Flexible Ancelotti at home with Chelsea

It is not just his Chelsea FC team's winning start to the season that suggests Carlo Ancelotti is getting to grips with life in England. Ancelotti, renowned in his native Italy for his love of good food, has already learned a thing or two about British cuisine.

English breakfast
Never mind an already publicised penchant for "eggs and bacon, the typical English breakfast", the 50-year-old proves surprisingly receptive when quizzed by the UEFA Champions League Magazine show about the veracity of certain more curious names on the national menu. "Cornish pasty? This could be true," he replies good-humouredly.

Passion and knowledge
Ancelotti may like his food but not half as much as he does his football. This is a man who relaxes by watching "a good match" on television and who cites "passion" as the key to success. "The main things that a coach needs are passion – because if you don't have passion in your job, then you are not able to give your maximum – and also knowledge," he tells uefa.com.

European Cup winner
Ancelotti is too canny to say so but it seems reasonable to assume that Chelsea hired him for his knowledge in one area above all: the UEFA Champions League. The Londoners have never won the European Champion Clubs' Cup; Ancelotti did it four times with AC Milan, twice as a player and twice as a coach. The former Parma FC and Juventus boss, who quit the San Siro after eight seasons to accept a three-year contract at Stamford Bridge, muses that "a little bit of luck" does not go amiss when pursuing club football's holy grail. There have been moments, however, when Chelsea have looked fated never to attain it.

Porto opener
The Blues have been semi-finalists five times in six years and lost the 2008 final in Moscow on penalties. "They've not won it but they've gone very, very close. Two years ago they were one penalty away from winning. It didn't go their way. Now we will have another try," said Ancelotti, whose charges open their Group D campaign with a home fixture against FC Porto on Tuesday.

'Optimum mentality'
Chelsea have started the Premier League season impressively with four straight victories and Ancelotti is delighted with the "optimum mentality" of his squad. "To make changes is not very difficult, because the players have lots of enthusiasm." He has spoken about creating a new identity for Chelsea and, in practical terms, this appears to have translated into organising his midfield into a flexible diamond formation with the aim of dominating possession. "We want to have control in midfield," says Ancelotti, who, as at Milan, will look to his full-backs to provide width.

'We can do well'
At Milan, Ancelotti had Andrea Pirlo to pull the strings in the middle. Contrary to summer rumour, the Italy midfielder did not follow his erstwhile coach to Chelsea yet this is no concern. "We have to think about the players we have here at our disposal, and I think that we can do well with these players. To play the same role [as Pirlo], yes, there are players who can do that," says Ancelotti, citing Michael Essien and John Mikel Obi.

Pressure
The manager, who has set up home close to Chelsea's Cobham training base, had never worked outside Italy before yet has already found much to like. "The difference I see here is that there isn't so much pressure surrounding the matches. People go to the stadium to see a spectacle," says Ancelotti, who believes Italian football can learn from the Premier League. "I hope that in Italy it will change soon, and that people go to the stadium to see an exciting match, like in England, and to support their team – not using violence and racist taunts towards the players."

DJ Malouda
On the pitch he has observed "more intensity" in the English game, although there is "less tactical skill in comparison to Italian teams". Another difference is in the dressing room. "Something I wasn't used to was players listening to music before a match." A fan since boyhood of the Beatles and Elton John, he is less than impressed by the efforts of Florent Malouda, the squad's resident DJ. "I have to say that it's music I don't like much. It's usually rap music – I prefer more relaxing music." He enjoys a song himself and happily rendered a Roman folk number when, as is Chelsea tradition, it was his turn to sing before the entire squad in pre-season. The hope for Chelsea followers is that a campaign that began with a song will end with a chorus of approval.