A club once famed for its transfer dealings now seems to trade
more prominently in managers. There have been four successors to
Jose Mourinho in less than two years, including the short-term
appointee Guus Hiddink. The others did not leave of their own
accord. At Stamford Bridge there is a craving for prestige that
allows no scope for patience.
To some extent Carlo Ancelotti
is accustomed to that sort of environment, having served Silvio
Berlusconi for so long at Milan. Even so, there are marked
differences. An understanding developed that the club, with its
ageing squad, would not compete in earnest for the Serie A title.
Ancelotti's Milan even finished fifth in 2008, but he retained his
job and proceeded to a Uefa Cup campaign that ended in the last 32.
There had never been any yearning to ditch someone who had enjoyed
such a rich association with the club since his playing days.
They speak a very different language at Stamford Bridge and it
will take more than English lessons for Ancelotti to make a case
for himself. His principal attraction for Chelsea lies,
of course, in his managerial record with Milan of two successes in
the Champions League. Feats such as the 3-0 humbling of Manchester
United at San Siro in the 2007 semi-final resonate with prospective
employers. Ancelotti has a deserved renown as the master of the
set-piece occasion. With Chelsea, though, he will have to deal with
the grind of the domestic programme.
He last did that to the complete satisfaction of his club when
Milan won Serie A five years ago. At Chelsea, of course, there is a
hunger to regain the Premier League
after United's three seasons of domination. Roman Abramovich was
rightly attracted by the style and sophistication of Ancelotti's
former side at its best, but a recreation of that approach in
London will not suffice by itself. Ancelotti can be under no
illusions.
This Chelsea squad will have to rediscover the relentlessness of
days gone by. On a superficial level, Ancelotti is lucky. He does
have an enviable stock of proven footballers. There is a notion,
too, that United will find the league programme more of a grind now
that Cristiano Ronaldo is not around to conjure up so many goals.
Expectations of Chelsea are at their highest since Mourinho
left.
All the same, the main presences are not particularly fresh. It
is as well that the one principal acquisition seems so well-judged.
Yuri Zhirkov, a Hiddink recommendation, ought to broaden the
repertoire with the gusto of his runs on the left as he takes on
opponents. Apart from that, the defence should go on being secure,
particularly if Ricardo Carvalho can regain the effortless
decisiveness of old at centre-back.
None the less, Ancelotti's coaching and scheming may have to be
acute if Chelsea are not to toil in attack. Nicolas Anelka's tally
of 25 goals in the last campaign was of benefit, but he scored just
once in matches with his club's fellow members of the top four when
he put Chelsea 2-0 in front during a 4-1 victory over Arsenal at
the Emirates.
It would seem that much will still depend on Didier Drogba. On
occasion, his talent and power make him look like a forward with no
equal in the Premier League. All the same, he can put as much
pressure on his own manager as he does on opponents. In May Chelsea
ultimately lost the Champions League semi-final to Barcelona, but
while they were 1-0 ahead in the second leg he hit the deck and
seemed to have hurt himself. Hiddink replaced the Ivorian and there
was then an animated conversation between them on the touchline, as
if Drogba thought the manager should have known that he could have
continued.
Dealing with the attacker and his idiosyncracies is a critical
task for Ancelotti. The manager has to hope, in addition, that
Drogba has no recurrence of knee trouble. Chelsea, in any case,
will have to do without him, and others, during the African Cup of
Nations in January. A signing could yet be made to relieve that
dependence, but Ancelotti, week after week, will still face a
degree of expectation in domestic competition that he has never
encountered before in his managerial career.