Chelsea Manager Carlo Ancelotti Not Worried Even After Fourth Pre-Season Loss (to Manchester United)
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti told reporters that he believed their pre-season results were no indication of how they would perform in the Premier League, which starts on 14th August. The 3-1 Community Shield loss at Wembley to Manchester United makes it Chelsea’s fourth successive pre-season friendly defeat. Ordinarily, this form (or lack thereof) would worry a manager as present day football is decided more by the pre-season performance than by anything else, but Ancelotti claimed he was not at all worried.
Chelsea take on West Bromwich Albion on Saturday and Ancelotti said he was confident his team could recover from their poor form. After winning their first pre-season match against Crystal Palace, the only goal coming from recently recovered Michael Essien, the Blues have gone on to lose against Ajax, Frankfurt, Hamburg and now Manchester United. A win over Manchester United would have restored confidence, if nothing else.
Ancelotti pointed out that most of the matches where Chelsea had faced defeat were the ones where the players returning from the World Cup had not participated. Some important players for the club had returned from disappointing World Cup campaigns and were still not fully fit. Ancelotti was disappointed because he had sent out a nearly full strength team to play United for the Community Shield, but the Blues were humbled, stumbling to a 3-1 loss in the end.
Ancelotti watched from the side as the champions conceded a goal from Antonio Valencia and then Javier Hernandez. Kalou equalized in the 83rd minute to give the Blues some hope, but it wasn’t enough and Dimitar Berbatov added a third in added time to kill the game off. Kalou did good to score, but it was a pity seeing him score when the likes of Didier Drogba, Anelka and Frank Lampard were on the pitch.
Ancelotti is ready to put the embarrassing defeat behind him and is looking forward to the start of the Premier League. He said he was aware that the players had to improve and said he was certain that the players would return to full fitness, improving the form of the team in the process. He said the entire squad was looking forward to seeing Drogba, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard fully fit ahead of the start of the new season. He said that everyone knew what a fully fit Drogba was capable of, as he claimed the Golden Boot last season.
“It was not a good pre-season for results. We lost four games. We had bad results but our training was good. We need the players who have just come back to have more time to train. We knew it would be a difficult pre-season. In two weeks the players who came back from the World Cup will be 100 percent. We have to look forward with optimism and trust for the next game and the start of the Premier League. We will be at the top in the Premier League,” Ancelotti told reporters.
Ancelotti will welcome the news of first choice goalkeeper Petr Cech making a return to training this week and possibly starting against West Brom. It was reported that Cech would be missing for the first month of the new season and some had written Chelsea off because of that; Hilario and Turnbull, second and third choice goalkeepers respectively, are not as effective as the Golden Glove winner. Defender Alex also makes a comeback and he will also be expected to feature in the first game of the season.
When the question of missing players was brought up, Deco was mentioned and how there was a hole in the midfield. Ancelotti revealed he was confident that new signing Ramires would be able to fill Deco’s position, who had plans of joining teammate Belletti in Fluminense. “The situation is not clear about Deco. We gave him the possibility to go to Brazil but nothing is decided until now. We have possibilities in midfield to have a player to replace Deco,” Ancelotti said.
Tags: