Ranieri will not make rash promises

CHELSEA boss Claudio Ranieri insisted that he is more ambitious to achieve success than even Roman Abramovich or Peter Kenyon — but will still not be forced into making any rash title promises.

Charlton 0 Chelsea 1

The immense pressure on Ranieri increased even further this week when Kenyon, the club’s new chief executive, marked his arrival with a warning that not winning a trophy this season would be viewed as a “failure”.

That was in direct contrast with Ranieri’s repeated insistence that this is a season in which Chelsea must concentrate on building for the future rather than expecting overnight success.

He defiantly declared: “There have been some interesting things [said this week] but I don’t want to speak about them. For me, it’s finished. It’s normal that when a new, important man arrives, he says his strategy. He says that the owner has spent a lot of money and everybody wants to win.”

“Of course, I want to win. More than Mr Abramovich. More than Mr Kenyon. More than everybody. But I cannot take the fans for a ride. I say what I think and I think it’s important to build the team.”

“I cannot say we will win this and this. Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger also can’t say that they will win. I want to win, I am ambitious. I want to win every match. But I cannot say we will [necessarily] win because Mr Abramovich has spent a lot of money.”

Despite repeated rumours linking Sven-Goran Eriksson with the Chelsea job this summer, Ranieri believes that he has the undivided support of his players.

Adrian Mutu squandered a hat-trick of chances, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink saved Chelsea’s blushes with his 99th Premiership goal when he converted a penalty after being brought down by Mark Fish on 27 minutes.

Chelsea were without Carlo Cudicini, Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron, Damien Duff, Emmanuel Petit, Celestine Babayaro, Claude Makelele, Geremi, Joe Cole and John Terry.

That left Neil Sullivan, Alexis Nicolas and Robert Huth in the side, while Glen Johnson was out of position on the right side of midfield.

Stand-in captain Frank Lampard nevertheless led by example, while left winger Jesper Gronkjaer struck the bar after just four minutes with a dipping effort.

Chelsea continued to threaten intermittently, with Lampard and Nicolas shooting wide, while Huth unleashed a fearsome 25-yard free-kick which flew narrowly past the far post.

Charlton remained undaunted and Sullivan was forced into a smart save at Jonatan Johansson’s feet. Referee Steve Bennett nevertheless awarded a penalty the next time that Fish tangled with a Chelsea player inside the area. Hasselbaink cleverly backed into the South African defender as Mutu’s knock-on fell at his feet and with Fish’s arms around him, he fell backwards to the floor.

Bennett pointed to the spot and Hasselbaink picked himself up to calmly roll his spot-kick down the middle of the goal.

CHELSEA: Sullivan, Melchiot, Huth, Gallas, Bridge, Johnson, Nicolas, Lampard, Gronkjaer, Mutu, Hasselbaink (Gudjohnsen 74).

CHARLTON: Kiely, Kishishev, Fish, Perry, Hreidarsson, Stuart (Young 41), Holland, Jensen, Konchesky (Bartlett 75), Johansson, Di Canio. Subs Not Used: Leite, Hughes, Fortune.

Referee: S Bennett (Kent).