Ancelotti blames fatigue

Blues boss concedes side are not in the best of form

Last updated: 21st December 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Ancelotti blames fatigue

Ancelotti: Not the best display

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Carlo Ancelotti believes a busy festive period for his side is responsible for Chelsea's below par display at West Ham on Sunday afternoon.

Chelsea were second best in the first half at Upton Park as they trailed to a Alessandro Diamanti penalty converted just before the break. Although they improved after the interval they owed their equaliser to a penalty controversially awarded after Matthew Upson appeared to play the ball in challenging Daniel Sturridge.

Frank Lampard kept his nerve to earn Chelsea a share of the spoils as referee Mike Dean made him take it three times due to infringements.

Ancelotti feels the last few weeks have taken a lot out of his side and concedes they are not performing at anything like their best.

"We started only in the last 45 minutes. Before we played without intensity and slow. We didn't move the ball quickly in midfield," he told Sky Sports.

"We're not in the best moment but every team has problems in this period.

"There are a lot of matches, every three days, and it's not easy to maintain concentration, to maintain strength every three days."

Terry support

Ancelotti went on to defend his captain John Terry following a newspaper report on Sunday morning that accused the England captain of accepting a financial payment to provide a tour of the club's training ground.

The News of the World claims that Terry arranged the visit to Chelsea's Cobham headquarters for three undercover reporters posing as businessmen without permission from Ancelotti.

It has been alleged Terry took a £10,000 payment, £8,000 of which he wanted to go to the 'Make A Wish' charity for children with the other £2,000 going to a middleman.

The paper has secretly recorded video footage of the negotiations, but Ancelotti gave the defender his full support after the draw at Upton Park.

"This is not true. I think the club, me and players have a lot of confidence in John Terry and he did nothing wrong," Ancelotti said.

"It is not necessary that I watch a video. I have a lot of confidence in my captain."

Ancelotti insisted Terry had been unaffected by the allegations as he prepared for the West Ham match. "He was very quiet, very calm and very concentrated before the game.

"He played a good game. He did his job."

Comments (1)

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Ryan Smith (Chelsea fan) says...

It is a bit pathetic for Ancellotti to suggest Chelsea are playing poorly because of fatigue when other teams face a similar predicament. West Ham has also been playing a hectic schedule, and even though they have a smaller squad with far less talented players and far less options, they still manage to look as good or even better than Chelsea today. I dont know what the problem is, it seems like the team is resting on its laurels. there are still though some good individual performances, notably Drogba (but he didnt have a great game today for once). Besides, if fatigue was such a problem, why not make wholesale changes in the team for the match against a West Ham side that is struggling. a second string Chelsea outfit would probably have fared at least as good, and allowed the 1st team to recuperate.

Posted 22:15 20th December 2009
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