Posts Tagged ‘Roman Abramovich’

Chelsea reinvigorated by Carlo’s way

Just when Chelsea’s power appeared to be waning, Carlo Ancelotti has restored the invincible aura of old.

Chelsea must appear to Manchester United as a Terminator rolling out from under a blazing oil tanker, shoving an eye back in and remounting its Harley Davidson with shotgun primed. The old aura of power and indestructibility is returning.

The Premier League leaders were ordered by their new chief executive last week to “shoot for the stars”. But Roman Abramovich had to pay the stars first. Huge new contracts have been awarded to the team’s glitterati to fuel the resurgence United face in London today.

The big push is on at Stamford Bridge. Abramovich’s inner circle of long-servers can glimpse the end of their Chelsea days and a core of diehards have been financially doped to restore the club’s hegemony, which ended with the second of José Mourinho’s Premier League title wins in 2006. Peter Kenyon’s promise to “turn the world blue” seemed all the more laughable as the English landscape went back to red.

In the past 12 months big new deals and contract extensions have been dished out to Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole, Florent Malouda, Alex and even Salomon Kalou. Joe Cole, 28 today, is next on Abramovich’s list of men-who-must-be-encouraged. The Russian owner tired of being fleeced in the international transfer market. To end a three-year run with only a couple of FA Cups to show for his £150m annual wage bill, the oligarch turned back to the strength within.

“With the new contracts the club wants to maintain this squad and think of the future. To have a very good atmosphere – this was important,” Ancelotti says. “Joe Cole wants to stay here and we want to keep him. There will not be a problem with his future.”

The fruit of forking out these fidelity premiums has been 14 wins in 17 matches in all competitions, a smooth Champions League progression, leadership of the domestic title race and 17 goals with none conceded in four outings before the 2-2 midweek draw at Atlético Madrid. As with all things in the English game, there is a risk of over-statement. The victims in the recent 4-0, 5-0, 4-0 and 4-0 thrashings were Bolton (twice), a disintegrating Atlético and Blackburn. Errant defending at set plays were at the root of two Premier League away defeats, at Wigan and Aston Villa.

But the sense of renewal is palpable. Chelsea’s players, remember, can see that Liverpool are diminished, Arsenal raw and United currently below their symphonic best. Drogba, who signed for an extra two years in August, is unstoppable, with 12 goals in 13 matches. Ancelotti’s midfield diamond has unleashed the defence-trashing power of Drogba and Nicolas Anelka and rendered the side more expressive. These are feats that were beyond Luiz Felipe Scolari, Abramovich’s original choice to wipe away the greyness of the Avram Grant era.

On Friday came another victory: the suspension of the club’s transfer ban, courtesy of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which allows Chelsea to stockpile new talent in January in case the Fifa penalty is eventually enforced. Ancelotti, though, says reinforcements are “not necessary”, despite the impending loss of four players for six to eight games in January for the Africa Cup of Nations. Here, Abramovich is reaping the harvest of hiring a manager who is accustomed to coaching the players he already has. In Serie A, incoming coaches seldom start with the obligatory English declaration about transfer war chests.

“I think he [Ancelotti] has done a really good job quickly and he is helped because he has had experienced players round him,” says Sir Alex Ferguson. “They can understand a change of tactics better than younger players. If you look at Ballack and Deco, they come from places where tactics are more of an issue. Anelka and Drogba have played abroad so it’s not surprising they have adapted.

“It’s the same as how he operated in Milan, with the difference being that at Milan he had Kaká. That made a hell of a difference to what he was able to do at Milan and the point I would make is that Chelsea are still looking for someone in a forward role to balance their team better. They have tried Lampard there, they have tried Deco there, they have even tried Malouda there and now they have brought in Joe Cole. But they have the experience to cope.”

Recently, Ancelotti defined his tactical thinking: “I prefer to play with two strikers and one midfielder behind the strikers. These [Chelsea] players can play in this system, with a diamond in midfield.” Liberation was Scolari’s aim, too, but the players rejected the culture shock of being bounced into a Brazilian/Portuguese style, with a lone striker, and insufficient attention to defensive drills.

At Chelsea’s Cobham training ground on Friday, a faintly tense Ancelotti waved away the theory that his side are now more entertaining than United. “Exciting play arrives because you can use players with quality. We can use those players but so can Manchester United. I don’t think we are playing the more exciting football.”

Yet Chelsea are outscoring their northern foe and can move five points clear in the table if they extend their record of not losing to United at Stamford Bridge in nine games stretching back to 2002. The muscularity and relentlessness of the Chelsea midfield has been one of United’s toughest obstacles and has encouraged Ferguson to set-up more cautiously against Lampard, Ballack and Essien for fear of being swamped. Ancelotti insists that Arsenal will play a hand in this title race, but already the debate is about whether United can maintain their narrow superiority over Arsène Wenger’s neighbours.

The return of Joe Cole, to the tip of ‘Carletto’s’ diamond, revives the cliche of an influential player returning with the glow of a new acquisition. “I trust in his quality. He’s a very good runner and he’s dynamic,” Ancelotti says. “His return is very important for the club. The same is true of Paulo Ferreira. For that reason I say we don’t need other players.”

Yet the age profile of United’s opponents this afternoon encourages urgency in a team of Champions League nearly men. For three consecutive seasons, Chelsea have chased home Ferguson’s men in domestic combat, finishing second, second and third. Lampard is 31, Michael Ballack 33, Anelka 30, Drogba 31, Deco 32, Carvalho 31. Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Florent Malouda and Terry are all in the golden 28-29 range. Essien, at 26, is the pup.

At Milan, Ancelotti presided over a gerontocracy, so he can hardly be expected to agree that time is running out for the team Mourinho mostly built. He says: “Terry is a young player, Lampard is a young player, so is Ashley Cole. When a player is 30-years-old he is in the centre of his career. Ten years ago he was an old player. Not now. With the new physical training and other things 30-years-old is the best moment of your career.”

But this ignores the reality that United and Arsenal are more adept at self-renewal. The youth programmes of those institutions shame Chelsea’s poor record of feeding homegrown players into the first XI. Their transfer ban stemmed from the over-zealous pursuit of Gaël Kakuta, a gifted youngster from France who was the club’s Scholar of the Year last season and has earned glowing reviews. As the Terry-Lampard generation continue to feast on Abramovich’s largesse, there has been panic further down the age line, as the owner’s entourage grapple with the latest loss (£65.7m) and seek the mythical break-even moment in a business that has paid £23.1m in compensation to sacked coaches, and returns 70% of its turnover to the players.

There was further evidence of this corporate unease when Kenyon’s successor, Ron Gourlay, announced that naming rights to Stamford Bride were up for grabs. “Our sponsorship architecture” was Gourlay’s novel phrase to describe this part of the business plan. “Maybe you won’t see as much brashness going forward [now that Kenyon has gone],” Gourlay said, and then proceeded to pick out two Champions League titles in five years as a realistic target. “That may sound aggressive, but I think we can do it.”

These Orwellian pronouncements never sound good from people with attaché cases, and there remains a risk that this brand of thinking will infect the playing side. Joe Cole seemed to have caught the bug in midweek when saying: “Chelsea are building a genuine claim to be as big as the Manchester Uniteds, the Real Madrids, the Milans, but you have to win trophies.”

The revival started not with Ancelotti but Guus Hiddink, who, in his five months, understood the team’s core strengths and saw that not too much was wrong with his best 20 players. According to Ferguson, Ancelotti will not feel Mourinho’s shadow, as Grant and Scolari did. “I don’t think Carlo is worried about that at all; he has his own CV. It is impressive, he has won two European Cups and the Scudetto and how many European medals has he got? His European pedigree is unquestionable.”

To most eyes today’s collision is a battle of the two best teams in the land, and therefore a synopsis of the fight to win this year’s Premier League. Mourinho’s Chelsea “raised the bar” between 2004 and 2006, Ferguson said at the time, and now United’s pre-eminence is again under assault from a team stabilised by Hiddink and Ancelotti and spurred on by lavish contract extensions.

The task was never to buy a new winning machine but to recalibrate the one that lost perhaps 10% of its effectiveness when Grant and Scolari were playing with the levers. If Chelsea are a team that runs itself, as many believe, the leaders appear remotivated to leave behind the agonies of the Champions League final penalty shoot-out defeat to United in Moscow and the injustice of last season’s semi-final loss to Barcelona, in which they almost tamed one of the best club sides ever assembled.

They always had the power, now they just need the glory back.

Chelsea 5-0 Blackburn

Nine goals in four days seems like a more than reasonable way to get a blip out of the system. During the second-half tornado, a blue force ripped through Blackburn, inhabitants of the Shed End jumped with enough vigour to test the stand’s foundations, and there was a buzz in the air that made you wonder if Carlo Ancelotti had found the X-factor Roman Abramovich has long been after.

This was a thrill-a-minute Chelsea, a forward-thinking Chelsea, a team brimming with goals and attacking intent. Frank Lampard gave a vintage display. Didier Drogba was a menace all evening. Michael Essien scored a picturebook goal. And Joe Cole enjoyed his first league start since 11 January at the head of the midf flashes even though he was understandably a little rusty. Ancelotti was impressed enough to call him “a genius”.

Such was Cole’s impact and all-round popularity, Lampard confessed later to feeling bad that he had taken the penalty for Chelsea’s fourth goal, rather than giving it to his mate after an eight-month absence.

In the past week, Chelsea have responded powerfully to setbacks at Aston Villa and Wigan. It was as if they took surrendering top spot as a personal insult. This was an emphatic way to retake the position, even though Manchester United may overtake them again at Anfield today. “For one day only, I will be a fan of Liverpool,” smiled Ancelotti.

What a bloody nose for a Blackburn team who are suffering notable travel sickness. They are in the middle of a run on the road that has served up Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. Here, as at Emirates Stadium, they were out of their depth. Sam Allardyce intimated he may need to field 13 players to get an improvement next time out.

“Pathetic,” was how Blackburn’s manager condemned what he saw. “I am bitterly disappointed in the players’ lack of understanding of the situation. All the tactics went out the window. We haven’t got the resilience, mental strength, physical presence to go away from home and win games.” It did not help that a virus is sweeping through the squad.

They were only a goal down at half-time. Michael Ballack’s slide-rule pass sent Nicolas Anelka scurrying up the left flank. The Frenchman clipped a cross in the general direction of the onrushing Didier Drogba. Frankly, that was near enough. Just having Drogba breathing down his neck was sufficient to panic Gaël Givet into turning the ball past Paul Robinson. The crestfallen defender covered his head with his shirt in dismay. A tough task for Blackburn just got tougher. Robinson kept them in contention for a while. But the breathing space Chelsea craved arrived early in the second half, with two goals in four minutes — the signal for a complete breakdown in the opposition ranks. Lampard, fresh from rediscovering his scoring touch in midweek, scored with a trademark finish when Drogba’s cross was cleared into his path.

Then came the moment that really liberated Chelsea and clicked the enjoyment button into overdrive. Essien was 35 yards out when he let fly with a ferocious drive that glossed with a mighty swerve. With that, Robinson’s evening took a turn for the worse. It was potshot time.

There was a tangible shift in Chelsea’s body language. Everybody wanted a piece of the action, with the Stamford Bridge brigade yelling “shoooot” at will. Anelka seized the moment to fire one in at Robinson. The goalkeeper seemed struck by nerves and butterfingers.

Just before the hour, Ryan Nelsen was penalised for a trip on Drogba and Lampard stepped up for the penalty. He sent Robinson the wrong way to dispatch his third goal of the week. He might have had another had Alan Wiley awarded another penalty when Robinson tripped Drogba. Not to be.

In the 63rd minute, Chelsea made the most of a set piece as Drogba slammed a header past Robinson. This was perhaps the most satisfying goal of all for Ancelotti. “After Aston Villa, we had a good solution about set plays,” he pointed out. “We scored two against Atlético Madrid and one here. We have improved very quickly and very well.”

All in all, it made for the best performance since he arrived at the club. Ancelotti returned to Italy after the game to see his ailing father, but expects to be back in London tomorrow morning with good news about his recovery.

THE FANS’ PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

Trizia Fiorellino, Chelsea Supporters Group A good win, although Blackburn were the makers of their own undoing with an absolutely woeful performance. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I don’t think we ever had to get out of second gear and still managed to absolutely hammer them. Joe Cole did well on his first start after injury, even though he looked knackered after half an hour. We’ve missed his creative passes. I felt sorry for the Blackburn supporters who had come down – that was a performance to make you angry.

The fan’s player ratings Cech 7; Ivanovic 7, Carvalho 7 (Bruma 66 7), Terry 8, Belletti 7 (Ferreira 60 7); Essien 8, Ballack 8, Lampard 9; J Cole 8 (Sturridge 76 7); Anelka 7, Drogba 8

Mike Delap, Blackburn.VitalFootball.co.uk At least against Arsenal a couple of weeks ago we gave it a good go. Here, we looked more concerned with damage limitation and avoiding a cricket score. It’s easy to make excuses and the absence of our biggest goal threats in Samba and Dunn didn’t help. But Nzonzi was the only one who looked interested in getting on the ball and making something happen. It’s hard to watch Blackburn play like that when you know they’re much better than what you’re witnessing.

The fan’s player ratings Robinson 6; Jacobsen 5 (Salgado 59 5), Nelsen 5, Givet 4, Olsson 6; Diouf 5, Emerton 5, Nzonzi 6, Andrews 4, Pedersen 4 (Hoilett 68 6); Roberts 5 (Kalinic 53 6)

To take part in the Fans’ Verdict, email fans.premier@observer.co.uk

Ancelotti charts Chelsea’s course ahead

Italian works to resolve the slow passing that has blighted their last two games

Roman Abramovich watched the Chelsea training session at Cobham today in which his manager, Carlo Ancelotti, confidently claims to have “resolved” the problems that had hampered the team’s displays in their last two games before the visit of Liverpool to Stamford Bridge.

Ancelotti has overseen nine wins from 10 competitive games, a record worthy of the manager’s pedigree, yet he has just endured his toughest week since taking up the reins in south-west London. The surprise defeat at Wigan Athletic and Wednesday’s unconvincing victory at Apoel Nicosia prompted angry post-match reactions from the Italian in the dressing room, with the stuttering displays untimely given Liverpool’s visit on Sunday represents this side’s most daunting test to date.

There was nothing sinister to read into Abramovich’s presence on the touchline at the training ground, the Russian watching alongside the director Eugene Tenenbaum before speaking briefly to his manager, though it will have served to remind the playing squad that better is expected of them. Ancelotti expressed as much before leaving Nicosia, with the Italian convinced now that he has pinpointed and rectified the problems that had undermined his team’s challenge at the DW Stadium and in Cyprus.

“I spoke with Roman, that’s normal,” said the manager. “He watched training and said ‘hello’ to the players, and I didn’t ask him if he was worried. I think he is happy because his team is [joint] top of the table, and top of their Champions League group. But I watched the game against Apoel again and found something that we didn’t do well, and we worked this morning to improve that. We will play better on Sunday.

“The problem we met in the last game was with our possession of the ball. It was too ’soft’. We have to improve the speed of our passing. Only this. We have to change the speed at which we pass the ball to the forwards. We have analysed the situation and resolved the problem. We have a possibility now to go and win this game against Liverpool if we play better than we did on Wednesday. I’m sure we will play better.”

The occasionally pedestrian nature of Chelsea’s approach was a criticism leveled at Luiz Felipe Scolari a year ago, the players expressing their own concerns at the time, with Ancelotti clearly keen to address the issue. “He said we should go back to playing football and working for each other which worked well in the first games,” said Michael Ballack, who has returned to fitness following a calf injury and should start on Sunday. “In football, if you are on top and winning games everyone wants to play well against you, put in more effort and beat you. Every game we have to do a little bit more, and that’s what we have to know. We should know that if we do a little bit less, it affects our game.”

The club’s chairman, Bruce Buck, said last week that the board had expected Chelsea to have won the games they have faced to date this season given the fixtures, but Liverpool offer a sterner test.

Ancelotti admitted that Rafael Benítez, the manager he opposed with Milan in the 2005 and 2007 Champions League finals, has proved one of his toughest opponents with this their first meeting outside European competition. They were contrasting occasions in Istanbul and Athens, the horror of the Rossoneri’s capitulation in the first match tempered by the revenge Ancelotti inflicted upon Liverpool two years later.

“There’s no pain still from that game in 2005,” he said. “In football, difficult moments can be good and help you improve. It was a difficult moment, for sure, but if you lose in a final you must remember that you got to the final in the first place. We lost an unbelievable game that night, and it was one of the best matches my Milan team played. It is always in my memory – it’s not a positive memory, but not too negative – but, for me, 2007 was destiny. To return after two years and have revenge against Liverpool was, for us, fantastic. We were always sure to win that game.

“In Fernando Torres Liverpool have a complete striker, a player capable of scoring with his head, with both feet and who has great pace. We have to work hard to block the passes to Torres and [Steven] Gerrard, staying compact between the lines. But Benítez’s teams are also always defensively very well organised. They work very well to win the ball and I like the kind of work Benítez makes them put in. His teams are very difficult to play against. It is as if he has watched a lot of matches in the Italian championship. They do not concede many opportunities with the defensive unit he has. I just hope it will be easier on Sunday.”

Kevin McCarra: Gourlay must find Chelsea’s soul

Ron Gourlay, Chelsea’s replacement for Peter Kenyon, has to deal with the club’s dearth of personality since the José Mourinho publicity machine left

Chelsea have developed a taste for understatement. The confirmation that Ron Gourlay is taking the step up from chief operating officer to chief executive carries no glitz. When his predecessor Peter Kenyon decided to leave Manchester United so that he could start work with Chelsea early in 2004 there was, by contrast, a rancour and fascination that never quite vanished.

Everyone seemed to hold a grievance, from the United supporters who thought he was a City fan to Chelsea spectators who could not forget he had come from Old Trafford. Kenyon and chief executives in general have received undue emphasis. Individuals with great gifts might bring about some sort of transformation but most are prisoners of circumstance.

Kenyon came into that category. He negotiated a sponsorship deal with Samsung that was worth around £11m a year to Chelsea until 2010. United were getting some £14m a year from AIG. Chelsea then achieved better terms from Samsung for an extension to 2013 but the figure almost certainly falls short of the £20m a year that United can reportedly expect when their deal with their new sponsors, Aon, starts in 2010.

That level of funding owes much to the magnetism of a club with so rich a history. A chief executive cannot deliver that single-handed and it is no coincidence that Kenyon’s fortunes with Chelsea were at their peak in the early days of José Mourinho, before the ceaseless controversies under the Portuguese appeared to exhaust Roman Abramovich.

Since the results on the field matter so much a chief executive supplies the voice of the club only when a manager lacks the status or track record to get a proper hearing. The well-regarded David Gill, to his certain relief, does not have to go hoarse at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson’s words always take precedence. The same is true of Arsenal, where Ivan Gazidis can go about his business in full confidence that Arsène Wenger is in command of the communications that truly matter to fans.

Chelsea have been lacking that type of voice. Guus Hiddink did have the presence to make people listen but he was around only in a caretaker capacity. It does look as if there is a rebalancing of Chelsea, with the focus on the game itself now that the sporting director, Frank Arnesen, has been deemed worthy of an enhanced role. Abramovich, with that promotion, has at least chosen to stress that football games are the core of the club’s being.

Arnesen, however, is unlikely to be addressing the public very often. Abramovich himself prefers to be mute and Eugene Tenenbaum, the director regarded as his representative, is unlikely to speak out either. The manager, Carlo Ancelotti, in view of the language barrier, will not be holding forth and, following his eight years at Milan under the demagogue Silvio Berlusconi, he is unlikely to become a figurehead now.

Chelsea still lack the identity they had when Mourinho’s hopes, quirks and outbursts filled the club with personality.

Kenyon to step down at Chelsea

• Kenyon: ‘I am extremely proud of my time at Chelsea’
• ‘I have at least one major challenge left in me,’ he says

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon is to step down from his full-time role with the club from 31 October, the club announced today.

Kenyon will continue to be a non-executive director and represent Chelsea on various Uefa and the European Clubs’ Association committees.

In a statement on the Chelsea website, Kenyon said: “I am extremely proud of my time at Chelsea and of the friendships I have forged with everyone here. I have been in football for 15 years and I can say with great certainty and pleasure the experience at Chelsea is one of the best I have had.

“I think we have really built a club, in a relatively short space of time, that can be in the forefront of European football for many years to come. That is a major achievement. I intend to take a little time off before considering what I do next but I am certain I have at least one major challenge left in me.”

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck said: “Peter has done a fantastic job for Chelsea in the last five-and-a-half years and has been absolutely central to the success on and off the field we have had during that time. Without his football knowledge and business acumen Chelsea would not be where we are today.

“Everyone at Chelsea thanks him for that contribution and although he will not be with us on a permanent basis he will have an important role to play as a non-executive director and in the various roles he holds in European football bodies.”

Kenyon joined Chelsea after leaving a similar post at Manchester United, has been with at Stamford Bridge since February 2004 when he was recruited to increase the club’s commercial potential as part of the many changes brought in when Roman Abramovich became the new owner.