Chelsea boss Ancelotti heavily involved in youth progress

Chelsea youth boss Dermot Drummy has revealed how manager Carlo Ancelotti has a major influence on the systems their junior teams play.

Drummy oversaw Chelsea's FA Youth Cup win over Portsmouth last night.

"When Carlo [Ancelotti] brought the diamond midfield in that was an interesting one for us, and they also play a Christmas tree," Drummy told chelseafc.com.

"What systems and methods the first team manager is using come to us via [sporting director] Frank Arnesen and [Academy manager] Neil Bath but it is not as easy as just saying right, we are going to swap from one thing to the next, because there is a philosophy on how we play and do things in the Academy.

"If there is a difference the first team manager comes in, and Carlo has done a presentation on what he wants to do. Then we work our way towards it and it might take six months to the next season to implement the various new changes, but we have a strong base ourselves in the Academy and then we just add to it.

"We are playing 4-3-3 at the moment in the youth team because we are a very attack-minded team with good wingers and midfielders, but youth players from 14 upward should be experiencing all formations."