Ancelotti explains Chelsea new diamond system – and Lampard's role

Carlo Ancelotti spoke after Chelsea’s second pre-season win, over Inter Milan, and told the press that he expects the team will stick with the diamond-shaped midfield that was used in the two games so far.

This will be a far more attacking formation than has been used in the last few seasons, and hopefully we will be seeing a far more exciting team than we are used to!

“After these two games I feel good about the team,” he said. “I like very much the mental attitude of the team. They work very well and it is not so far from the team I have in my mind.”

“I am satisfied not only for the win; all the team played well, we took good control, defended very well with all the team, and we improved from the last game against Seattle.”

“This is the system we want to keep for all the season. It is a good system for all the players and it gives us the possibility to take control of the play. It works very well with an attacking midfielder between the lines [of opposition midfield and defence] and it worked very well for the right-back and left-back, they pushed forward a lot.”

He was then asked how Lampard compared to Kaka, who he used as the attacking midfielder for AC Milan. He replied: “They are different players. Kaká had different qualities than Lampard but Lampard works very well for the team, he scored and moves very well without the ball. They have different qualities but are the same important player for the team.”

“Lampard can play all the positions in midfield but it would be more difficult to play him in front of the defence because we want to use him in an offensive position.”

It’s about time that Chelsea had a truly attack-minded coach, after all the previous coaches, from Mourinho upwards, seemed to place more emphasis on just getting a result than entertaining the fans. None of them were really willing to play with two strikers until Hiddincks last few games.

I’m beginning to like Mr Ancelotti!