Ancelotti not concerned about Chelsea slump

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-14 09:01

LONDON: Carlo Ancelotti insisted Chelsea's Premier League title challenge remains in robust health ahead of the busy festive period despite their sloppy 3-3 draw with Everton.

The west Londoners' aura of invincibility has taken a severe bruising in recent weeks with the club knocked out of the League Cup by Blackburn, beaten by Manchester City in the league and held to a home draw in their final Champions League group game by Apoel Nicosia.

The blip became a fully fledged slump on Saturday, when Chelsea leaked three goals from set-pieces in drawing at home to a struggling Everton and their defense once again failed to impress.

Goalkeeper Petr Cech endured another tortuous afternoon, conceding an own goal early on and then finding himself stranded for Everton's last equalizer midway through the second half, while none of Chelsea's usually assured back four appeared entirely at ease.

The damage inflicted was minimal given Manchester United's defeat later in the day to Aston Villa and Chelsea are now three points clear at the top but this was still a performance which will give heart to the Blues' title rivals, even if Ancelotti insisted there was no need for panic.

"You (the media) can say we are in crisis but I do not think so," he said. "I want to be objective with this and we have the same possibilty to win the title. When I look at the game against Everton, I saw my team playing very well. We deserved to win but we didn't defend set-plays.

"For this game, for sure - we conceded three goals from the same situations but that is because we were defending too deep in our area.

"We had the same problem against Aston Villa recently. We improved after that and we have to do the same again now. We were unlucky against Everton so I was not angry with the players."

That much might be true but the normal rules tend not to apply at Chelsea, where any slip is seized upon as evidence of a manager in meltdown.

Ancelotti does not deserve to be considered in that light but, while he was sanguine enough in public, behind closed doors he will surely be fretting at how his defence has turned to jelly in December.

AFP