Interview with the gaffer

HARLINGTON (Reuters) - Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri says that his team has little chance of winning the premier league and that the whole philosophy of the club has changed since his arrival two years ago.

When the Italian arrived at Stamford Bridge he said his intention was to win the league, while 12 months ago he said it was imperative that they reached the Champions League.

Neither has happened and now Ranieri, after discussions with club chairman Ken Bates and a rare summer of no major signings, says he is more concerned with building for the future.

"There are at least three big teams better than us," he said after the team's last training session before the new season kicks off, naming Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

"It was the same last season, we could not win the league then either.

"Of course it is important that we still try to get into the Champions League but there has been a change of strategy at the club.

"Now the strategy is to blend the young players with the experienced players. That is important for the club."

"The chairman told me to stay calm and to stay for five years and build a new, big Chelsea."

While that might seem too long to wait for the club's supporters who have had only one league title, in 1955, to celebrate, Marcel Desailly says Ranieri's approach is realism.

"The manager is ambitious but it is just a reality that there are teams who are better than us," said the French international defender.

"But if there is a small chance of us winning the premier league he wants to get it. He is more demanding in training, he asks more of us.

"He is saying that player for player other teams have something more than us, but we are going to try. If we are a bit lucky, if we can change some things, perhaps against the smaller teams, anything can happen."

That failing against the premier league's lesser lights has plagued Chelsea for years and last season was no different.

While they raised their game for the big head-to-heads, they could not maintain it on a regular basis and slipped to a disappointing sixth-place finish.

"We must change the motivation," said the Italian coach. "I would like my players to play the same way with the big teams and the little teams.

"There is little gap when we play against Manchester United and Liverpool -- the gap comes with how we play against the little teams."

Desailly has already admitted to struggling for motivation on the English domestic treadmill and, after his painful World Cup experience with France, sounded anything but enthusiastic on the eve of another 60-game season.

"I don't have any objective for the season, it's game by game," he said.

"Every year we say we are going for something but soccer is so unpredictable that you cannot make any guarantees

"If we start well tomorrow (Saturday) it will give us some confidence but for me there is no real objective."

Ranieri is hoping that an end to the club's transfer merry-go-round will work in his favour, developing the team spirit so obviously absent so much of the time.

"I have good players here and for the first time there is not a lot of change in the squad. Maybe this is a good thing, maybe better for developing the link," he said.

They get their first chance to test it at Charlton Athletic on Saturday -- a team who beat them home and away last season and who thrive on team spirit.

"Charlton are our bogey team," he said. "Maybe it's because they are very compact, they press a lot. We want to play quicker but they set traps for us and we will have to play with a lot of intelligence.

Ranieri has yet to decide who will partner Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink up front, with Eidur Gudjohnsen still short of fitness after an injury lay-off. Either Gianfranco Zola or youngster Carlton Cole will probably start.