Article in the guardian today...

Carlo Ancelotti and his Chelsea players have held a frank training-ground inquest in an attempt to pinpoint the causes of their recent frailty defending set-pieces, exposed so ruthlessly by Aston Villa as the Londoners slipped to their second successive away league defeat on Saturday.

The squad watched a re-run of the defeat at their Cobham training base on Monday with Ancelotti exposing lapses by a quartet of senior players – Frank Lampard, Ricardo Carvalho, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech – at the two Villa goals. Michael Ballack, who has not featured in either of the team's recent Premier League losses, revealed the players had not shied away from criticising each other and had then "shaken hands" and returned to the training pitch, with special attention subsequently paid to defending set‑pieces.

"We watched the game again at Cobham, we saw who made the mistakes – everyone knows that – and we've spoken about the game," said Ballack, who will return to the side after an ankle injury for tonight's Champions League tie against Atlético Madrid. "We lost that game [at Villa] on set-pieces. Everyone has to improve his movement, his defensive organisation in the box, and it comes down to personal attitude: 'Don't concede a goal'. We can train and practise things but, if someone falls asleep at a set‑piece, we will still concede."

John Terry's furious reaction to the concession of Villa's winner, a free header converted by James Collins at a corner, was matched by Ancelotti's disappointment in the away dugout. "I felt the same way," said the Italian. "We were all disappointed, not only John Terry but also the other players. At set-pieces we have two players, one on each post. One player is in front of the near-post – Lampard – and five mark man for man. Everybody has his own responsibility: to mark, to stay in his zone or go for the ball. Everybody has a job. Every player must take responsibility for what happens in our box."

Stoke City and Wigan Athletic have also exploited Chelsea's weaknesses at set-plays this season, with Villa maintaining a trend that first flared during Luiz Felipe Scolari's brief reign last season. Lampard had inadvertently flicked on Ashley Young's corner for Richard Dunne, muscling himself free of Carvalho, to score Villa's opener before Collins escaped Drogba's attentions to plunder the winner, prompting Terry to scream his frustration at his team-mates. "His reaction showed he takes a big responsibility, not just for himself but for the team," added Ballack. "That's what you need, emotions like that, to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"We all speak with each other. We have no problem criticising each other in the dressing room. A good team with strong players has to do this. We've done that, then we shake hands and get back on to the training pitch and try to do better. I wasn't involved [on Saturday], but I know the problem. I was there afterwards and we spoke about it. Everybody has to make an impact on the situation, me too. I have a few years behind me and I'm experienced, so I have to speak to help the team. Everybody has to take responsibility, otherwise we will concede more goals."

That's why I believe in Ancelotti, he realises that the players are man enough to admit mistakes and then work on them.

The problem with our squad is that theres almost too much experience and therefore too many ego's. However top pro's are usually perfectionists and if you realise that all you need to do is point out the mistake then the top pro will correct it himself. This squad won't work well with a dictator, it just needs someone that the players can respect. That and the ability to tell a player when his sh*t stinks...

Sure this is only a paper article but it's yet another example of the spirit and desire for perfection that this squad has and in a season where i see no stand out team, in terms of ability, that could well be the difference come May.

Hhhhmmmm. Didn't they have a similar meeting and a "frank discussion" after the Wigan defeat?

I agree when you say that top players don't need a dictator, (although the strict way Capello is handling the England squad doesn't appear to be doing much harm), but a manager needs to be much more than simply a name they respect. You can be sure they would have all respected Scolari's achievements and his reputation prior to his arrival.

No, a manager must have a myriad of qualities to be a winner. Motivation being one of them. Instilling individual players and the team as a whole with genuine self-belief is another, (this was Mourinho's genius). He will also have input into a team's performance during the course of a game. The team he picks for starters. The formation they play and the tactics they employ. How he changes the formation and tactics to suit the changing circumstances of the match. The substitutions he makes. When he makes those substitutions. etc.

I'm with you, I don't think Ancelotti will turn out to be another Scolari. But unlike you I'm also not convinced, (yet!), that he is going to be another Hiddink or Mourinho either.

Time will tell.

Ancelotti will end up being better than Scolari for these specific things. Whether it will be enough to win the EPL, im not totally sure, but the talent is there. Its just a matter of putting it all together.

Jose really was special, we cannot even begin to think Carlo is going to win as much in the same time...or can we ? I just do not know right now.

What I do see about Carlo is a man who does get things done, both areas in whcih we need to improve is set piece and corner defending...and going the other way as well. We are not scoring goals from corners like we used to and we have the best heads in the air in the league !

TERRY

BALLACK

DROGBA

ANELKA

IVANOVIC

How do we not score 1 goal a game from a corner when this lot is playing I do not know.

I think Carlo is doing well but he is still finding his feet in the premiership. This league is hard and it takes a lot of getting used to. I honestly think the players were to blame for the two loss, I know the buck stops with the manager and all but they were lazy mistakes that cost us the games not tactical errors.

Carlo was right to not make any subs against Villa, we were walking all over them. That result was not justified, no matter what all the Liverpool loving pundits say, we deserved to win that game, we were by far the better team.

Deco, Anleka and Malouda all one on one with the keeper, they put it straight as him, all three of those shots goes either side and it 4-2...a very different story.

I'm gonna play the Star role tonight, because though we won, and I'm glad we won, boy did we win ugly! Ugly and lucky.

Make no mistake, United, missing their two starting centre-halves and Berbatov up front, fully deserved a draw.

And this afternoon did nothing to convince me about Ancelotti. It looked like we were back to the days of Uncle Avram and "reactive" management. So many unanswered questions for me. Why no effort to plug the yawning chasm on our right hand side whenever we were looking to go forward? Why no change in formation to combat the extra man United had in midfield? Why no instructions to Anelka to stop playing so far from Drogba, thereby leaving him totally isolated for much of the game? Why Haven't gotta Kalou for Drogba? Why finish the game with no proper forward on the pitch? Why Deco and his gloves?

But hey, we won. So while Ancelotti has still to prove he is anywhere near as good as Mourinho and Hiddink tactically, he certainly, on that evidence, looks to be lucky. And I guess that is no bad thing for a football manager to be.

Enough about Mourinho. Geez, he would go ballistic if any of our defenders crossed the mid-field line, and no one seems to get on his case about that. I happen to like the fact that our defenders can actually make runs and overlaps and all, whereby that would never happen with the "defence-first" Mourinho. I think Ancellotti had our tactics fairly good tonite, and I cannot fault him much, if at all.

Are you sure Phillip? No doubt Mourinho certainly knew how to organise a defence, but he was also the bloke who both brought and played Carvalho every week. Carvalho, a defender who often spent as much time in midfield as he did at centre-half!!!!

And can you, (or anyone else), name me two things Ancelotti did today to influence the game by changing either the shape and/or tactics of our team?

Im actually with you on this Just. I left the game thinking that we must have caught something from our many recent encounters with the Dippers, as I thought we absolutely robbed United today. A draw would still have been decent for the way we performed, so to come away with all 3 points was astonishing.

We will have to play a lot better in the other big games if we want to win the league, but today was a big blow to our main rivals and a great boost for us. Let's not forget that United have won lucky/ugly enough times this season too, so maybe today was just our turn.

I'm gonna play the Star role tonight, because though we won, and I'm glad we won, boy did we win ugly! Ugly and lucky.

Make no mistake, United, missing their two starting centre-halves and Berbatov up front, fully deserved a draw.

And this afternoon did nothing to convince me about Ancelotti. It looked like we were back to the days of Uncle Avram and "reactive" management. So many unanswered questions for me. Why no effort to plug the yawning chasm on our right hand side whenever we were looking to go forward? Why no change in formation to combat the extra man United had in midfield? Why no instructions to Anelka to stop playing so far from Drogba, thereby leaving him totally isolated for much of the game? Why Haven't gotta Kalou for Drogba? Why finish the game with no proper forward on the pitch? Why Deco and his gloves?

But hey, we won. So while Ancelotti has still to prove he is anywhere near as good as Mourinho and Hiddink tactically, he certainly, on that evidence, looks to be lucky. And I guess that is no bad thing for a football manager to be.

I agree with you. For the first hour after the match I was just happy and pleased by the win. But now that I think about it a second time, I really have to say we have been lucky and should have been able to create more clear-cut chances. It really didnt seem like we have any clue how to create a chance. Of course you have to keep in mind that Manu just played for the draw. But they didnt have Vidic and they didnt have Ferdinand and we had a fully fit squad. On the other hand, only if you win such close games you can win the leauge.

I agree that we should play a 4-4-2 diamond, or the Christmas-Tree line-up, as a standart line-up, but I think Carlo should try to develop a alternative to that. Especially in matches, which dont go our way, against defensive teams with a strong midfield that just want to destroy our game, I would like Carlo to consider a sudden change to a flat 4-4-2 or also a 4-3-3. That shouldn´t be a big problem, especially if Joe is already playing. Would just be nice to have a little more tactical diversity because I think you cant really play a 4-4-2 diamond in every match for 90minutes.

To say something about the match again, I think it should just show us that: we still have to improve in some areas but also give us confidence for the next games.

Just: Saint Mourinho oversaw A LOT of mediocre performances by the men in blue - and, as Carlo did today, he won most of them. Nevertheless, because of the style of play he was fired. Thus: he was good at his job, but not that good. With virtually the same players (minus the explosive wingers) Ancelloti has achieved a style of play that won't get him fired. So he's good at one thing Mourinho wasn't: pleasing the boss.

Also, why do you have nothing to say about the organisation of the defence today? Or the the sense of team solidarity that kept the ship steady even as United bossed it. Nothing to do with the manager? Maybe it's just the afterlife of Mourinho? What about 6 points from 6 against 'top 4' clubs?

I do agree that Ancelotti has a lot to prove. But he's given us good reason to be optimistic (I certainly am), and he's new to the English league. Wigan and Villa were definitely wake up calls, but we are yet to draw a match in the league, and so our points to games ratio is the same as the two best seasons under Mourinho.

I think if we are going to win the league we will have to bring in faster defenders like Evra and Ferdinand as I think you'll agree, the likes of Terry and Carvalho are very slow.

I think if we are going to win the league we will have to bring in faster defenders like Evra and Ferdinand as I think you'll agree, the likes of Terry and Carvalho are very slow.

:D Here they come! Bitter as f**k!

I think if we are going to win the league we will have to bring in faster defenders like Evra and Ferdinand as I think you'll agree, the likes of Terry and Carvalho are very slow.

Are you on a wind up?

Carvalho 'very slow'?? You must have wandered in from a parallel universe, because that is just 'kin daft.

Hiding behind a Chelsea username is soooo last year!

Are you on a wind up?

Carvalho 'very slow'?? You must have wandered in from a parallel universe, because that is just 'kin daft.

I think maldini would give him a decent challenge in a race to be honest.

Ancelotti may well have held a frank training-ground inquest to question our sh*te defending from set pieces, but from what I saw today when we defended corners we only had a man on the back post, nobody on the near post. Remind you of anything?

If that's anything to go by, he's only 50% better than Scolari, who was f*ckin' useless.

We need to work a hell of a lot more on our defensive strategy with regards to set-pieces, we frequently look very vulnerable. I'm not for one moment suggesting getting rid of Ancelotti (yet), but he needs to sort this out asap. Shouldn't be difficult, he's Italian for f*cksake, they invented defending! :D

I think if we are going to win the league we will have to bring in faster defenders like Evra and Ferdinand as I think you'll agree, the likes of Terry and Carvalho are very slow.

Did you not see Riccy zipping around the pitch today? It was like Robben on LSD.

Are you sure Phillip? No doubt Mourinho certainly knew how to organise a defence, but he was also the bloke who both brought and played Carvalho every week. Carvalho, a defender who often spent as much time in midfield as he did at centre-half!!!!

And can you, (or anyone else), name me two things Ancelotti did today to influence the game by changing either the shape and/or tactics of our team?

No, I saw no tactical changes by Carlo, but I must be honest and say that I would not have seen one even if he made one. About Riccy, I don't recall him ever wandering much past midfield when Jose was arouund, except for our corners. I could be wrong about that, but that's what I remember.

We will win the league because Man United sold the players they couldn't replace, Arsenal is still being the youthful Arsenal, Rafa digged a huge hole for himself, Man City is not ready yet . We can put10-12 teams in the league into submission with our passing game. No team has kept a clean sheet against us in the league, put major inhury aside, we have enough depth to carry us through the new year period.

Just: Saint Mourinho oversaw A LOT of mediocre performances by the men in blue - and, as Carlo did today, he won most of them. Nevertheless, because of the style of play he was fired. Thus: he was good at his job, but not that good. With virtually the same players (minus the explosive wingers) Ancelloti has achieved a style of play that won't get him fired. So he's good at one thing Mourinho wasn't: pleasing the boss.

Also, why do you have nothing to say about the organisation of the defence today? Or the the sense of team solidarity that kept the ship steady even as United bossed it. Nothing to do with the manager? Maybe it's just the afterlife of Mourinho? What about 6 points from 6 against 'top 4' clubs?

I do agree that Ancelotti has a lot to prove. But he's given us good reason to be optimistic (I certainly am), and he's new to the English league. Wigan and Villa were definitely wake up calls, but we are yet to draw a match in the league, and so our points to games ratio is the same as the two best seasons under Mourinho.

I'll lay my cards on the table. I am not convinced Ancelotti is all that tactically. Watching his side throw away a three goal lead in Istanbul crystalised that opinion and I have yet to see anything for us to make me change it.

But you are right Heckel. We were more than capable of winning ugly under Saint Mourinho, and often did. However, that's not my point. My point is that both Mourinho and Hiddink were tactically proactive. For example, three subs at once, changes before half-time, formation changes such as JT up front. All right, some of those may have been made out of desparation due to the situation we were in at that point in time, but not always. With Jose and Hiddink I always got the feeling they were thinking one step ahead and were prepared to roll the dice and make changes. With Ancelotti I feel he is like Grant. A reactive manager. A "wait and see what the other bloke does and then I'll try and do something to counter it" manager.

Yesterday we were so damned narrow, especially in the first half down the right hand side, our play was forced through central midfield where United often had an extra man. Personally I would have hooked the woefully ineffective Deco at half-time, (when that bloke has gloves on it's generally a bad sign), dispensed with the diamond for a more conventional 4-4-2, and brought on Cole or even Belletti to play out wide and try and open up that side of the pitch. I would also have told Anelka to stay central and much closer to Drogba as he was terribly isolated for much of the game. And the Kalou for Drogba substitution! What was that all about?

All that said, we won. And I, like everyone else, am absolutely delighted we got the points. But, at home, against weakend opposition, there is no doubting we were second best for long periods. Given the circumstances I was hoping for a much more dominant performance. And when that wasn't forthcoming I expected better tactical changes from the manager to try and make it happen.

Like you Just I was crying out for something to change yesterday. I actually never felt we were going to lose but I also never felt we were going to win and that was a game when dropping points would have been a very big disappointment.

Utd did have a stranglehold on the diamond although I don't really think Deco can take much flack for being ineffective as I think United's system and our tactics within the diamond made it nearon impossible for him to have an influence on the game. When Joe came on I though he did even less than Deco.

More important than the substitution was to change the tactics and I agree that Ancelotti didn't do it and really should have as it did remind me a little of Wenger in that 'if it isn't working stick with it'

I said in another post a few days ago that Ancelotti's biggest test will be when teams start finding out how to combat the diamond and what he does to counter that and yesterday was an example of him failing to. However he has not been with the squad long and maybe needs more time to develop alternatives.

On Jose I do agree that he was good at making changes during games however I would say he also had the same weakness in that his tactic of choice never really changed. People got used to our 4-3-3/4-5-1 and started to neutralise it and Jose never ever moved away from it/. So whilst he did make in game changes he never looked toward a more long term change (maybe because he is never in a job for more than a few years!!)

We will win the league because Man United sold the players they couldn't replace, Arsenal is still being the youthful Arsenal, Rafa digged a huge hole for himself, Man City is not ready yet . We can put10-12 teams in the league into submission with our passing game. No team has kept a clean sheet against us in the league, put major inhury aside, we have enough depth to carry us through the new year period.

The counter argument to that is are we too old?

Have to admit, Arsenal worry me. They are no longer that young and a number of their players are now well established and some are coming to their peak. They are clearly not as strong defensively as we are, but going forward they are taking teams apart and seem to be growing in confidence week by week. I think in recent seasons, we have all hoped that their youth and inexperience would count against them and that plus injuries proved to be the case. But now I’m not so sure.

We on the other hand are still a bit up and down. There are weeks where we too are tearing teams apart, but other games, we look pretty lacklustre and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s because our key players of 30+ CANNOT do it every week – or more to the point, play three matches in eight days. Yesterday, I thought Drogba, Ballack, Lamps and Deco all looked off the pace and if we play like that against Arsenal on the 29/11, I can only see one outcome, however well our defence perform.

I'll lay my cards on the table. I am not convinced Ancelotti is all that tactically. Watching his side throw away a three goal lead in Istanbul crystalised that opinion and I have yet to see anything for us to make me change it.

But you are right Heckel. We were more than capable of winning ugly under Saint Mourinho, and often did. However, that's not my point. My point is that both Mourinho and Hiddink were tactically proactive. For example, three subs at once, changes before half-time, formation changes such as JT up front. All right, some of those may have been made out of desparation due to the situation we were in at that point in time, but not always. With Jose and Hiddink I always got the feeling they were thinking one step ahead and were prepared to roll the dice and make changes. With Ancelotti I feel he is like Grant. A reactive manager. A "wait and see what the other bloke does and then I'll try and do something to counter it" manager.

Yesterday we were so damned narrow, especially in the first half down the right hand side, our play was forced through central midfield where United often had an extra man. Personally I would have hooked the woefully ineffective Deco at half-time, (when that bloke has gloves on it's generally a bad sign), dispensed with the diamond for a more conventional 4-4-2, and brought on Cole or even Belletti to play out wide and try and open up that side of the pitch. I would also have told Anelka to stay central and much closer to Drogba as he was terribly isolated for much of the game. And the Kalou for Drogba substitution! What was that all about?

All that said, we won. And I, like everyone else, am absolutely delighted we got the points. But, at home, against weakend opposition, there is no doubting we were second best for long periods. Given the circumstances I was hoping for a much more dominant performance. And when that wasn't forthcoming I expected better tactical changes from the manager to try and make it happen.

I agree that Ancelotti is not as conspicuously proactive as Mourinho in changing things and that he seemed a bit overwhelmed by the occasion yesterday. Is this the general trend? I don't know yet. I'm optimistic that once Zhirkov is match fit there will be a plan B to the diamond. I'm surpised how well the diamond has worked, to be honest, so I think that either Ancelotti knows something I don't, or he's got lucky so far playing Italian tactics in the PL. People said Wenger's passing game wouldn't work, and it won them three titles, with less expenditure than other title winning sides, so at this point I have an open mind with regard to his midfield tactics. He's playing Drogba and Anelka together, which has been working a charm. Would Mourinho have played two out and out strikers? He'd get paranoid about losing the midfield, so it's unlikely.

On the other points of management: defensive organisation, man management and inspiration Carlo seems to be doing very well. This is the man who survived 8 years not-out under Berlusconi, and early signs are that he's managing the Roman relationship well.

Sure Milan lost to Liverpool in the final in farcical circumstances BUT he led the same side to victory two years later. Did Mourinho manage to lift his squad up for the CL title after heartbreaking near misses?

if we play like that against Arsenal on the 29/11, I can only see one outcome, however well our defence perform.

Dont think so. Arsenal is going to have much more problems to cope with our diamond than teams like Liverpool or Manu have. And Arsenal is going to play for a win probably. Which will mean more space for us, and that means Arsenals defence wont be able to stop us for the whole 90minutes. If they play for a draw like Manu, we are still in a better position because we just have experience, patience and the needed accuracy, and that are things that you just need in a close match without many clear cut chances. So Im optimistic.

if we play like that against Arsenal on the 29/11, I can only see one outcome, however well our defence perform.

we wont play like that against arsenal, simply because they wont play like utd did against us on sunday. the mancs had one game plan, close down everythnig chelsea, even to the point they basically had valencia marking ash cole, and giggs tucking in to mark our defensive midfielder, essien. there will be a hell of a lot more space for chelsea to play in v arsenal which will hopefully give us much more attacking play. i ws worried by the way carlo didnt change things, but it was a big match we couldnt lose, and he seemed to be of that opinion too. utd closed everything down and swamped the midfield, and their players were good enough to do that job. they created one decent chance, and if rooney hadn played they would have had no attack at all.