 SATURDAY NOVEMBER 21 2009 |
| Opinion | |
| Enigmatic Ancelotti moulding formidable force at Chelsea | |
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NOV 7 — Given time, football teams invariably start to reflect the personality of their manager. It’s probably an unconscious process; managers don’t sit in their offices and think, “You know what, I’m a cheerful, laid-back, carefree kind of guy. So I want my team to play relaxed, happy-go-lucky football. Hey, it’s only a game!” No, it doesn’t work like that. But there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that, given the opportunity to mould, shape and develop a team, a manager will choose to select players, a system, a style of play and a general attitude that corresponds to his own personality. |
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Don’t believe it? The transposition of personality from manager onto team is clearly demonstrated by Britain’s leading bosses. Sir Alex Ferguson: aggressive, supremely confident, in-your-face and intimidatory; knows what he wants and how to get it. Never afraid to question authority and, above all else, a winner. Doesn’t that sound more than a little like Manchester United? Arsene Wenger: the intellectual, cerebral, artistic foreigner; an unusually gifted creative genius, but prone to occasional outbreaks of childish petulance and can sometimes stand accused of favouring style over substance. Arsenal, anyone? Rafa Benitez: conservative, cautious and quietly efficient. Lacking exuberant flamboyance but an organised, intelligent, probing and analytical “thinker” who pays utmost attention to the finest of details. For Benitez, read Liverpool. So what can we deduce about Chelsea and Carlo Ancelotti? At the moment, we’re not quite sure. Nobody in the British media has quite decided where to pigeonhole the new Blues boss; he is proving something of an enigma. Ancelotti is calm and controlled on the sidelines, yet not so detached as to earn accusations of lacking passion. Measured and insightful in press conferences, with the rare ability to avoid sparking controversial headlines. No wars of words with opposing managers; no bitter outbursts against referees; no unfair condemnations of opposition players... he just seems to be a rational, reasonable, sensible man. And there’s no pigeonhole in the British press for rational, reasonable, sensible men. The increasingly attractive and attacking style of play on show at Stamford Bridge is also a little disconcerting, because Ancelotti arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer with the reputation as a somewhat negative, defensively-minded tactician. That perception fitted nicely with the received British understanding of an Italian footballer, one that seems to have first appeared in the 1960s with the rise to prominence of the “catenaccio” (‘bolted door’) defensive system. Italian football, and the Italian language, gave birth to the most negative style of play in world football, providing a simple stereotypical framework to judge all Italian footballers to land on these shores (Gianfranco Zola being the honourable exception, but then he hails from Sicily so he’s not a real Italian). Yes, they might well be cultured, good-looking, exotic and glamorous, with impressive levels of technical ability and tactical nous... but when push comes to shove Italian footballers will resort to their default setting of negative, cynical, ultra-professional, defensive catenaccio; it’s in their genetic make-up. The perfect example: Italy are the reigning world champions, but their 2006 triumph isn’t remembered for sparkling play, great goals or thrilling entertainment; it’s remembered for Marco Materazzi goading Zinedine Zidane into getting himself sent off with (allegedly) gruesome taunts about the French captain’s sister. Even Fabio Capello’s huge success to date with the English national team has helped perpetuate the myth of the Italian defence-first mentality. Capello, the British press widely agreed, will at last provide the England team with the required level of hard-nosed, cold-blooded, ruthless and organised professionalism that has for so long been missing. Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Ferdinand... they’re all world-class players, but they need someone to turn them into world-class winners. Enter Capello, the stern, don’t-suffer-fools and take-no-prisoners Italian; he’ll do the job. So Ancelotti’s evolution of Chelsea’s style has been perplexing. He has simply not met our expectations. Under his stewardship, the Blues were supposed to be winning ugly; relying on the defensive talents of Terry, Carvalho and Cech to grind out unattractive and unmemorable 1-0 wins. Successful? Yes. But stylish? No, that certainly wasn’t in the script. Yet here they are, averaging more than two goals a game — including 19 in the last five. Just who is this man? And how dare he refuse to fit into our stereotypical understanding of Italian managers?! Only time will tell how Ancelotti’s personality will become imprinted onto his Chelsea team — maybe he’ll even succeed in changing that well-worn stereotype of Italian football? For now, it suffices to know that he is leading a mightily impressive outfit who are expected to make life extremely uncomfortable for Manchester United at Stamford Bridge this weekend. United have looked increasingly vulnerable this season, which has been something of a surprise. Without Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, they were expected to be a less potent attacking force than last season’s vintage; defensively, though, few people anticipated the fragility that was exposed once again in Wednesday’s 3-3 draw against CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford. With Rio Ferdinand out-of-form and now injured (probably not unrelated factors), the Reds have lost their defensive lynchpin and tomorrow’s trip to their arch title rivals could hardly have come at a worse time. Meetings between Chelsea and Manchester United are usually full-blooded affairs, but this one might be more one-sided than most. If Chelsea win convincingly, they will take a huge step towards the Premier League title — and that is the outcome I am expecting. With Didier Drogba in the form of his life and Joe Cole fully fit to further augment an already awesome midfield also containing Frank Lampard, Deco, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien, there’s no doubt that Ancelotti has got the Blues firing on all cylinders; we’re just not quite sure how he’s done it. PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES Today (11pm kick off unless stated) Aston Villa vs Bolton Wanderers Blackburn Rovers vs Portsmouth Manchester City vs Burnley Tottenham Hotspur vs Sunderland Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Arsenal (1.30am, tomorrow) Tomorrow Hull City vs Stoke City (9.30pm) West Ham United vs Everton (11pm) Wigan Athletic vs Fulham (11pm) Chelsea vs Manchester United (midnight, Monday) Monday Liverpool vs Birmingham (4am, Tuesday) |
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