The former Liverpool man's positional sense, calm passing and experience provides the glue to hold the team together, and his absence has created a huge problem for Ancelotti.
In the old style of Arab television, unruffled kings and calm presidents passed to and fro through airport reception halls talking of regional and Arab interests.
The large eye of the storm containing calm air passed directly over the tiny island chain of 65,000 inhabitants on Friday, reducing the time the British territory was exposed to hurricane-force winds and limiting potential damage, AIR said in its estimate, which was released late Wednesday.
The Bulgarian, who memorably unveiled a t-shirt that was equally accurate and arrogant with the words 'keep calm and pass me the ball' during his time with Fulham, netted in the 1-0 win over Nice at the Stade Louis II.
We can all see that and everyone was screaming for the players to keep the ball, keep calm and pass it around and it happened for Danny Welbeck's goal.
For those who prefer to travel by boat, Wailua Kayak Adventures and Kayak Wailua offer tours that begin with a slow, two-mile paddle down the calm Wailua River, pass an old Hawaiian village along the banks and end in the middle of a tropical rain forest.
A common mistake, especially in areas where hurricanes are uncommon, is for residents to exit their homes to inspect the damage while the calm eye passes over, only to be caught off guard by the violent winds in the opposite eyewall.
While stressing that only 24 hours of relative calm had yet passed, he said: "Sources on the ground, which do matter, including inside Aleppo city, said the situation has dramatically improved with no air strikes".
Now you may think this is all so much gumbaggley - my husband's word for anything smacking of alterna tive eastern mysticism - but we all felt better with each day that passed: calmer, more relaxed and less wrinkled both inside and out.
The roads were calm and uncluttered, minutes passed before another vehicle appeared.
