Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti concedes Premier League title and moans lack of depth in squad
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has insisted that the lack of depth in squad was the main reason for the Blues’ slump in the current 2010-11 season.
Ancelotti believes that his squad did not have quality replacements after missing key men through injuries. The Blues started the ongoing season on a big note, as they clinched maximum points from their first five games of the campaign, but a mid-season
slump left them in tatters.
With only six matches left to play, the former A.C Milan manager has conceded defeat in the title race. Chelsea are currently nine points behind league leaders, Manchester United, with a game in hand.
The 51-year-old believes that even if his team finishes second on the league table, he will consider it as a failure.
Speaking to reporters, Ancelotti said, “Second place is better than third but it's not very important. At the start of the season your dream is to win, not to finish second.”
The Blues had to miss their key players; http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Essien-c25294 for major part of the campaign and Ancelotti feels that it had a dampening effect on their title charge because they did not have quality backup for these
players.
Chelsea spent almost 75 million pounds to bring in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Luiz-c10542 at the Stamford Bridge but the former Juventus manager believes that the damage was already done before their acquisition.
"Without Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, John Terry and Alex it was very difficult. At one point, we needed to put http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paulo-Ferreira-c29445 in at centre back because we had lost all our other centre backs. Without Lampard and Drogba in the difficult
moment, it was not easy to move on without these kind of players, not just their technical qualities but their personality and character. We missed them in November and December when we didn't play well," Ancelotti said.
Chelsea trimmed their outfit after winning the FA Cup and Premier League titles in the 2009/10 season and released five main players from their squad without adding any major replacements to their ranks apart from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ramires-c30523.
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