted that the humiliation and subsequent sacking of the boorish, 1970s-style double act of Andy Gray and Richard Keys freed them to appoint Neville as pundit-in-chief.

The various frontmen Sky has since used as replacements for Keyes may become with each passing week ever-more blandly anonymous and interchangeable - with the exception of Jeff Stelling, I couldn't name any of them - but at least they understand that they're there only to serve up a few soft volleys for Neville and Co to hit and to ease our way into the commercial breaks. They know no one cares who they are or what they have to say, and behave accordingly. However, Neville wants and deserves to be heard. He has a sharp, weaselly face, the anxious eyes of an undertaker and a quick mind. He speaks as he played, with a kind of bolshy, energetic certainty.

His line about Chelsea's wild-haired and wayward Brazilian defender, David Luiz, playing as if he were being controlled in the crowd by a 10-year-old on PlayStation, will not be bettered this season. It's so good that Villas-Boas continues to rant about it all these weeks later. "You cannot approach a top Brazil central defender [Luiz], a player of tremendous aspirations and talent, saying he's commanded by a kid with a PlayStation. That's ridiculous. He plays for the team with most titles so be careful with what you're saying," he said of Neville at a press conference.

"Nor can you speculate about Chelsea's dressing room [as Neville did]. What does he know about the Chelsea dressing room?"

This evening, unbeaten Manchester City are in London to play at Stamford Bridge.

Villas-Boas knows another home defeat will effectively end Chelsea's title aspirations for the season. He knows, too, that his new friend Neville will be watching carefully. But, at least with Luiz suspended, he won't have to worry about the kid on PlayStation.