Ancelotti not planning Chelsea clear-out
Chelsea’s Italian coach has already refocused his seasonal ambitions on achieving the domestic League and FA Cup double following their disastrous European exit in midweek. But while Ancelotti remains adamant that he has not spoken to owner Roman Abramovich about plans for next season, he accepts there will be new faces.
When asked if he was looking at a major overhaul of the squad during the summer, Ancelotti replied: “We haven’t planned. It’s not the time now to plan.
“We have to look to the next game. We have 11 matches left until the end of the season and, after them, we’ll have a lot of time to speak about the future of this team. It’s normal that, with a new season, there are new faces. This is normal.
“Really, now, I want to think about this team. I want to put this team in the best position until the end of the season.
“Now is not the right moment, we have other things to think about. We have to look at the Premier League and the FA Cup.
“This is not an easy moment because we are out of the important competition, the Champions League, and we are disappointed about this.
“But this is football and we have to look forward to the next game. We have to have a very good reaction in the next game. Every game will be very important for us.”
Abramovich spoke with Ancelotti and his squad at their Cobham training ground on Thursday but the Italian insists it was nothing more sinister than to demonstrate his support for their efforts.
“Roman was here yesterday and spoke with me and with the players,” confirmed Ancelotti. “He came here to support us because he knows very well football and he knows that we are involved in important competitions again. So I think his presence here was very good.
“We want to play good football — that has always been our aim — and we did that for a long time. We didn’t in the last game, but we want to come back and play good football against Blackburn.”
“We have a very important trophy again to pursue. We are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and, maybe, two points behind Manchester United but with a game in hand. So our destiny is in our own hands.”
Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce will take some tips from Jose Mourinho’s book of tactics for the game.
Allardyce’s teams have had good results against Chelsea in the past and he has been studying the success of Inter Milan — and Wigan earlier in the season — to pinpoint weaknesses in Ancelotti’s side.
“I learn an awful lot from every game. I usually manage to set out a team tactically against Chelsea that could get a result and we have had a look at some of the stuff that Inter did,” said Allardyce.
“We’ve also looked at what Wigan did when they beat them, as they are a team very similar to ourselves.
“If you watch Inter Milan’s work-rate and the tactics that they put together it shows why they nullified Chelsea so much.
“Whether you can keep that up for 90 minutes is another thing but we’ll have a go.
“We have to be right tactically and we need 11 lads prepared to roll their sleeves up and work harder and run longer than they have done all season.”
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