Carlo seeks striker 'solution'

Published Feb. 11, 2011 1:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

Ancelotti bought himself a £50million conundrum when he broke the British transfer record to sign Fernando Torres from Liverpool, with the Spaniard joining Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka in the Chelsea ranks. Torres' debut, a 1-0 defeat by his former team-mates, saw him paired with Drogba in attack with Anelka playing a less familiar creative role behind the front two. It looked an uncomfortable fit for the Frenchman, while Torres was replaced after 65 unremarkable minutes. Ancelotti does not plan on fielding the trio every week but believes it is his duty as a coach to make it work when he does, starting at Fulham on Monday night. "We have to use the time we have (to help them gel)," he said. "We will try again this week because we have some time. Step by step we will try to find the right solution to put them together. "I think my aim as a coach is to try and find a better solution with the players we have in the squad. They are fantastic strikers and we have to do everything we can to make them play." He continued: "Sometimes I will choose one player or the other because in the future we will have important games. "I think rotation of the players will be important and I want to use rotation in the next few games. "We have important aims to reach in the future, some players will need to rest and recover." The Italian also backed Torres to rediscover the top form he showed only intermittently for Liverpool over the last year. "We found Torres in good condition. He doesn't have a problem. Last week was obviously a busy week for him and this week he has had an international match, but he doesn't have a problem showing his quality," he said. Chelsea's other major January signing, £25million defender David Luiz, is in line to make his first start against the Cottagers having come off the bench against Liverpool. He faces competition from the likes of John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic and the injured Alex to earn a place in Ancelotti's first XI on a regular basis, but the manager has backed him to quickly establish himself as one of the best in the game. "David is a very good defender and he has the ability to play all the positions in the back four," said Ancelotti. "He is Brazilian so obviously he has a very good technique. He can help us build and play better from the back. He will be one of the best defenders in the world in the future." Asked to compare Luiz to another centre-back recruited from the Portuguese league, former Blue Ricardo Carvalho, Ancelotti talked up Luiz's superior ball-playing skills. "It is difficult to compare him to Carvalho, they are different players," he said. "Carvalho is fantastic man to man but David has more ability with the ball. "With him we have more opportunity to play football from the defence."