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Carlo: don't blame the keeper; Chelsea midfield failed
Topic Started: Dec 8 2009, 01:33 PM (67 Views)
reebokmecca
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Belief. Passion. England.
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Carlo Ancelotti has offered a timely public show of support for his goalkeeper, Petr Cech, following his costly error at Manchester City on Saturday and suggested Chelsea's defeat at Eastlands was actually caused more by his midfielders' inability to impose themselves on the contest.

The Premier League leaders had their advantage at the top cut to two points after the 2-1 defeat with Cech at fault for the hosts' winner, a Carlos Tevez free-kick early in the second half. The Czech international will be rested in this evening's final Champions League group game against Apoel Nicosia, a decision that was apparently taken before the weekend with Chelsea's progress as section winners assured and the 27-year-old suffering from a slight niggle in his knee. Ross Turnbull is set to be given a first competitive start.

Cech, who did not train today, will return for Saturday's visit of Everton to Stamford Bridge having been left frustrated by his display in Manchester. The experienced goalkeeper had come in for some criticism during Chelsea's two previous defeats under Ancelotti – Wigan and Aston Villa exploited set-pieces to score against them – as well as for Stoke's goal in a 2-1 victory at the Britannia Stadium.

But, while the manager admitted his No1 "could have done better" at Tevez's free-kick, which was conceded in the corner unprotected by the defensive wall, he pinpointed his midfield quartet's uncharacteristic failure to stamp their authority on the game as pivotal to the defeat. "Petr Cech is the best goalkeeper in England," Ancelotti said. "He has fantastic experience and knows very well when he has made a mistake. He could have done better, if you ask me, at the free-kick. The goalkeeper has to stay on his post and, if the player puts the ball over the wall and in, we have to congratulate him. The wall was good, we had four players in there. But even a good goalkeeper can make a mistake sometimes.

"Petr has done very well for us this season.: he takes responsibility and likes to come out and catch the ball in the box. Never, in my career, have I worked with a goalkeeper who comes out as much as he does, takes a risk to go for the ball and I like that in him. It is important, above all in England, to have a goalkeeper that comes out for crosses. I think that is the most important quality here. No, the problem at City was that we could have done better in that game as a team.

"City put strong pressure on our midfield after we scored, and we were not able to play through them from the back. They improved their strength in that first half, so we had this difficulty. Their tactics, with a high defensive line, were a surprise for us. There was nothing else. We have to work, to improve, and when an opponent puts pressure on our midfield we have to react and improve our play. Improve our support play, too, so we can open them up with the ball and use our offensive players. We had difficulty getting any service through to [Nicolas] Anelka and [Didier] Drogba in the first half."
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"Ashley Young didn't have time to play long balls when he was taking their left-back Gael Clichy to the cleaners." Martin O'Neill
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AntMcfc
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Blame Carvalho for intentionally leaving his boot in when it would have been so easy not to...
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Scholes
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Nothing's as it seems
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AntMcfc
Dec 8 2009, 01:35 PM
Blame Carvalho for intentionally leaving his boot in when it would have been so easy not to...
Yep, the bloke's a rat and he was rightly punished for being a complete nonce.
Scholes
 

Seriously, Frank Lampard is an absolute legend of the game. He needs to be recognised in some way eg. Frank Lampard OBE, Sir Frank Lampard or some kind of lifetime achievement award.

AntMcfc
 
Greatest ownage machine: Scholes. Absolute animal when he was a regular poster, I always knew I was in the right when he was backing me up, and I couldn't wait to read a topic that he was posting in because I knew he'd be tearing someone apart
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