Posted April 6, 201015 yr I was on here pretty quickly after the draw to Blackburn expressing what had actually been a building frustration. I now have to hold my hands up and say well done Anchaloti. I don't know if we will win the league, it's still too tight to call. I felt that if united won on Saturday they had one hand on the league but us winning has opened it up again. I still have my reservations about his ability to change a game when it's not going right or his ability adapt, his record in Italy is still not all that great and I still Hate the diamond. All that said I was sure he would ring the changes for the united game, ala ranaiari. Was fairly confident that he would play a team to stiffly united strengths as opposed to exposing there weakness and more importantly making them worry about us. Personally I’m never a fan of putting a team out there primarily to nullify the opposition, I think the best way to do this is to make them defend put pressure on a team from the front. He stuck with the team that beat Villa so emphatically and it paid of
April 7, 201015 yr We haven't been playing the diamond for a long time now. Could have worked for us but players in key positions for this formation were missing some necessary attributes.
April 7, 201015 yr Good confessional, Barak, even with the reservation about Carlo’s game-changing ability, which worries me a little too. The Blackburn game was definitely a turning point and all credit to him for finding the right formula against Villa, being brave enough to stick with it against United, especially as it contained the Joe Cole ingredient, and as a direct result we may end up with a fourth Chelsea player in the World Cup squad.
April 7, 201015 yr Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere, but a nice article on Carlo. http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/co...icle382503.html Edited April 7, 201015 yr by kibz
April 7, 201015 yr I'm glad to see people are starting to come around to him. It was always going to be a tough ask following in the steps of Hiddink, and though there is always a learning curve with a new team Carlo has been far from peerless. Great start: let downs against Wigan and Blackburn in the cup, great fall in which we ran riot, followed by the injuries and then the succession of lost opportunities and dropped points. Now it seems like we are back on track at just the right time. Nothing is decided yet, but with 5 games to go in his first season, I think its fair to say we have a manager that can roll with the punches, knows how to go back to the drawing board, and above all isnt Scolari mk. 2
April 7, 201015 yr How everyone is mellowing with age... :) Although I'm impressed with our play and our win against Manure, I'm still not sure. Before Manure, we had some good matches and some bad matches, here and there even a flash of brilliance and a flash of utter crap. It's too mixed, and I think I will wait til the end of the season to declare myself.
April 7, 201015 yr Thats a bit of a cop out, Val. What if he wins the league, then will he be worthy of your praise and full support? If so, then what if he starts out losing a few games next season, would you turn on him right away? Fans need to stop being so fickle and get behind the managers, he is CLEARLY a classy act, a fantastic personality for the club and he is certainly no mug. It's his first season in English football and has done a great job. He has tried and tested many systems and setups and now he has settled on what is working best for now. He has Ferguson in the long grass every time and knows how to play him. We will rebuild, we will get better. To the future. :)
April 7, 201015 yr Oh! Dear! During the match against Blackburn all the time I walked through the house and said, "Ancelotti Out." Now that I deeply regret! : (
April 7, 201015 yr Hang your head in shame!! Oh! Dear! During the match against Blackburn all the time I walked through the house and said, "Ancelotti Out." Now that I deeply regret! : ( Hang your head in shame!! (something weird happening here - my cursor refuses to appear in the relpy box - and if I make a mistkae I have to delete right back to the mistake, which is why I'm leaving the last mistake!)
April 7, 201015 yr He still has alot to prove, make no mistake, 1 game does not make a season. For Manu away, there has been Man City a home, for Arsenal away, there was Blackburn away. However....... THAT result at the weekend, when the odds were stacked against him, with every Chelsea fan, ever the pessimist, thinking, this is it, this is where we blow the title, and for everyone who had the little thought of maybe,....just maybe! He proved himself! He came out on top at Old Trafford, out thought Fergie and his side out played and out fought United. The result itself reminded me of when Chelsea fans finally endeared themselves to Ranieri at Highbury, when we eventually beat Arsenal after 12 years and accepted him as one of us (we all know what happended in the next round but thats another story!) This result has laid the ghost of Mourinho, not completely for some, but a little further for now, and the Chelsea fans can finally start to warm to the new fella, how long is anybody's guess. He's already had his name sung at Stamford Bridge........let's hope he can get us over the hurdle of our next 5 games, if we fall at this stage it'd be very hard to swallow!!!! Let's not throw it away now! Carlo, Carlo, Carlo.....!
April 9, 201015 yr Thats a bit of a cop out, Val. What if he wins the league, then will he be worthy of your praise and full support?If so, then what if he starts out losing a few games next season, would you turn on him right away? Fans need to stop being so fickle and get behind the managers, he is CLEARLY a classy act, a fantastic personality for the club and he is certainly no mug. It's his first season in English football and has done a great job. He has tried and tested many systems and setups and now he has settled on what is working best for now. He has Ferguson in the long grass every time and knows how to play him. We will rebuild, we will get better. To the future. :D It's not a cop-out. We've played too many dismal matches with deplorable tactics to all of a sudden declare Ancelotti our new Redeemer. I just don't believe that all at once the things we criticised Ancelotti for (substitutions in the 89th minute for example) have magically disappeared after beating Manure. Now, that would be fickle. And as I've said in other threads, I don't mind us losing a few matches, but the way we lost quite a few points this season was totally unnecessary. Edited April 9, 201015 yr by Valerie
April 9, 201015 yr Look at the other teams...everyone has been taking defeats this year. At the end of the day, we are top, any negative talk surrounding Carlo at this stage I find astonishing.
April 9, 201015 yr It's not a cop-out. We've played too many dismal matches with deplorable tactics to all of a sudden declare Ancelotti our new Redeemer. I just don't believe that all at once the things we criticised Ancelotti for (substitutions in the 89th minute for example) have magically disappeared after beating Manure. Now, that would be fickle. And as I've said in other threads, I don't mind us losing a few matches, but the way we lost quite a few points this season was totally unnecessary. So you think he hasnt done well, even after coming to a new team in a new country, even after losing several main players for weeks on end, even after putting up with the fallout of Jt and Ash Coles misdemeanours?
April 9, 201015 yr I hope it does not happen but it maybe interesting to see the reactions (of the same individuals) if we loose another game this season.
April 9, 201015 yr I hope it does not happen but it maybe interesting to see the reactions (of the same individuals) if we loose another game this season. My guess -
April 9, 201015 yr Is that you waxing your legs, dickywuh? i dont do leg waxing, i do an all over body wax baby....
April 9, 201015 yr I hope it does not happen but it maybe interesting to see the reactions (of the same individuals) if we loose another game this season. We all have our reservations, as I mentioned in my post above, but we have 5 games to go, win them all and we win the league. This is no time to be taking pot-shots at the manager, we've had all year to do that, and most of us have!! But so far we've have had a mid-season crisis, our skipper has become a public hate figure, most of our key players have been injured at key times of the season, Boswinga, Ivanovic, Essien, Joe Cole, Zhirkov, Ashley Cole. Cech, more players at the ACN than our rivals etc.. the list goes on. But we're still top! It's time to get behind the manager, the team, and win these last 5 matches. It's time to pull together!
April 9, 201015 yr Against United, Carlo was a different man, vocal, celebrated the goals - I think he is settling in more now.
April 9, 201015 yr This is no time to be taking pot-shots at the manager, we've had all year to do that, and most of us have!! But so far we've have had a mid-season crisis, our skipper has become a public hate figure, most of our key players have been injured at key times of the season, Boswinga, Ivanovic, Essien, Joe Cole, Zhirkov, Ashley Cole. Cech, more players at the ACN than our rivals etc.. the list goes on. But we're still top!It's time to get behind the manager, the team, and win these last 5 matches. It's time to pull together! I never said not to back our manager, I have done it at times when I thot he was pretty crap. I was just referring to the section that go with results and what the media says/ prints rather than using their brains. So there is no need to get touchy here. Yeah I am glad we are top and I am confident we will win the league.
April 9, 201015 yr I was looking a recent topic to put this and this isn't quite the place but it can be credited to Carlo as well, somehow... I just read a preview on the Villa game and it mentioned our injuries. I bolded the players currently injured. The 11 that dominated the fall period of PL. ---------------Cech----------------- Bosingwa--Carvalho--JT---A.Cole --------------Essien----------------- Ballack--------------------Malouda ------------Lampard---------------- -------Anelka----Drogba----------- We are still on top of the prem and biggest contestant on the FA. Our material is something else. Alex, Ivanovic, Zhirkov and Mikel all have done fantastic job covering for them. Well done Carlo and the whole squad.
April 10, 201015 yr So you think he hasnt done well, even after coming to a new team in a new country, even after losing several main players for weeks on end, even after putting up with the fallout of Jt and Ash Coles misdemeanours? You're jumping to conclusions DKW :) , nowhere I said he hadn't done well. I think he (or the team) could have done much better with a little more effort and some more clever tactics.
April 10, 201015 yr You're jumping to conclusions DKW :) , nowhere I said he hadn't done well. I think he (or the team) could have done much better with a little more effort and some more clever tactics. Done better than being top of the league and in the final of the FA cup in his first season?
April 10, 201015 yr Done better than being top of the league and in the final of the FA cup in his first season? There's always a better, although I get what Val is implying. Not too long ago we were, at the very least, having doubts on his capability to manage a team like Chelsea and in just one game everything has changed? He made one bold decision and we won the game...what if he had made a few more decisions when we needed them, those 90th min subs, starting with Ballack every game etc etc? We might have put clear daylight between us and the chasing pack. Anyway, leaving all the could haves and should haves, time to fully support our manager. Onwards and upwards!!
