Ancelotti: Blues far from meltdown

Pa
Sunday 13 December 2009 07:45 EST
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Carlo Ancelotti rebuffed suggestions that Chelsea are in crisis after some desperate defending from set-pieces allowed Everton to claim a 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues, who had not conceded a point at home until Saturday, have not won for four games, two of them in the Barclays Premier League. All three Everton goals arrived courtesy of Chelsea's inability to defend set-pieces but Ancelotti was content with his side's performance and insisted there were no major worries at the club.

"Who can say we are in crisis?" asked Ancelotti. "I don't think so. I want to be objective and when I look at the game and the way we played I saw that my team played very well."

He added: "We didn't win because of mistakes at set-pieces. But we played very well for 90 minutes with intensity and good concentration.

"We created a lot of chances to score and were unlucky. I am happy because Chelsea played very well for 90 minutes, (but) I am unhappy with the result. I didn't have to say anything to my players because they did the maximum.

"We didn't win but that can happen in football - you can draw at home. We defended too close to our goal. It was not necessary. The defence stayed close to the goal and Cech had no room to catch the ball.

"We conceded three goals from the same situations. We had the same problem against Aston Villa earlier in the season and we have to improve again."

Everton boss David Moyes said it was his team's best result of the season.

The struggling Toffees have more than 10 players in the treatment room and so Moyes had every right to beam with pleasure for a change.

"It was a great draw for us," said Moyes. "I'd have certainly taken a draw before the game with the team that we had out."

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