Whilst Ashes fever gripped the nation at the Oval on Sunday afternoon, the West London derby failed to ignite with Chelsea running out very comfortable winners over Fulham. But with Freddie Flintoff grabbing the back page headlines Carlo Ancelotti will be delighted to see the spotlight kept off his new charges.
Privately, the Italian coach will be delighted with the opening three victories. But in public the pragmatic ex-Milan boss is playing down his team’s start. And who can blame him?
Last summer it was all too similar. Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team stormed to six victories out of eight, and with Deco pulling the strings it was difficult to find a pundit who didn’t think Chelsea would win the title. But less than six months later Scolari was sacked and Guus Hiddink was left to salvage the ruins of Chelsea’s season.
So what does Carlo Ancelotti have to do to avoid the same fate? The simple answer is to be more successful in encounters against title competitors. Last year Chelsea only achieved four points from a possible eighteen in toothless showings against Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Leading up to the October visit of Liverpool, Chelsea have four very winnable league fixtures. In order to be ready for this first major test, Carlo Ancelotti must use these games to decide on his best starting eleven.
His key decisions will rest on the midfield quartet, and most Chelsea fans will tell you the four should read Mikel, Essien, Lampard and Malouda. They are absolutely right. Unfortunately for Ancelotti, he was focused on managing Milan at the beginning of last season and misses the benefit of such hindsight. Therefore, the marquee names of Ballack and Deco have induced an understandable blindness of judgement in the new Chelsea manager.
Over the last decade both players have been hailed as the ‘best midfielder in the world’, and although both still have much to offer, neither merit a regular place in Chelsea’s starting line-up.
Whilst retaining his unquestionable flair, Deco lacks the physical presence for the intensity of the English game, whilst Ballack has never impressed for Chelsea in the imperious manner his reputation was built upon. If managed correctly, these players offer a major advantage as impact substitutes. But a revolving door starting eleven rarely succeeds - just ask Claudio Ranieri.
So for Deco and Ballack, read Frank Lampard and Michael Essien as the superior midfield option. Since 2001, Frank Lampard has watched as international superstars have arrived and failed to dislodge him as Chelsea’s premier midfielder. Fortunately, the significance of the England international has not escaped Ancelotti, who has made him the one immovable fixture in midfield so far this season. Michael Essien was rested against Fulham, but the sooner the same lesson is learned about the Ghanaian, the better for Chelsea.
In the front positions, Ancelotti has gambled successfully with the pairing of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka. The growing rapport between the pair was in evidence against Fulham as they stylishly laid on goals for one another. In a modern game so preoccupied with the lone striker, it makes for a refreshing sight to see an old fashioned partnership hitting it off.
However, it is a whole lot easier to select two strikers against Fulham and Hull than it is against Man United or Arsenal. Whether Chelsea will continue with the pairing against more dangerous opponents will be an acid test of Ancelotti’s intentions. Particularly given that Didier Drogba is probably the best in the world at playing the lone role. With this in Chelsea’s armory the temptation to leave Anelka on the bench may be too much for crucial matches.
Three of Chelsea’s next four games are against Burnley, Stoke and Wigan. With the greatest respect to the opposition, these matches represent a huge opportunity for Carlo Ancelotti to discover the truth about his new squad. If the study period goes well, he might just still find himself in a job come May.
