Carlo Ancelotti believes the defensive difficulties his former side Chelsea faced in their 3-2 loss to Bayern Munich will not last long.
Chelsea were outclassed by Ancelotti's side in the opening exchanges in Singapore and slipped to a 3-0 deficit within 27 minutes as Rafinha and a brace by Thomas Muller put Bayern in command.
Though goal from Marcos Alonso and Michy Batshuayi meant Bayern lost some of the lustre for their win there was rarely much doubt that the Bavarians would secure victory.
Blues boss Antonio Conte had largely stuck to the centre-backs and wing-backs that had won him the title last season, replacing David Luiz with Andreas Christensen, but Conte believes the troubles Chelsea suffered on Tuesday are not indicative of any greater cause for concern.
"Normally, Chelsea's defensive organisation is really good but maybe today they had more problems and Conte was trying out different players," Ancelotti told reporters.
"I am sure Chelsea will have great defensive organisation in the coming season but it's only the pre-season and we did not want to spend too much energy pressing, so we made the most of our counter-attacking chances."
Particularly encouraging for Bayern will have been the form of Muller, who last term endured the worst goalscoring return of his career since first breaking into the setup at the Allianz Arena.
In Pictures | Chelsea vs Bayern Munich | 25/07/2017
Muller followed a vibrant performance against Arsenal with a well-taken brace against Chelsea, convincing Ancelotti he is on course to get back to his peak.
"Thomas is very important as he is an intelligent player, able to find space and despite not scoring a lot of goals last season was still very good," the Italian added.
"At the moment, he looks more efficient in front of goal and that's important for us. The positions he takes on the pitch are very useful for the side."
