Can Carlo succeed where his Chelsea predecessors have failed?
It is fair to say many eyebrows were raised when Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti was given the reins at Stamford Bridge in the summer of this year. I will admit that I was one of these Chelsea fans questioning the appointment of the Italian and looking at Ancelotti’s recent Milan squad it is easy to see why. Chelsea have been criticised in recent years for having an ageing squad, players that have passed their prime and are on the decline and although some of these criticisms may be well founded, if there are one team in European football that are more guilty of this it is AC Milan. Fears were therefore evident around Stamford Bridge that the same would happen to Chelsea upon Ancelotti’s arrival and the Blues would turn into a club on the decline. However if Ancelotti’s start to the campaign is anything to go by, he is proving his critics wrong.
The question therefore arises of whether Ancelotti can succeed where his predecessors Hiddink, Scolari, Grant, Ranieri and even to an extent Mourinho have failed. Can Ancelotti bring Champions League success to Stamford Bridge?
Despite without question being in the top calibre of teams in Europe, Champions league success has evaded Chelsea. The competition has been a mountain the club have been unable to climb. The Blues have come agonizingly close to reaching the summit on several occasions but are still yet to taste success. It is as though it is an impossible task to capture the crown as the club have become haunted by awful officiating, ghost goals, and most famously; slippery penalty spots.
Having already tasted Premier League success on two occasions you can bet your house that Abramovich will have made the Champions League his number one priority this season, and this goes a long way to explaining the appointment of Ancelotti. The Italian has won the tournament with AC Milan on two occasions, losing the final in another and knows how to succeed in the competition. Chelsea have made an impressive start to the tournament, having drawn a particularly hard group containing 2004 Champions FC Porto and dangerous Spanish outfit Atlético Madrid. They have dropped just two points, keeping clean sheets in the first three games and look in good shape to qualify at the top of the group.
Ancelotti’s league form has also shown Chelsea fans some promise for the European competition as the West London club have taken a maximum 6 points from their 2 games against the ‘big four’ clubs. This shows that Ancelotti has the ability to win big, high pressure games, something he was notorious for at Milan and this will prove particularly key in the Champions League as every game in the knockout stages falls under this category.
The signs then look promising for Chelsea fans as they look to capture the gold that will really put them up there with the greatest clubs in the world. However the quality in the competition is so high that margins are very tight. The smallest error (maybe not even in Chelsea’s hands as Tom Henning Ovrebo is evidence of) can crush their chances of winning the tournament and Ancelotti will know this. Their chances arguably look better than ever however having a quality squad and manager still may not be enough to finally climb the mountain; Chelsea fans will be hoping that it is.
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If there is one thing ancelotti likes in a player it’s a bit of experience/ He just does not trust youth. The reason Yoann Gourcuff is not currently a Milan player is mainly down to Ancelotti’s refusal to give him a run of games despite his obvious, obvious class and talent.
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Mr. Damon, What about Mr. Pato he signed before his arrival to chelsea.
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I was going to mention Pato as the exception but thought it unnecessary. Pato was and is Milan’s best striker and he had no option but to play him but he could get away with not playing Gourcuff because of Seedorf who he was too loyal to.
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not always the best team that wins it, last year I think Barca were the first best team in the competition to win it for years even though they were very lucky in the semi-finals. Its all about the luck on the day and as we all know Chelsea do not have that luck.
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Chelsea will win it soon even if not this year then next year, Chelsea are here to stay as one of the top teams in the world.
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I agree with Damon, i think that Pato got the chance to show his obvious class because people like Inzaghi were too old to play week in week out. Once Pato got his chance he showed he should be played every week. I hope Chelsea win it soon, it seems to have become a bit of a mental issue as well.
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I’m a c*nt
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It’ll take alot more than a european cup win to make chelsea a great club. Take away the russians wallet and your not even the biggest club in London.
Fergal Hunter is a womans front bottom.
piotrish@hotmail.co.uk
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This may be true but Real Madrid have surely been the same in the last ten years. They spent more than Man City this summer but evade all the stick just because they have always been a big club
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“Take away the russians[sic] wallet and your[sic] not even the biggest club in London.”
Even with the Russian’s wallet, they aren’t the biggest.
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