Ranieri urges Duff to dismiss distractions

Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri declared that Damien Duff must not allow himself to be lured into trying to prove anything to his former club when Blackburn visit Stamford Bridge tomorrow.

Ranieri has been impressed with the way that Duff has settled into his new surroundings after his £17m (€24.6m) move earlier this summer.

However, he is determined to ensure that the Republic of Ireland winger simply concentrates on his own game rather than worrying about the identity of the opposition tomorrow.

Ranieri declared: “I think that Damien is one of the very important players at the start of the season. When he takes the ball, something special happens and this is important for us.

“He’s also a nice guy and is always laughing and joking, but then he’s Irish! He’s fantastic and has adapted very well, just like everybody else.

“Against his old club though, I think the most important thing is that he plays for Chelsea and not that he wants to score. The big champions always think about the team.

“In the second half against MSK Zilina, when Emmanuel Petit came on, he was fantastic because he didn’t want to show something special, he just played football like he knows how.

“That was very important for him. Damien must also just play how he is now used to playing for Chelsea.”

That could be on either flank, with Ranieri believing the Irishman is suited to a whole range of positions on the pitch.

“He can play on the left, the right or, like with the national team, as a second striker. I like universal players and he is one of those players,” he added.

The Chelsea boss, whose team were drawn yesterday in a Champions League group with Lazio, Sparta Prague and Besiktas, is not worried about his reputation as a ’tinkering man’.

Instead, he positively relishes it. “I enjoy the idea that I can change a lot in the same match,” he insisted.

“In Italy, 20 years ago, I was also the ’tinkerman’ and was said to make too many changes. Now all the coaches are doing that and it is called ’new football’.

“A lot of English managers make many changes. I have sometimes watched the centre-back play centre-forward and I have only once done this, with Lorenzo Amoruso, who is now at Blackburn.

“When I was playing against Barcelona once with no strikers as everyone was suspended, I put him at striker and he won a lot of balls in the air. Now he is scoring a lot of goals.”

Ranieri must check on the fitness of William Gallas, who missed the midweek win against Zilina with a neck strain, before tomorrow’s game, while deciding whether new signing Hernan Crespo is ready to take any part.

A host of other selection decisions face the Chelsea coach, but he is without Mikael Forssell, who has joined Birmingham City on loan, while Boudewijn Zenden is also poised to leave Stamford Bridge.

“Keeping all the players happy is the real problem but I’ve spoken to my players and I will continue to do so,” said Ranieri.

“There are 11 champions who can play and another 11 who are either sitting on the bench or in the stand. But there are many games as we must play every three days and I need everybody to be in a very good condition.”