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By Martin Samuel
Last updated at 11:48 PM on 21st February 2011

It has to be his decision. Fernando Torres starts for Chelsea in Copenhagen tonight and, whether right or wrong, we must hope Carlo Ancelotti has chosen the striker he wants, not the man he thinks the owner would pick.

This is the only way forward for Ancelotti now. If this is to be his final season at the club, as seems likely, he must go out picking his team, not trying to second guess Roman Abramovich. That way, if he wins, he makes a succinct point; if he fails, he does so his way and at least he was his own man, not an executive puppet.

That is the hit that Ancelotti’s reputation has taken since the departure of Ray Wilkins. That he could have been stronger; that he allowed Abramovich to meddle in his work and failed to protect the team and backroom staff from interference.

My way: Team selection must be the preserve of Carlo Ancelotti

This is possibly unfair. Ancelotti is said to have spoken strongly in favour of retaining Wilkins, and the former coach bears no grudge with the Italian over his departure.

Standing up to Abramovich is like fighting city hall. Sometimes the little man simply cannot win and there is no littler man than a Chelsea manager when Abramovich gets an idea in his head.

Yet, the players will not necessarily understand that. They will have expected a stronger stance on Wilkins from Ancelotti. Certainly, Chelsea’s results since Wilkins’ departure suggest a deeper malaise. Either Wilkins was a coaching genius and Chelsea’s success was largely down to him or the manner of his departure alienated the team and undermined Ancelotti in a way that has harmed morale, by making him seem a rube, a ‘yes’ man.

Chelsea managers that do not win the League are never given a second chance under Abramovich, so Ancelotti will be gone this summer unless he delivers the Champions League.

Tough act to follow: Chelsea's form has nosedived since Wilkins' (above second left) departure, while Roman Abramovich (right) is not an easy man to please

With such extreme demands, he really has nothing to lose any more. Whatever team he sends out against FC Copenhagen this evening, and from here on, should be picked without consideration of outside pressure.

If this means leaving a ?50million signing on the bench, so be it. If he must confront an angry owner after a game that is the way it must be. Tommy Docherty, Chelsea manager from 1961 to 1967, might be ancient history at Stamford Bridge, but he had the right approach to dealing with boardroom demands.

Docherty’s attitude, in the days when managers had autonomy over transfer expenditure, was that there was no point being a good boy and saving money.

‘If the team doesn’t win you are going to get the sack anyway,’ he would advise. ‘At least if you do what you want you can say you had a go and gave it every chance to succeed.’

It is the owners who trade players these days — certainly at Chelsea — but the basic principle remains the same. If their fortunes rest on Torres in this tie, he has to be selected because Ancelotti believes he is the right man for the job, not because there is ?50m of Russian energy loot tied up in the transfer and the owner looks a fool if his star turn does not play.

It helps the selection process that none of Chelsea’s strikers — none of their main forward players, in fact — is firing at the moment.

Didier Drogba has been left debilitated by malaria and may have lost the yard of pace that separates the greatest goalscorers, perhaps forever.

Jimmy Greaves said he did not recover from contracting hepatitis in 1965 at the age of 25 and Drogba, 33 next month, has considerably less time left for rehabilitation.

Faded force: The battering ram previously known as Didier Drogba has lost his mojo since a bout of malaria

The form of Florent Malouda has collapsed after an excellent start, while Nicolas Anelka has scored one goal in his past five games and did not score at all between November 3 and January 9. His penalty against Everton at the weekend was woeful.

Torres has hardly been more impressive since arriving from Liverpool, but at least his run of ordinary form for Chelsea is in its infancy.

Ancelotti has put up with months of inconsistency from Drogba — he has scored six goals and received four bookings since August — and it is understandable if his patience is wearing thin.

Even without consideration of outside influence it is likely a manager of Chelsea would reach the conclusion that fresh impetus is needed in the forward line.

False start: Fernando Torres is yet to shine in a Chelsea shirt

Yet, Ancelotti cannot continue with a failing Torres indefinitely. It could be that the answer is not two, or three, strikers but an entirely different approach with Anelka alone and wide attackers, such as Salomon Kalou and Malouda, in the shape that Jose Mourinho used to play.

It could even be that the best option was to dump the lot of them and play Daniel Sturridge, but he is now on loan to Bolton Wanderers, and in fine form.

Whatever the resolution for Ancelotti, he must be the author of the plan. He has been amenable, some might even say malleable, and where has it got him?

If he is to leave Stamford Bridge without regret, his team, not a rich man’s trifle, must take the field in Copenhagen tonight

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Labels: Carlo, daily, entertain, roman, Should

{ Last updated: 19th February 2011  

Ancelotti: Copenhagen test

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Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti insists there is no extra pressure on his side in Europe following the recent heroics of Arsenal and Tottenham.

The Blues are way off the pace in the Premier League and crashed out of the FA Cup on penalties to Everton on Saturday.

It means the UEFA Champions League now represents their most realistic opportunity to get their hands on silverware this season and they face an upcoming last 16 clash with FC Copenhagen.

North London sides Arsenal and Tottenham produced fine wins against Barcelona and AC Milan in their respective first-leg ties, but Ancelotti claims there is no extra pressure on Chelsea.

He said: "Not extra pressure but we know Copenhagen very well.

"They are a good team, with fantastic organisation, a dynamic team, they use a lot of speed.

"It's important to know this to prepare well for the game, and to have courage to play."

He added: "Tottenham and Arsenal played a fantastic game. They reached a fantastic result against Barcelona, against Milan.

"The Champions League is difficult to play and every team has an opportunity to win and to do the best."

The Blues travel to Denmark for their match on Tuesday having been handed arguably the easiest possible draw, with Copenhagen rookies in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

However, Copenhagen are unbeaten at home in Europe this term and will prove no pushovers against a side out of touch.

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Labels: Carlo, extra, pressure, SkySports

{ ANALYSIS
By Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

As the weeks roll by, expectations at Chelsea recede. From nailed-on Premier League champions in the autumn to title hopefuls in the winter to mere fourth place aspirants before we have even turned off our central heating.

The descent of Carlo Ancelotti’s team in the last three months has been remarkable, and prolonged enough to put the future of the manager and the club’s most celebrated players in doubt.

The mainstays of the team for the past seven seasons have been given notice they are no longer ‘untouchable’, to borrow one of Jose Mourinho’s best soundbites.

Didier Drogba was the fall guy against Fulham on Monday night to accommodate new £50 million man Fernando Torres up front; John Terry has been told that he might have to prepare for a future of rotation to ease the pain on his creaking body; Michael Essien and Frank Lampard have suffered severe dips in form and fitness this season.

Only Ashley Cole and Petr Cech of Mourinho’s original nine ‘untouchables’ (the other three – Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack and Claude Makelele – are no longer at the club) are operating at anything like full throttle as the Champions League knockout stages begin and the domestic competitions enter the home straight.

The question for Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich is whether Ancelotti is the man to break up the cartel of elite players who have dominated the club for so long. Can he establish a dynasty rather than simply maintain one?

Ancelotti can always point to the magnificent league and FA Cup double in his first season in England as proof of his ability to get the best out of a group of players at his disposal.

But as one Chelsea source pointed out to Goal.com UK, he was completing a task initiated by interim boss Guus Hiddink following the dismissal of Luiz Felipe Scolari the previous season.

“When Scolari was sacked, Guus quickly rebuilt the whole thing over there,” the source said. “Ancelotti has taken advantage of that but it was always short term. Ancelotti is a really nice man but Guus works harder than he does.

Feeling blue | Drogba's future is in doubt after he was dropped for Fulham game

“Guus rebuilt the team and Ancelotti didn’t change it last year, so they went on being successful. But the natural life of that team has ended and if you don’t put anything else in, the team stops improving and everything falls down.”

There were strong rumours in late December that Abramovich’s finger was hovering over the trigger and that Ancelotti would have been sacked had Chelsea lost to Bolton Wanderers after failing to win their previous six league games.

But the former AC Milan manager, a popular figure in the dressing room, with the club's backroom staff and among the media, dodged the bullet and insiders say his position will now be reviewed at the end of the season.

Securing the fourth Champions League spot – worth £40m to the club in terms of broadcasting, sponsorship and match-day revenue – might not be enough.

“There were strong rumours that Abramovich's finger was hovering over the trigger in December, but insiders now say that Ancelotti's future will be reviewed at the end of the season”

It is believed that Abramovich and his coterie of advisers need to be convinced that Ancelotti is the man to rebuild Roman’s empire.

The squad has already been radically shaken up by the £71m combined outlay on Torres and David Luiz last month and more changes are anticipated in the summer.

Europe’s elite clubs have been put on alert about the potential availability of Drogba, who turns 33 next month, in the summer.

The Ivorian continued playing despite contracting malaria earlier in the season - an illness that prompted a drop in Kolo Toure’s standards two years ago and his subsequent departure from Arsenal - but there is still likely to be a stampede, led by his former club Marseille, to Chelsea’s door to secure his services for one final swansong.

The long-term futures of Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda, both now in their 30s, are also in doubt, which explains why Chelsea have been monitoring Anderlecht’s 17-year-old Drogba-esque striker Romelu Lukaku so closely in recent months. Even Essien, a titan of the Abramovich era, suddenly looks vulnerable.

There are question marks within the club about Ancelotti’s willingness and ability to overhaul the team.

Although he quickly abandoned the 4-3-1-2 formation that had failed against Liverpool and reverted back to the Mourinho 4-3-3 prototype last night against Fulham by dropping Drobga, there is a feeling that he is afraid of upsetting the strong personalities that have dominated the dressing room for so long.

A priority will be establishing a system that brings the best out of Torres. One theory is that Chelsea need a deep-lying playmaker in the Xabi Alonso mould to get the best out of the Spaniard’s ability to cause havoc in the space behind and between the centre-backs.

Essien, Ramires and Jon Obi Mikel are not that player, nor even is Lampard, so sorely missed during his absence but whose potency comes from his ability at making late, surging runs from midfield to get on the end of passes and loose balls on the edge of the penalty area.

Luiz looks like a Rolls-Royce of a centre-back and, although he foolishly conceded the penalty in added time that was subsequently saved by Cech on Monday, the defence could conceivably be built around the gifted Brazilian over the next five years.

The next three months will give Ancelotti the opportunity to prove that he can make the tough decisions necessary to usher in the new era of dominance that Abramovich demands.

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Labels: Ancelotti, Carlo, Chelsea, Getty, Goalcom, images

{ Torres will improve for Chelsea - Ancelotti

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti defended £50m striker Fernando Torres after his side lost 1-0 to Liverpool.

Torres was mostly anonymous before being substituted on his Chelsea debut against the team he left on the final day of the January transfer window.

"I took him off as, after 60 minutes and a very busy week, it was good for him to come off," said Ancelotti.

"Fernando has experience, he has confidence and didn't show problems before the game."

He added: "He was enthusiastic to play, excited, and it didn't show a problem.

"We have to give Fernando time to adjust to the shape, but I think that he will do it quickly."

He [Torres] had one shot on target and Jamie Carragher made one great block tackle on him

Ancelotti played Torres, who was constantly barracked by the Liverpool fans, in attack alongside Didier Drogba, with fellow forward Nicolas Anelka deployed in a creative role in the hole behind them.

However, Chelsea rarely threatened a disciplined and organised Liverpool, who won the game courtesy of a fourth goal in five matches from Raul Meireles.

"The problem wasn't that Torres played - he did a good job on the pitch," said Ancelotti.

"We had difficulty finding enough space in front, because Liverpool defended very well and they put three defenders in the middle, and we didn't find the right way to attack them.

"We were too slow playing from the back. We didn't find the space."

He added: "We played a fantastic game with this shape [in a 4-2 win] at Sunderland and wanted to reproduce that but Liverpool were strong defensively, put strong pressure on in their half, and we were not able to find the solution.

"The right result would have been a draw, but this is football."

The defeat leaves reigning Premier League champions Chelsea in fourth place, 10 points behind leaders Manchester United, who lost at Wolves on Saturday.

Dalglish hails 'magnificent' Liverpool

"We are disappointed because we had an opportunity to close the gap, but now we are still the same distance," said the Blues boss.

"Maybe now we have less possibility to close the gap, but we have to try again. We have to try to fight again for the title.

"The Premier League is very difficult in every game, so it could happen that United can lose again."

Liverpool moved up to sixth - their highest position so far this season - and six points behind Chelsea and fifth-placed Tottenham, who both have a game in hand on the Reds, as they raised hopes about challenging for a Champions League place.

"Liverpool played very well, with fantastic power, play and attitude. Obviously they can come back to fight for fourth place," said Ancelotti.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish insisted the presence of Torres in the Chelsea side did not act as an extra incentive for his side as they registered a fourth consecutive league victory.

"The players approached it professionally," said Dalglish. "I don't think [Torres' presence] was any incentive.

"The incentive for us was to get three points and we did. Whatever someone else wants to do with their life is up to them.

"I came here to win three points and it would have made no difference if Carlo Ancelotti was playing up front, I'd still want the three points. The personnel of the opposition is not important to me."

He added: "He [Torres] had one shot on target and Jamie Carragher made one great block tackle on him, but I'm not here to talk about other people's players, I'm here to talk about my own players."

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Labels: Ancelotti, Carlo, defends, Fernando, showing, Sport, Torres