Source: Team_Talk
Lamps hails 'fantastic' Ancelotti
Frank Lampard hailed Carlo Ancelotti's impact as Chelsea claimed the League and FA Cup Double in the Italian's first year in charge.[LNB] Didier Drogba's 58th-minute free-kick winner meant Chelsea retained the trophy with their third FA Cup success in four years.[LNB]And the double, the first in Chelsea's history, was even more remarkable because it was achieved in Ancelotti's first season in English football.[LNB]The Italian replaced interim coach Guus Hiddink last summer and although he failed to deliver the coveted Champions League trophy, the double more than made up for it.[LNB]"I would rather talk about Carlo as a man," Lampard said. "He took on the language and came in without many staff from Italy.[LNB]"Some managers bring all their team with them and that is security for them, but he has not had that.[LNB]"But he moulded into the Chelsea way straight away. His tactics have been spot on because we have got what we have got and he's brought entertaining football to the team.[LNB]"The players, the club and the fans always respect a man that acts the way he does.[LNB]"He laughs and jokes and has a good sense of humour. He is very approachable, whether it be football talk or personal talk and I think big players and a big team, like we are, respect that.[LNB]"He's been fantastic from the moment he first came to the club. I am very happy for him.[LNB]"Jose Mourinho and him are both great managers who will both go down in history, and rightly so.[LNB]"People always talk about this club and what happened with the Russian revolution as such and talk about the Champions League a lot, but you cannot take away winning the double.[LNB]"It is a huge achievement in English football history and Chelsea had never done it as a club. So now we have become the most successful team we have ever had.[LNB]"Jose was fantastic and goes down in history as the man who brought us back the league title. He will be the best Chelsea manager along with Ancelotti now for what he has done, and they both deserve that title, simple as that."[LNB]Chelsea hit the woodwork five times in the first half but the game changed when Kevin-Prince Boateng missed a 55th-minute penalty for Portsmouth.[LNB]Three minutes later Drogba struck the winner, although Lampard also missed a spot-kick three minutes from time.[LNB]"We came here as the favourites with everyone saying we would win the game comfortably, but we never thought of it like that," Lampard added.[LNB]"Portsmouth had a fairytale run to the cup final and when we hit the woodwork five times in the first half and then they got a penalty, you did wonder if it was their day, but we are very strong and confident at the moment.[LNB]"Once they missed the penalty we got another kick on and Didier scored. We had come so far this season we made sure we were going to get the double."[LNB]As for his penalty miss, Lampard paid the price for changing his mind on his run-up against England goalkeeper David James.[LNB]"I changed my mind and it was unfortunate," he added. "I know Jamo very well and I don't know why I changed my mind. It is the cardinal sin to do that.[LNB]"Thank God it happened in a game that we went on to win. Hopefully it is out of my system now.[LNB]"Obviously I was gutted to miss it but it was completely overshadowed by the joy of winning the double."[LNB]Lampard is now looking forward to the World Cup campaign in South Africa and added that it would have plagued his preparation had they lost the final.[LNB]"To win the league like we did and to have come to Wembley and lost would have meant that I would have gone away thinking about this game," he said.[LNB]"We had to do it and in the end we deserved it."[LNB]
