Ancelotti Not Disappointed With Loss To Newcastle, Worried Over Injuries
Chelsea have been dealt with a double injury blow after the embarrassing loss to Newcastle in the fourth round of the Carling Cup at Stamford Bridge. Yossi Benayoun and Salomon Kalou are reported to be out for several week from injuries they suffered in
last night’s match.
Shola Ameobi scored a last minute goal and earned his side a win over the Champions at their home. Following the injuries, Ancelotti will face a tough challenge selecting a squad for the upcoming game against Manchester City over the weekend.
The injured Benayoun and Kalou join the already sidelined Gael Kakuta and that presents the Italian manager with problems ahead of the tough fixtures. The Blues travel to Manchester to take on Manchester City, who have not had the perfect start to the season
but seem to be on their way up. Next the English champions host Olympique Marseille in the Champions League and are then expecting a visit from Arsenal in early October.
Kakuta, the French youngster had to be replaced at half time after a rash tackle by Newcastle’s Ryan Taylor. Taylor’s tackle left Kakuta with back problems, due to which he was unable to carry on and had to be replaced at the half time break. Kalou suffered
a thigh injury and the former Liverpool player, Benayoun had a calf injury and both players could not carry on and had to be substituted off.
Ancelotti told reporters after the match, “Kakuta had a problem on his leg after the tackle in first half while Benayoun's injury is his calf and Kalou hurt his thigh. We will know more [on Thursday] but they don't look good. They will miss the next few
games. These things can happen in football. It was a strong tackle on Kakuta and he was unlucky. The problem with his back is from the fall.”
Ancelotti had put forward a side with relatively younger and inexperienced players, captain John Terry and striker Nicolas Anelka were the two notable players from the first team. It was Patrick van Aanholt who gave the hosts their lead in the sixth minute,
but it was short lived as the Dutch defenders goal was cancelled out by Nile Ranger.
Ranger, Ryan Taylor and Shola Ameobi scored to give their side a 3-1 lead over the Blues and it was Anelka who led the comeback. The Frenchman did not give up even after being down by 2 goals and his persistent efforts resulted in the Blues equalizing. It
was Anelka who scored both the goals, the second one coming in very close to the final whistle. It seemed like the match would go to penalties but Ameobi scored an injury time winner which will see Newcastle advance to the fifth round.
However, Carlo Ancelotti revealed that he was not too disappointed with the loss against Newcastle. He said, “The Carling Cup is not our priority. We have a very big game this weekend. We wanted to give opportunity to our young players to improve their skills
and rest some of first team players. I am not so disappointed. We did our best. I am disappointed for the result because we conceded four goals, but the performance was good.”
He said, “I am disappointed with the result but happy with the performance. We had a fantastic reaction when down 3-1 and it was ten against 11. There was good spirit and personality from the young players. The game was very difficult but at the end we are
happy for the performance of our players.”
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