Henk ten Cate has revealed his determination to help Chelsea win
in style by putting emphasis on entertainment rather than 'not
losing'.
Ten Cate, assistant coach to Avram Grant, is in his second week at
Stamford Bridge after arriving from Ajax with a reputation for
free-flowing football from his time at Barcelona.
During Jose Mourinho's successful spell in the Premier League,
Chelsea earned a reputation of being powerful and also stubborn in
defence, and Ten Cate would like the club to be associated with
attractive football.
'I think this change in attitude is huge,' he told the club's
website. 'It is bigger than everyone imagines. You enter the field
with it in the back of your mind that today we are not going to
lose, or you enter and you say I am going to win today. And we have
to work on that.
'It will cost a lot of energy and effort working on the training
ground, trying to convince the players there is also another way of
playing football that is fun to do and which pleases the
crowd.
'This has to go step-by-step. You cannot go for a miracle change,
it is impossible. We are a big football club and we need results
along the way and you have to do it step-by-step.'
The Dutchman is confident Chelsea have the players at their
disposal to win in style as they try to win the Premier League
title back from Manchester United. Next up is Schalke in the
Champions League on Wednesday.
'I think you can play a certain way of football that is very
similar to Barcelona but you need the players for that - and
Chelsea doesn't have (Andres) Iniesta, doesn't have Deco, doesn't
have Xavi which are players with a certain quality,' he
added.
'But Chelsea on the other hand has (Michael) Essien and (Claude)
Makelele and (Frank) Lampard - different players with different
styles.
'But I think it is not the style of Barcelona players, it is the
way they play that is attractive - and with Chelsea with all the
players we have and all the quality we have, we can play attractive
football that is fun to watch, with the intention of winning the
game, not with the intention of not losing the game.'
