Carlo Ancelotti hopes to stay at Chelsea, but knows the decision is out of his hands.
Chelsea boss expects to discover fate in two weeks
Carlo Ancelotti hopes he will be offered the opportunity to stay at Chelsea, but knows the decision is out of his hands.
The Italian saw his side's Premier League title hopes effectively ended by leaders Manchester United following a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford on Sunday, which means Sir Alex Ferguson's side only require one more point from two matches.
Having also been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by United, it was more misery for Chelsea at the hands of their fierce rivals and Ancelotti's future will now come under increasing scrutiny.
It has long been speculated that the former AC Milan boss will be sacked by club owner Roman Abramovich and, despite winning the Double last season, a trophyless 2010/11 campaign is an underachievement.
Ancelotti expects to discover his fate at the end of the season and told
Sky Sports 1 when questioned on the subject following the defeat to United: "We have to wait two weeks - it is not a long time.
"I hope to stay but it is not my decision."
Ancelotti said at his post-match press conference that he did not know Abramovich's opinion of the season, but he admitted the club could have done better.
Honest
He added: "I don't know what the owner thinks about the season but in my opinion we could have done better.
"I am honest to say that Chelsea didn't do its best this season but sometimes that can happen. Last season we had a fantastic season, this year it was a little bit different."
Asked whether he favoured returning to his native Italy, the Chelsea coach said he would one day - but has found England very much to his liking.
He said: "Italy is my country and I cannot say I don't want to come back to Italy - I will come back to Italy one day as I love my country.
"But in the last two years I have found a fantastic atmosphere in football, a fantastic country, and I respect the people. There is no violence in the stadium, the stadiums are full and I would like to stay here for these reasons."
A goal from Javier Hernandez after just 36 seconds and Nemanja Vidic's 23rd minute header meant that Chelsea were never really in the contest against United, despite Frank Lampard's second-half consolation.
"In the first minute we lost the game, we started so badly," said Ancelotti.
Mistake
"It was very difficult after that to come back and try to win. The second half was better but United played better and deserved to win.
"We have to accept the defeat, today United were better and in general this season they were better than us. They deserve to win title, they will win and we have to try to maintain second place."
Defender David Luiz was culpable as Hernandez burst through to open the scoring and was substituted at half-time after receiving angry looks from Ancelotti.
But Chelsea's manager was more conciliatory after the game, as he said of the centre-back: "He had a little (injury) problem yesterday in training, we tried this morning and he said it was okay so I put him on the pitch.
"On the pitch, you can make a mistake."
Ancelotti has come in for criticism for relying on players who have been stalwarts since Jose Mourinho's time - nine of the starting XI against United had played under Mourinho four years ago - but he claimed there was no need to completely shake up the squad.
"This year we bought (David) Luiz, Ramires and Fernando Torres who are all fantastic players and this was enough for the future," said Ancelotti.
"I don't think this team needs to have a lot of movement and now is not the right time."
