Carlo Ancelotti has run out of ideas
Had Didier Drogba planted his stoppage time penalty against Spurs on Sunday, it would have given Chelsea, only their third win in nine matches, in all competitions. However, a draw it was and Chelsea slip further down the table to fourth position now.
Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to leave Didier Drogba on the bench surprised almost everyone. It’s true that he has been out of form and had a shocker of a game against Marseille in midweek, but one cannot afford to leave his start striker out, for their biggest
challenge of the season thus far.
Ancelotti has made some bizarre decisions in the past month or so, none more strange than to leave his best player on the bench. He has had an injury crisis to deal with, but Chelsea of last season would have been able to cope with such crisis.
So what has changed so much this season? Chelsea let go the likes of Ricardo Carvalho, Juliano Belletti, Michael Ballack, Deco and Joe Cole. The replacements have been Ramires and Yossi Benayoun. This clearly isn’t enough.
Terry has developed some cracks in his body which has kept him sidelined for most part of this campaign. Same thing applies for Alex as well. This leaves them with Ivanovic and youngster Bruma as the alternatives.
Jose Bosingwa made a later than expected return and it meant Carlo had to use Paulo Ferreira more often than he would have liked to. But to ask a weak and slow right back to play as a centre back is expecting a bit too much from the player . But Carlo Ancelotti
opted to make this funny decision, and the result was a 3-0 mauling at home to Sunderland.
Carlo Ancelotti does not have the likes of Ballack or Deco to give his side the much needed spark in the absence of Lampard. Essien seems to be the best alternative but he too has missed plenty of games through suspensions and injuries.
John Obi Mikel, Ramires and Zhirkov have played in the middle and they all lack the creative edge. Malouda seems to have lost his touch and with Kalou and Sturridge as the other two options, Carlo Ancelotti does not have the players who he can call upon
to change a game.
His first eleven is as good as you get but his backups have all departed last summer and the bridge between the first team and the bench is too big at the moment.
In these dire situations Carlo has completely lost it. He is running out of ideas, he does not seem to have a plan B and his squad is not adaptable either. This Chelsea squad does not have an out and out right winger. Yossi Benayoun’s long term injury may
now be considered as a bog loss.
Starting with Drogba against Spurs was imperative. Firstly, he is their best player and he simply cannot be left out due to ‘tactical’ reasons. Secondly, he needs game time to reach top form again. Thirdly, he has an amazing record when it comes to big games;
he seems to be at his best against the very best. Fourthly and most importantly, Chelsea were playing against a defence, that has kept just one clean sheet in their last 24 competitive matches.
This was an ideal game to start with Drogba; Tottenham have a dodgy goalkeeper and an ever changing back four, Dawson was just returning from injury as well. The decision was a pretty straight forward one – start with Didier Drogba.
Carlo Ancelotti needs to regroup and do a rethink on what he plans to do. A couple of signings in January will certainly help, but with Roman Abramovich seemingly cutting costs, it is highly unlikely that any major signings will be made in the upcoming window.
The return of Frank Lampard will be a huge boost and if they can get a result against Manchester United next week, then it will all start to look bright again.
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