Ancelotti accepts Zola error

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti admitted Friday he had been too inflexible in failing to find a place in his Parma side for Gianfranco Zola.

Ancelotti’s intransigence led Zola to begin a much-lauded career in English football as a striker with Chelsea, for whom the he played over 300 games.

Now, 13 years after the former forward’s Parma exit, the two Italians are set to go head-head when Ancelotti’s Premier League leaders travel across London to play second-bottom West Ham, managed by Zola, on Sunday.

“Probably I made a mistake with him (Zola) because I wanted to play 4-4-2 and I put the players in the right positions but he wanted to stay in the centre like a striker,” Ancelotti told reporters on Friday.

“In that period, when there was this discussion, Chelsea offered him a good contract and he decided to go.

“I think it was a mistake. It was my first experience in Serie A and I was not able to change the system.

“I preferred to maintain the system that I knew well. For this, Gianfranco had a different decision to make. But a lot of time has passed since and now we have a good relationship.”

Ancelotti added: “He would probably not have gone to Chelsea if I had changed the system, but he had a wonderful experience here at Chelsea and all the fans here remember his performances.”

Although the Hammers, beset by financial problems, are at the wrong end of the table, Ancelotti is wary of the threat they pose after seeing Chelsea struggle to beat bottom-of-the-table Portsmouth 2-1 on Wednesday.

“I think that Gianfranco Zola is not living a good moment, but he has quality to improve,” added Ancelotti. “West Ham have had a lot of problems with injuries, but we have to pay attention to this game.

“It’s a derby and they will put a very good spirit into this game. When you play against a team at the bottom of the league, you have to pay attention. They will do their best to win.

“We saw that against Portsmouth. They created a lot of difficulties for us.

“We have to give respect to every team. Not only the teams at the top of the table, also the teams that don’t want to drop into the Championship.”