REACTION: MARVELLOUS MICHAELCarlo Ancelotti praised Michael Essien for his huge contribution on another happy away day in east London.
Two headers from the Ghanaian either side of a lucky Salomon Kalou strike rendered Scott Parker's late volley for West Ham academic as we made it four Barclays Premier League wins from four in 2010/11, condemning our opposition to their fourth straight defeat.
The midfielder missed the second half of last season with a serious knee injury, but returned to full fitness for this campaign and Ancelotti believes Chelsea are reaping the benefits.
'We missed Essien last season because he is one of the top midfielders in the world. He came back and we are happy and we hope he can maintain this level of play,' the Italian said following our 3-1 win at Upton Park.
'Now he is fit, we have to pay attention because he is playing again all the games from the start of the season, he scored today and he is a fantastic jumper. I hope he maintains his condition for as long as possible.'
Assessing the match, in which we were 2-0 up inside 20 minutes thanks to a combination of strong play and mistakes by our hosts, Ancelotti believes we did well to hold out and kill the game off.
'We spent a lot of energy, we were lucky at the start of the game to go 2-0 up, but it was very difficult because West Ham didn't lose confidence and tried to create chances,' he explained.
'It was not easy. The game finished when we scored the third goal, before it was a difficult game for us, in the second half West Ham put a lot of pressure on us and we have to look at their performance.
'They played good football, defensively we had a good performance but offensively could do better.'
Ancelotti's opposite number, former Chelsea manager Avram Grant, echoed those sentiments.
'I think it is not easy when you concede the first goal,' said the Israeli. 'We reacted well and then the second goal. It is amazing because Chelsea didn't create any chances in the first half, we created three big chances, dominated the game... but we didn't score.
'Unfortunately we lost but we have a lot of positive things to take and if we continue like this I think it will be good. After 25 or 30 games I don't think we will be in this position.'
Now we look ahead to our first European encounter of the campaign, a trip to Slovakian champions MSK Zilina on Wednesday evening. Ancelotti is hopeful that Frank Lampard will make a return to the line-up, while conceding that John Terry could be a doubt after being withdrawn this afternoon.
'John Terry took a knock on his rib, and we will look in the next day and [see] if he is fit for Wednesday,' the manager said. 'I don't think it is broken, he took a knock in the first half, played again for 60 minutes and had pain at the end of the game so I took him out.
'Lampard is the same, I think he will train tomorrow and Monday and we will take a decision for Wednesday.
'We don't know a lot about Zilina, they are a new team, and for this reason we have to pay more attention. I will change the line-up because I want to give rest to some players, and I will decide in the next days,' Ancelotti reported.
We travel to Slovakia on Tuesday, when Ancelotti will once again meet the media and outline his plans for our first Group F match.
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In HIM for HIM and through HIM!!!
Posted: at 13-09-2010 09:48 AM (13 years ago) | Upcoming |
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