Murmurs of discontent a backhanded compliment to Ancelotti’s entertainers

ANYBODY who doubts the impact of Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea need only have listened to the murmurs of discontent during the second half on Saturday.

Dominant in possession, the home side were guilty of over-elaborating in their quest for goal, and as a succession of carefully manufactured attacking moves floundered against a determined Wolves defence, the crowd became agitated.

Nothing surprising about that, except this was not frustration at a team’s inability to beat inferior opposition, the kind of gripes that might have been heard at Old Trafford the previous weekend when West Brom recovered from two down to claim a draw.

On this occasion Chelsea were in control of the game, leading 1-0 and on the verge of opening a five-point gap at the head of the table.

Ancelotti’s side were guilty only of failing to kill the game off with the second goal that eventually came through Salomon Kalou nine minutes from time.

Tough crowd, but such are the expectations Ancelotti has generated at the west London club, especially at home.

Stamford Bridge has not been a fortress in recent months. It’s been a killing field, and that certainly wasn’t the case in the Jose Mourinho era.

Chelsea last conceded a league goal at home in late March, and even that was a meaningless consolation for Aston Villa who were crushed 7-1.

This season they have maintained a 100 per cent league record in front of their own fans, scoring 16 goals in the process.

This time, however, it was the strength of Chelsea’s defence that mattered most and underlined why they already look champions elect just nine games into the season.

So far Ancelotti’s side have shown more tenacity and appear to be less vulnerable to a shock result particularly compared to United, who have made a habit of squandering healthy leads.

“This wasn’t one of our better games but it was one of those games, because we needed to win,” said John Terry, the Chelsea skipper. “It meant we could sit at home with our feet up on Sunday and watch the other games with interest, hoping the results would go our way.

“It’s important for us, especially the home games. We had a little warning with what West Brom did at Arsenal and United and it gave us a warning not to take any game for granted.

“I think we’ve always had that doggedness about us. I think there were times at the start of the season when we rolled teams over and got five or six and looked very good. But we could also go away to Villa, who had a very good first half, but we managed to fight it out with them and get a good point. The one thing (against Wolves) was that we didn’t concede and we didn’t drop points.”

Ancelotti’s side undoubtedly has weaknesses, but they appear to have less weaknesses than their main rivals.

And, tellingly, the Italian appears to have tightened up his side’s backline, fragile at times last season, while Petr Cech is a more confident keeper than the jittery number one who looked as though he had lost his nerve during the previous campaign.

“Sometimes goalkeepers make mistakes, but Petr is a goalkeeper with a lot of balance, with a professional mentality,” said Ancelotti. “He is a fantastic goalkeeper. One of the best goalkeepers in the world. The best? It’s difficult to say. Now though for him it is a very good moment, because he is very secure in the goal.’’

In truth, Chelsea’s latest clean sheet owed as much to Wolves’ failure to take one of a handful of good headed chances with Dave Edwards, Jelle Van Damme and Kevin Doyle the guiltiest culprits, while debutant Stephen Hunt was unfortunate to see a diving header cleared off the line two minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute.

By then Florent Malouda had put Chelsea ahead, seconds after Van Damme’s gaffe, and while Mick McCarthy’s side continued to fight hard, they were unable to recover ground and returned to Molineux empty-handed.

They have now claimed one point from the last six games and face Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal in their next three league games.

A gloomy scenario, but McCarthy is confident they will recover ground.

“Yeah, it is a (hell of a run), but it’s better than Scunthorpe, Doncaster, Barnsley and Derby,” he said. “It is better than that. Whatever we get out of these games, we then start with Bolton, Blackpool, Sunderland, Wigan.

“We’ve got to maintain performances and belief that we can play like that. If we don’t get anything out of the next game, because it’s Manchester City, we just have to keep playing. Just keep playing.

“You weather any storm that comes your way, like we did last year, and we pick up points where we can. I don’t think we’ll be in the bottom three come the end of the season. I hear everybody crowing at the minute, and I heard it last year. But we stayed up and some didn’t. Pick the points up when you can. Maintain belief.