There’s been plenty of talk over the last week or so about Ancelotti’s reversion to a 4-4-2 formation. The Italian’s arrival has also brought about key changes behind the scenes too, with the introduction of new training regime and the hiring of the man who was behind an innovative new scientific facility at AC Milan.
In direct contrast to Scolari’s methods, training is reportedly now much more focused around working with the ball. This switch in emphasis has been welcomed by Frank Lampard:
"We did quite a lot of running without the ball last year. This year there is a lot more running with the ball and a lot more football-based stuff. That's something players always want to do, espeically if they can bring something new into their game. From the first day I came back we were playing small-sided games, keeping possession and working with the ball".
On his arrival in 2004 Mourinho brought the same focus on ball-work into Chelsea’s regime, and at that time it seemed a culture shock for the players who registered surprise at having a ball at their feet throughout training. It was undoubtedly to Chelsea’s benefit: whilst a free-flowing, pass and move side in (say) Arsenal’s image didn’t emerge, the side arguably became more confident and adept on the ball, especially when keeping possession in tight space. Hopefully a renewed focus on the ball in training is another sign that Ancelotti will be successful in carving out a new fluidity to Chelsea’s play.
There is also a new figure on the training pitch, Bruno Demichelis, who joined from Milan and linked up with the club during the American tour. There’s an interesting Q&A with Bruno on the Chelsea website (the insight and expertise he reveals is far more impressive than Arnesen’s interview last week, which you can read here). In short however, Demichelis will look after the performance, medical and psychological side of team preparation and will co-ordinate implementing new ways of assessing players’ nervous systems and new approaches to dealing with the mental side of performance.
Interestingly, Demichelis was a key figure behind Milan’s MilanLab, a scientific body set up by the club in 2002 in the wake of the terrible injury record of Redondo following his big money move to the Rossoneri. MilanLab was hugely innovative in its time, looking at individual player’s physical and mental needs down to finest detail to hone performance and help prevent injury (supposedly it ran a new range of tests throughout the season and could accurately predict when a player needed a rest to avoid injury). Some have suggested that the work of MilanLab has helped extend the careers of Milan’s ageing players and keep their 30-something year olds competitive despite being past their prime.
It’s probably a little too far fetched to attribute too much of a team’s success to something like MilanLab, but in a sport where the biggest matches are tightly contested affairs, any application of science to help up performance by one or two percent could be invaluable. Chelsea will already have it’s own ‘ChelseaLab’, but if Demichelis can bring something new to the club, and reduce the number of injuries the team have sustained over the last two seasons, he’ll be worth his weight in gold.
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.