In between the confirmation of Ashley Cole's return to the first-team squad and various denials that the double was already in the bag, the most significant comment of Carlo Ancelotti's Friday press conference almost slipped under the radar. Asked by one journalist if he agreed with Fabio Capello's reported comments that the Premier League would have to spend to regain its grip on European competition, the coach said he didn't think it was the "most important thing".
Asked for a second time to clarify whether he would be reaching for the cheque book come the season's close, Ancelotti took the opportunity to state his position unequivocally. "No, it's not necessary to spend a lot of money this summer," he said.
Whether Chelsea or Manchester United end up winners, they will have suffered more Premier League defeats than any champions in nine years - United lost six times in winning the league in 2001. It doesn't take a visionary to work out that United miss a certain number 7, and that they could do with a better blend in midfield. But for the Blues - and Ancelotti - their strength this season in having a team full of experienced campaigners could prove to be their weakness in the future.
It's only natural that Ancelotti should put his faith in seasoned pros. This, after all, is what sustained him in eight seasons at the helm of AC Milan. He deserves enormous credit for keeping Milan competitive in Europe at least. The outstanding achievement on his CV when he arrived at Stamford Bridge was his Champions League record, with wins in 2003 and 2007 sandwiching the extraordinary loss to Liverpool. Performance in Serie A was far from what was hoped for, though. One Scudetto (in 2004) was Ancelotti's haul, and his last three seasons saw Milan struggle even to hold on to a Champions League spot - a humbling situation for a side so used to making their presence felt in that competition's final stages.
2006-07 4th place - Milan started the season on minus eight points, their punishment for their part in the Calciopoli scandal, but even with those points reinstated they would have finished 28 points behind champions Inter.
2007-08 5th place - the European champions missed out completely, having to content themselves with a UEFA Cup spot
2008-09 runners-up - despite a few end-of-season wobbles, Milan clinched second position and an automatic return to the Champions League group stage
Ancelotti's league record is tempered by a few mitigating factors: the aforementioned Calciopoli, and the fact that Milan's owner Silvio Berlusconi provided less and less funds to strengthen the side.
In his last season in Italy the coach acquired Mathieu Flamini on a free; plus Ronaldinho, who was widely considered to be a spent force, and certainly played like it in his debut Serie A season; and 30-somethings Gianluca Zambrotta and David Beckham (on loan).
This lack of investment was not an overnight thing. A look at the Champions League final line-ups in 2005 and 2007 reveals only four changes to the starting line-up for the latter final - Massimo Oddo, Marek Jankulovski, Massimo Ambrosini and Filippo Inzaghi coming into the XI for 2007. Ambrosini and Inzaghi were already at the club, and had been part of the squad for the 2003 win over Juventus at Old Trafford too. In fact, the whole starting XI in 2003 were still at the club in 2005 with all but Inzaghi (injured) in the squad for the Athens final.
At Stamford Bridge, it's been no secret that owner Roman Abramovich has wanted to make Chelsea financially self-sufficient for a number of years - it was with this in mind that he appointed Peter Kenyon. Perhaps the ability to keep getting more out of ageing players was an element of Ancelotti's profile that made him attractive to the Russian. Yet if Chelsea's league performance started to wane in the fashion that Milan's did the coach would swiftly find himself out of work, and age is starting to catch up with the squad.
Asked for a second time to clarify whether he would be reaching for the cheque book come the season's close, Ancelotti took the opportunity to state his position unequivocally. "No, it's not necessary to spend a lot of money this summer," he said.
Whether Chelsea or Manchester United end up winners, they will have suffered more Premier League defeats than any champions in nine years - United lost six times in winning the league in 2001. It doesn't take a visionary to work out that United miss a certain number 7, and that they could do with a better blend in midfield. But for the Blues - and Ancelotti - their strength this season in having a team full of experienced campaigners could prove to be their weakness in the future.
It's only natural that Ancelotti should put his faith in seasoned pros. This, after all, is what sustained him in eight seasons at the helm of AC Milan. He deserves enormous credit for keeping Milan competitive in Europe at least. The outstanding achievement on his CV when he arrived at Stamford Bridge was his Champions League record, with wins in 2003 and 2007 sandwiching the extraordinary loss to Liverpool. Performance in Serie A was far from what was hoped for, though. One Scudetto (in 2004) was Ancelotti's haul, and his last three seasons saw Milan struggle even to hold on to a Champions League spot - a humbling situation for a side so used to making their presence felt in that competition's final stages.
2006-07 4th place - Milan started the season on minus eight points, their punishment for their part in the Calciopoli scandal, but even with those points reinstated they would have finished 28 points behind champions Inter.
2007-08 5th place - the European champions missed out completely, having to content themselves with a UEFA Cup spot
2008-09 runners-up - despite a few end-of-season wobbles, Milan clinched second position and an automatic return to the Champions League group stage
Ancelotti's league record is tempered by a few mitigating factors: the aforementioned Calciopoli, and the fact that Milan's owner Silvio Berlusconi provided less and less funds to strengthen the side.
In his last season in Italy the coach acquired Mathieu Flamini on a free; plus Ronaldinho, who was widely considered to be a spent force, and certainly played like it in his debut Serie A season; and 30-somethings Gianluca Zambrotta and David Beckham (on loan).
This lack of investment was not an overnight thing. A look at the Champions League final line-ups in 2005 and 2007 reveals only four changes to the starting line-up for the latter final - Massimo Oddo, Marek Jankulovski, Massimo Ambrosini and Filippo Inzaghi coming into the XI for 2007. Ambrosini and Inzaghi were already at the club, and had been part of the squad for the 2003 win over Juventus at Old Trafford too. In fact, the whole starting XI in 2003 were still at the club in 2005 with all but Inzaghi (injured) in the squad for the Athens final.
At Stamford Bridge, it's been no secret that owner Roman Abramovich has wanted to make Chelsea financially self-sufficient for a number of years - it was with this in mind that he appointed Peter Kenyon. Perhaps the ability to keep getting more out of ageing players was an element of Ancelotti's profile that made him attractive to the Russian. Yet if Chelsea's league performance started to wane in the fashion that Milan's did the coach would swiftly find himself out of work, and age is starting to catch up with the squad.
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