Ancelotti confirmed as Chelsea boss

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I'd say he's a great choice personally. Anyone claiming he did a shit job at Milan or nothing special must be losing their mind. Not to mention I can see him bonding well with the players just like he did at Milan and that's hugely important as Chelsea. He seems to manage to get the best out of certain players too. I'm expecting him to do a really good job, so good luck to the guy. Sadly, I wonder if this spells the end of Beckham's chance of sealing a permanent move to Milan

[therockbox]

It's amazing how the witch hunt has already started about him not being good enough for Chelsea. He'll be forced out within a season simply because he's not Guus (or Guss according to certain Chelsea fans).

[stokeriño]

Frankly, I'm tired of changing our manager every 6 months. It's become a ridiculous merry-go-round and now we're off on the very familiar path all over again. It makes the off-season all the more unbearable too, since the media can dig out the same articles/rumours that they wrote about Scolari a year ago and swap some of the names around.

I don't care if Ancelotti doesn't win anything this season. And if he ends up being thrown out because he doesn't win anything this season (or, you know, we get to February and we're *not amazing*...like last time), then that's the same old nonsense all over again. What I want from a Chelsea manager is someone who can build the team into something stronger, rather than relying on the same couple of players (Lampard/Drogba/Anelka/etc.) who are all north of 30. We need a 'transition year', damn it. And we need to do it well.

And for all of Ancelotti's accolades, I'm not currently convinced that he can/will do that.

[Farmer Reil]

Anyone questioning Ancelotti's management ability is, frankly, a complete idiot. Or a Newcastle fan, because there's no way he's good enough for them. But he'll do fine at Chelsea.

[Matt]

Anyone questioning Ancelotti's management ability is, frankly, a complete idiot. Or a Newcastle fan, because there's no way he's good enough for them. But he'll do fine at Chelsea.

What's the difference again?

[EddieG]

Idiots make sense more often than Newcastle fans ?

[Guest Ringmaster]

A few things I read, can't bother quoting multiple people:

- Saying Ancelotti is defensive because of the dreadful abomination that was Liverpool/Milan two years ago is like saying Hiddink is defensive because of Chelsea/Barca. He's not, in fact, Milan is one of a handful of attack-minded, entertaining teams in Serie A. (Roma, Napoli, Lazio and Sampdoria being the others). In fact, I would say that against smallish teams, like the Torinos and Catanias of the world, Milan were over-offensive, which doesn't work as well as 2-3 seasons ago when Stam and Nesta were killing attackers dead and the team could go forward and attack. Yes, he's going to play it defensive in tournaments or against big teams, but beyond that, there's yummy stuff to be found.

- Ancelotti's reliance on 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1 is based on a lack of quality, not on his preference. Again, olden days, 4-4-2 with Seedorf/Kaka/Rui Costa/Out of position Gattuso on the wings, Sheva/Inzaghi, Sheva/Crespo, amongst others. Then Sheva got sold, Crespo left and Milan were shit out of luck with a merry go round of players who couldn't score (Ronaldo, . Now, it's Pato, Boriello or Inzaghi, and I'm not counting Sheva, he's beyond shit at this point. Boriello is a decent benchwarmer, Pato's too young and Inzaghi is too old to play 90 minutes, 40 games a season. Ancelotti had to use another tactic if he hoped to actually win games. That said, if Chelsea don't get another striker, then yes, expect 4-3-3.

- Milan, when he took over, where in the shits. Their squad looks good in retrospect, but they were terrible. Pirlo was an attacking midfielder (think Ronaldinho but not nearly as good whatsoever), Gatusso was a mistake prone jackass, Sheva was having trouble, the defense was falling apart, Maldini wa thinking of retiring (!) and everything was going wrong. He someone turned all these players good and he created a masterpiece of football in Pirlo. Not to mention sticking with Kaka when he wasn't any good at first. He pretty much built a team, eight years ago, that is still the same. Granted, he should have bought replacements because now they're all on the to the old age home, but Berlusconi is all "no money". In fact ....

- Milan's failure to do any good is Berlusconi's fault. He runs the teams as a business. I mean that more-so than others. He uses the money to fund his other businesses. Like Fiat. And re-election. Milan make more than they spend by a LOT. More than pretty much any team I can think off. The purpose of the team, nowadays, is to make a buck. He's said this openly. He buys players that have marketability to buy shirts (Beckham, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho) or those with potential to sell shirts (Pato) and he pockets the money and uses very, very little to improve the team. This, in part, is why Ancelotti wanted to leave last year and why he left this year. It's also, in part, why they stopped being as good. That and Inter are some hollywood mega team. Last year though? Ha

- The one major criticism I would have with Ancelotti is that he sticks to the tried and the tested. Not to say that he won't buy players or anything, but don't expect him to play, say Scott Sinclair and Micheal Woods (great on FM!), even when Lampard is 40 years old. That's another thing, players will last an eternity with his team. They're odd like that.

But really, Ancelotti, if given cash, he should do good. He'll definitely do good in tournaments and he may even win the league, so who knows. He's not as good as Hiddink, but I would say that the man's easily as good as Capello or Lippi. Plus, back in the Parma day, he used to fight with the Italian Football Federation because he used to smoke to the side of the pitch. How can you not love this man?