Ancelotti desperate to win?

Strategy will be important to Ancelotti this Sunday.

(Image courtesy of The Sun)

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti’s father has just passed away in Italy, but according to this article from BBC Sport, the manager will still be presiding over Chelsea’s big match with London rivals Arsenal, this Sunday – and barking orders from the sidelines as usual.

This is interesting news because I think it shows Ancelotti’s desperation to win this game – even to the extent of rushing back immediately from his father’s funeral on Saturday. Every league match not won for Chelsea, means more points dropped in the league competition - and Ancelotti is worried.

This is probably a sad time for Ancelotti, so the reporter was right not to have interviewed him, even though a quote from Ancelotti might have added more depth to the story. The reporter is being ethical because Ancelotti would be grieving right now and not in a mood to speak to reporters. However, in the story, there is a short statement extracted from the Chelsea FC website, which helps to provide more information about the death of Ancelotti's father.

But the reporter could have obtained a quote from assistant manager Ray Wilkins about Chelsea’s chances of winning this Sunday – after having suffered their first defeat of the domestic league season last weekend. This could have strengthened and added variety to the story as well as helping to break up the descriptive text.

Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, I think the simple mugshot of Ancelotti is appropriate. Even though a picture of Ancelotti’s father, Giuseppe, on his deathbed might have been more relevant to the story angle, I definitely agree with the reporter not to have included such a picture – it’s simply not ethical to have done so.

But the WHY of journalism is missing because the article fails to address why Ancelotti will definitely be present at the Arsenal match this weekend – despite his father’s death. Wouldn’t he want to spend more time together with his family in Italy? We may assume that Ancelotti is too desperate to win against their London rivals, or that this could be an effort to impress his hard-to-please boss, club owner Roman Abramovich. But we can’t be sure.