Chelsea v Liverpool:ROMAN ABRAMOVICH watched the Chelsea training session at Cobham yesterday during which his manager, Carlo Ancelotti, confidently claims to have "resolved" the problems that had hampered the team's displays in their last two games before the visit of Liverpool to Stamford Bridge.

Ancelotti has overseen nine wins from 10 competitive games, a record worthy of the manager’s pedigree, yet he has just endured his toughest week since taking up the reins in south-west London. The surprise defeat at Wigan Athletic and Wednesday’s unconvincing victory at Apoel Nicosia prompted angry post-match reactions from the Italian in the dressingroom, with the stuttering displays untimely given Liverpool’s visit tomorrow represents this side’s most daunting test to date.

There was nothing sinister to read into Abramovich’s presence on the touchline at the training ground, though it will have served to remind the playing squad that better is expected of them. Ancelotti expressed as much before leaving Nicosia, with the Italian convinced now he has pinpointed and rectified the problems that had undermined his team’s challenge at the DW Stadium and in Cyprus.

“I spoke with Roman, that’s normal,” said the manager. “He watched training and said ‘hello’ to the players, and I didn’t ask him if he was worried. I think he is happy because his team is [joint] top of the table, and top of their Champions League group. But I watched the game against Apoel again and found something that we didn’t do well, and we worked this morning to improve that. We will play better on Sunday.

“The problem we met in the last game was with our possession. It was too ‘soft’. We have to improve the speed of our passing. Only this. We have to change the speed at which we pass the ball to the forwards. We have analysed the situation and resolved the problem. We have a possibility now to go and win this game against Liverpool if we play better than we did on Wednesday. I’m sure we will play better.”

The occasionally pedestrian nature of Chelsea’s approach was a criticism levelled at Luiz Felipe Scolari a year ago, the players expressing their own concerns at the time, with Ancelotti clearly keen to address the issue. “He said we should go back to playing football and working for each other, which worked well in the first games,” said Michael Ballack, who has returned to fitness following a calf injury and should start tomorrow.

“In football, if you are on top and winning games everyone wants to play well against you, put in more effort and beat you. Every game we have to do a little bit more.”

The club’s chairman, Bruce Buck, said last week the board had expected Chelsea to have won the games they have faced to date this season given the fixtures, but Liverpool offer a sterner test.

Ancelotti admitted Rafael Benitez, the manager he opposed with Milan in the 2005 and 2007 Champions League finals, has proved one of his toughest opponents. They were contrasting occasions in Istanbul and Athens, the horror of the Rossoneri’s capitulation in the first match tempered by the revenge Ancelotti inflicted upon Liverpool two years later.

“There’s no pain still from that game in 2005,” he said. “In football, difficult moments can be good and help you improve. We lost an unbelievable game that night, and it was one of the best matches my Milan team played. It is always in my memory – it’s not a positive memory, but not too negative – but, for me, 2007 was destiny. To return after two years and have revenge against Liverpool was, for us, fantastic. We were always sure to win that game.

“In Fernando Torres Liverpool have a complete striker, a player capable of scoring with his head, with both feet and who has great pace. We have to work hard to block the passes to Torres and [Steven] Gerrard, staying compact between the lines.

“But Benitez’s teams are also always defensively very well organised. His teams are very difficult to play against. It is as if he has watched a lot of matches in the Italian championship. They do not concede many opportunities with the defensive unit he has. I just hope it will be easier on Sunday.”