May
03
Carlo Ancelotti and Sir Alex Ferguson square off in The Sopranos, The Wire and as Gordon Brown v Mrs Duffy
Apr
30
• Liverpool will want to beat us, warns Chelsea manager
• ‘We have to stay focused for every minute,’ says Ancelotti
Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti did not look like a man ready to crack under the intense pressure of this season’s title run-in as he shrugged off suggestions that the “old pals act” could provide one more twist in the tale.
Chelsea face Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday in a 1.30pm kick-off knowing nothing but victory will keep their title hopes on track. Manchester United then kick off at 4pm at Sunderland, a club managed by the former Old Trafford captain Steve Bruce.
The two games have thrown up a number of tantalising issues for the conspiracy theorists, but Ancelotti is mindful not to get drawn into them.
He dismissed suggestions that Liverpool would not try hard enough to beat his side because doing so would open the door for their rivals United to surpass their own total of 18 titles. And Ancelotti was also nonplussed by the possibility that Bruce would do his old mentor Sir Alex Ferguson a favour at the Stadium of Light.
“I don’t think about this,” said Ancelotti. “I think that Sunderland will do their best to beat United and Liverpool will do the same against us. Every team has respect for this Premier League and every team has to do their best until the end of the matches.
“We have to pay attention because Liverpool are a strong team and it’s very difficult to win at Anfield, but we have to try. We need to have three more points after Sunday. I am pleased to play first but I said we have one more point than United. With two victories we can be champions, so we have to focus on our game and not think about Sunderland’s result. We are not interested in that. We want to be champions and that’s the only important thing.”
Liverpool’s Europa League exertions and their semi-final exit to Atlético Madrid may also have given Chelsea the edge in terms of fitness and spirit but, even if he might think it privately, Ancelotti was guarded with his public comments.
“We have to play against a strong team with good players,” said the Italian. “We saw those good players against Madrid. This is in our minds. We have to play against fantastic players in a very difficult stadium, a very difficult atmosphere, because we know how the supporters of Liverpool support the team.
“I don’t know if it’s better for us to play a Liverpool side who did not make final of the Europa League. They played for two hours so maybe they’ll be a little bit tired, but I’ve never seen Liverpool look tired at Anfield. They play a strong 90 minutes every game. I think they will do the same on Sunday.”
Only when the subject of Liverpool’s injured striker Fernando Torres was raised did Ancelotti let the mask slip a little.
“They have the most important injury, to have Torres out is a disadvantage for them because he’s one of the most important strikers in the world,” said Ancelotti. “So, maybe with this, they have a problem. But the team that played against Atlético was a very good team. They didn’t get to the final, but they played a good match in my opinion.”
Ancelotti cannot afford any more errors and he knows it. The most burning issue will be answered within the opening quarter of their clash with Liverpool, because if Chelsea fail to start with any kind of tempo, they will be in trouble. Their last away game ended in a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham when the Blues simply failed to turn up. A repeat performance could have grave repercussions for their title hopes.
“I’m going to say the opposite to what I said before the Tottenham game,” said Ancelotti. “I think it’s very easy for me to give motivation to my players for this game, this kind of game, a very important match. We have 180 minutes before the end of the season and we have to stay focused for every minute, keep our best concentration, and if we do that we can be champions.
“It’s not usual for me to tell my players, ‘We have to win’. We will win if we do the things that we do at our best. We have to stay focused to play well, to play at our best, to maintain our concentration for 90 minutes, to play together. These are the things I usually tell my players before games.”
ChelseaLiverpoolManchester UnitedPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk
Apr
25
• Kalou hat-trick is emphatic response to United
• Destiny of the title is on our hands, says Ancelotti
Chelsea returned to the top of the Premier League table yesterday in resounding style with their heaviest ever top-flight victory at Stoke City’s expense, leaving Carlo Ancelotti to remind his players that “the destiny of the title is still in our hands” ahead of next weekend’s potentially decisive trip to Liverpool.
The Londoners re-established their one-point advantage at the summit having scored seven goals for the third time this season, taking their season’s league tally to a staggering 93. The Stoke manager, Tony Pulis, admitted his team had been “murdered” as the hosts ran riot, Salomon Kalou registering his first hat-trick for the club as Chelsea recovered momentum after the damaging loss at Tottenham Hotspur the previous week.
Their attempt to regain the title may now hinge on their result at Anfield on Sunday, with Chelsea aware that victories in their final two games will clinch the championship for the first time since 2006. “It’s important that our destiny is in our own hands,” Ancelotti said. “I don’t know why I should feel any pressure now. Sir Alex says it is ours to lose and that is right. But that’s a good thing. To have it in our own hands is better.
“I am quiet and calm now. I think United will be able to win their last two games. They have Sunderland and Stoke, and every game is a different story, but our aim is just to win our own matches. If we do that, we are champions. Liverpool will be a very difficult game. They are a fantastic team and they are still going for fourth place, so they will want to fight against us. Them finishing fourth is very important for the future of their club, but I just hope we play at Liverpool like we did today.”
Chelsea were utterly irresistible against Stoke, who wilted badly under a wave of home attacks. Frank Lampard swelled his tally for the season to 25 in all competitions with a brace, Kalou pilfered a hat-trick and there were further rewards for Florent Malouda and Daniel Sturridge. Ashley Cole completed 90 minutes in front of the England coach, Fabio Capello, with the splendour of the victory – Chelsea have scored 33 times in eight home matches in 2010 – banishing the memory of recent toils against Bolton Wanderers and Spurs.
“We didn’t need to send out a message to the other teams,” Ancelotti said. “This was a message for us to take on board. We needed a good reaction after the defeat at Tottenham and we got that. We also needed to get back to the top of the table after United’s win [against Spurs on Saturday]. There was a bit of pressure on us before the game but, from the beginning, the team were focused and put in a fantastic performance.
“I don’t think it will come down to goal difference, so that it is not important. There will be one team that arrives in first place and another who finishes second – actually, I’d prefer to have kept two or three goals for next week – but it is good to play in this way. This is our philosophy.
“We have a lot of attacking players and we want to attack to use their qualities. We changed something this season [in terms of the team's style]. If Chelsea play good football and people see that we do that, we are happy. That is our aim, to play good football and give joy to our fans.”
Stoke’s misery was compounded by the dislocated elbow suffered by their goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen as Kalou slid in two-footed to score his second goal, the striker catching the Dane’s right hand and forcing his arm back and the joint out of place. Sorensen required oxygen pitch-side and departed on a stretcher.
“If it’s a bad challenge, it’s a bad challenge but that doesn’t take it away from the fact we were poor today,” Pulis said. “We’ve got murdered. We were lucky to get nil today, we were that poor. They were going to have a day off tomorrow, but they’re in now. We had five or six players well off it. That’s the first time we’ve been beaten away in the league in 2010, but if you’re carrying six players you’ll struggle against a Third Division team.”
Pulis will speak to his striker Dave Kitson today after his open show of dissent following his second-half substitution. “That’s a bit of a disease,” the Stoke manager said. “Tuncay did that as well [earlier in the season], so we’ll have a word. I just hope we do better at United [on the final afternoon] than we did today.”
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