Chelsea face Ipswich Town at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup today, hoping a change of competition may enact a change of form and luck.
The FA Cup has been good for us in the last two decades, the pain of 1994 aside, and this season we set to the task of retaining the FA Cup for a second year, to make it three wins in three.
The team new is still unclear, however with so many players being ran into the ground, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some of the younger players get their chance.
Cole needs a break, so Van Aanholt should start, Bruma may line up in the centre of defence and Sturridge could also start following his five goals in mid-week. Another who could play, is Josh McEachran.
The young Englishman spoke of the FA Cup and said; “We’re playing Ipswich on Sunday so hopefully some of us might be involved and we can put a good performance in and go on and win the competition again. I’ve been to the new Wembley a couple of times and it looks brilliant to play at, so if we did reach the final this year I would love to be involved.”
Reflecting on his own cup win last season, he recalled; “Winning the FA Youth Cup was a massive thing, Chelsea hadn’t done it for so long so it was huge for the club and everyone in the Academy as well. I was aware of the history of the competition, it was on Chelsea TV and the coaches were telling us it had been 50 years since Chelsea had won it so it was a great feeling.”
“Making your first-team debut is what everyone dreams of so that was probably a bigger high,” said McEachran. “It is a lot quicker in the Premier League, you have to make your mind up quicker than in the reserves. You don’t realise the crowd is there because you are very focused, but you hear them when you’ve given the ball away!”
Blowing away the cobwebs of Jose’s ‘untouchables’, Carlo Ancelotti stated on Friday; “There are no untouchable players. Drogba was out against Tottenham; Anelka has been out. We have the opportunity to change something up front; it is more difficult to change something defensively but there are no untouchable players. If we feel they deserve to play, they play.”
“There are some players that in this moment can use their character and experience to help the others to move on.” He adds; “I don’t want to do a table of the most important players at this club but obviously the players who have experience are more important compared to the others.”
Responding to media speculation regarding his future, the manager stated; “You have to face reality; the reality is that there is a long period that we didn’t have a good result. I don’t know how many managers were able to manage this club with these results; this means the owner supports my job. I feel this because I speak with him.”
“Roman never asked me to win. He asked me that his team play exciting football, this is our aim. I know we have the ability, the skill to win, like we did last year. To move on we must stay focused on the pitch. We have to close our minds, work on the pitch and try. If we are not able to find the right solution, try again. I will follow this way for the future.”