Ancelotti – A Breath of Fresh Air

I’ve been quietly impressed with Carlo Ancelotti since he began managing Chelsea. He has a quiet, unassuming way about him which suggests he takes his football seriously, while avoiding the pretentious nonsense of many other top managers (‘mind-games’ etc.).

This presentiment was confirmed a little today, after Chelsea’s first loss of the season away at Wigan, 3-1. The course of the match turned on the dubious decision by referee Phil Dowd, when the scored was 1-1, to: (1) award a questionable penalty to Wigan after a ‘foul’ by Petr Cech on Hugo Rodallega, when actual contact seemed minimal; and (2) to then send Cech off for being the ‘last man’, even though Ashley Cole was also in the near vicinity. While most of the top managers, from Fergie to Benitez to Wenger to (yes, I admit) possibly also Redknapp, and most definitely Mark “I’m too big for my boots” Hughes, would have moaned in post-match interviews about the unjustness of the penalty and sending off, and the way the referee “ruined the match”, Ancelotti, in stark contrast, responded as follows:

“Wigan played better than us. They were well organised and played well. This was the right result. … It was a bad display. I don’t know why we didn’t play well but these things can happen after many wins.”

In spite of what many would deem poor refereeing, Ancelotti admitted that his side did not deserve to win, because of the weakness of their OVERALL PERFORMANCE.

If only Mark Hughes had had this honesty and humility last week after Manchester United pummelled his side for 90 minutes, rather than moaning about an extra 90 seconds at the end of the game. OK, so that 90 seconds shouldn’t have been played, and United scored an important goal in that time, but come on… City were VERY lucky to be drawing at all before the goal was scored, and ultimately United deserved the win, and City’s defending was awful throughout. Why didn’t Hughes mention that??

He should take a leaf out of Ancelotti’s book.

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Tags: Ancelotti, Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea, Football, Man Utd, Man. City, Managers, Mark Hughes, Premier League, Premiership, Soccer, Wigan

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