Former Chelsea player Michael Ballack praises fair Carlo Ancelotti
Former Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack revealed he felt Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti knew how to handle the superstars at the London club. Ancelotti was sacked at the end of last season after failing to deliver any silverware in his second season at
the club, despite having led the Blues to the domestic double of the English Premier League and the FA Cup just a season before.
The former German international played a season under the former AC Milan coach and was full of praise for his ability to handle the players at Stamford Bridge. Ballack joined http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 in the summer of 2006 from Bundesliga outfit Bayern Munich and remained
with the side until 2010. Despite an injury plagued career, Ballack maintained a somewhat consistent performance at Chelsea.
He made 45 appearances in all competitions and scored five goals under Carlo Ancelotti in his last season at the club and revealed he considered the Italian to be an extremely fair man. A side that is made up entirely of top footballers can be hard to control,
but Ancelotti managed really well. He found a way to ensure training went by smoothly and had the double at the end of the season to prove his success with a very difficult group of players.
Ballack said in an interview:
“[Ancelotti] was always fair to the players.
He always found a good way to train this difficult team, because it was not easy to train them with so many individuals, so many egos.
That's not easy for a coach. In the past few years they have changed the manager a few times but it's not always about the manager. The team is also part of it.”
A squad that consisted of the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michael-Ballack-c25270 among others was not easy to control. A World Cup winning coach like Luiz Felipe Scolari was put in charge after the dismissal of Jose Mourinho
and the Brazilian failed miserably, which led to his sacking just a few months after he had taken up the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Job-c18684.
Ballack was present when Scolari was sacked and in addition to other players, was blamed partially for his premature departure from the London club. It was believed the senior players at the club were not fond of Scolari and played a part in his sacking.
The former German captain denied the rumours, claiming he was on good terms with the former Blues manager but felt Scolari did not know how to deal with the players.
Ballack said:
“I don't know where he got that from. It surprised me because we had a good relationship. I [just] thought he couldn't find the right chemistry with the players, what you need for this club.”
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