Monday, November 22, 2010

Football: War of words over Ancelotti

Despite recent reports that Carlo Ancelotti is ready to quit, Chelsea believe that he will stay at the club.
The Italian has come under pressure in recent weeks following a dip in in the Blues' form, coupled with the shock departure of his right-hand man Ray Wilkins.
The Blues have lost three of their last four games, but still remain top of the Premier League on goal difference despite defeat to Birmingham on Saturday.
On Sunday, bookmakers reported a huge surge in betting on Ancelotti departing and rumours began to spread that he was ready to walk away.
But the champions have reacted by insisting that is not the case, and told Sky Sports News: "He is contracted until 2012 and speculation about his future is total nonsense."
This is despite reports in the Guardian and the Sun that the Italian was seeking advice from the League Managers Association about leaving his position at the club.
Ancelotti did suggest that he was lacking the control that somebody such as Sir Alex Ferguson possessed at Manchester United.
"You compare me with Ferguson, it's a different position. Ferguson has total control of the team. I have just technical direction. Full stop. OK?" he said.
"Obviously when the team doesn't win people put more responsibility on the coach. But this is normal.
"This is my job. If the team are not getting good results it is normal to have more responsibility.
"So I am ready for the criticism. This is the life of the coach. Yes, this is a difficult moment but we are capable of moving on quickly.
"It's true we played really badly against Sunderland. But it is true we played very well against Birmingham. Everyone who saw the game said so."
Despite Wilkins' departure, Ancelotti insists that has nothing to do with their current malaise.
He added: "This is not the reason we lost. We lost because we have scored just one goal in four games. We have to improve, to stay more in focus. We didn't score against Birmingham because we were unlucky.
"We conceded just one opportunity and they scored. We had 10, 12 opportunities to score but we were not able to take them.
"We've lost three in four and this is not good. But I'm not worried about the team. We just have to move on."

Source: http://www.espnstar.com/football/premier-league/news/detail/item535841/War-of-words-over-Ancelotti/

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