03.02.2010
Ancelotti admits set pieces troubling Chelsea
Hull City's French defender Steven Mouyokolo (2R) scores past Chelsea's Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech during their Premier League match at The KC Stadium in Hull, northeast England, on February 2.
The storm centred on John Terry's future as England captain is not the only headache that Carlo Ancelotti has to deal with at the moment.
The Chelsea boss is also grappling with his team's tendency to leak goals from set pieces amid fears it could cost them dear at the business end of the season.
The depth of Chelsea's squad has seen them installed as favourites to reclaim the Premier League title from Manchester United.
But with United starting to hit form, Chelsea's problems in defending corners and free-kicks have once again been put in the spotlight by the ease with which Steven Mouyokolo headed Hull into the lead in Tuesday's 1-1 draw at the KC Stadium.
Didier Drogba cancelled out Mouyokolo's strike but Hull might easily have claimed all three points if Anthony Gardner had not missed an excellent chance from Tom Cairney's free-kick.
"I know very well how many goals we have conceded from set pieces," said Ancelotti. "Every team here in England has a very good jumper and a very good striker and it can happen that you concede a goal.
"How we score, sometimes we can concede. I think we did our best but it was a tough game and Hull played well and put a lot of pressure on us."
Hull boss Phil Brown admitted he had identified Chelsea's weakness on set pieces as a potential key to the outcome of the match.
"It's my job to investigate how to score goals against Chelsea and they've conceded something like nine out of 10 of their goals, or something like that, from set pieces," Brown said.
"If that's the Achilles heel for Chelsea then we have to exploit it."
Source: © 2010 AFP - Paul Ellis
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