Patience means prizes, claims confident Michael Ballack

James Olley
21 Sep 2009

Michael Ballack today claimed Carlo Ancelotti's patient tactical approach has turned Chelsea into a deadly goal-scoring force.

The Blues secured a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Tottenham at Stamford Bridge yesterday as they maintained their 100 per-cent record under the Italian to register a club record 11th straight Premier League home win.

Spurs began the game as the better side but Chelsea's clinical finishing in front of goal proved decisive and Ballack, who scored Chelsea's second of the contest, believes Ancelotti should take the credit.

"Since he has been here we have played very well," said the Germany international. "Under him we changed the system - which gives us more possession and makes the game feel a little bit more comfortable even if we don't create one chance after another because we know the situation will come.

"That's what he always tells us - you have to wait for your chance and you can see it now when they come, we are deadly. He gives the team a lot of confidence.

"Normally it is not easy to play in a new system but you can see how easily it fits together with the coach and the team.

"It has been very quick - even in pre-season we have done very well and won a lot of games against big teams. He saw this potential in the team because we played for a few years 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 but it works well.

"We've won every game and we want to keep going like this. The team is confident and settled.

"We are very happy with the result against Tottenham and with the way we played.

"It was not an easy game, especially in the first half. Three-nil sounds a lot because I think it was a lot tighter than the result showed."

While Guus Hiddink repaired much of the damage done during Luiz Felipe Scolari's ill-feted period in charge last season, Ballack revealed Ancelotti has taken the camaraderie and belief among the players to a new level.

After narrow European big-match defeats to Barcelona and Manchester United in the last two years and a three-year absence of the League title, Ballack revealed his team-mates are driven by the pain of failure at home and abroad.

He said: "You can feel the spirit in the dressing room now and the experience of the last few years, with the disappointments of the Champions League final and the semi-final last year when we went out, has kept the team together. That spirit is what you can feel now."