"I am happy because it was important to start the new year well, and to play this game well," said Ancelotti.
"If we hadn't taken the game in the right way, it could have been difficult. But we started well, played well and were 3-0 up after 20 minutes.
"It was a good performance and Sturridge played very well. It's important for us to have him in good condition because, without Drogba, it is important to have him in good condition.
"He scored two goals and that's important for a striker, to score. But he deserved that. He played very well for the whole match.
"This performance was very important for him. It'll improve his confidence. He has a lot of potential and great quality, and he can show that on the pitch in January.
"I think that we can do a good January, good performances without the African players. I had good answers about other players. Juliano Belletti played very well in central midfield. I think we can do good performances without the other African players.
"My players know very well how important the FA Cup is for this club, for this country. We want to do our best and arrive in the final. We won the FA Cup last year and we want to do the same. We want to put our best in this competition."
Malky Mackay
"To lose a goal in the first five minutes, from a scrappy corner, doesn't help," said Mackay.
"It gives you an uphill battle. You want to keep it as tight as possible, so that didn't help. It's hard. We've got to learn from that. We go back and watch the DVD and we'll look at it and be honest with ourselves.
"There were bits of the game where we could have done better. They're world-class players - they're two levels above us, they're top European players - but there were situations where we could have done better. That's where we have to improve. If we learn from it, it'll benefit us in the long-run.
"If we'd started the game the way we started the second half, it might have been a different game. We gave it a real go for 15 or 20 minutes of the second half. That's how we needed to start. If you don't do that, you'll get punished. For those 15 minutes we kept the ball and passed it well.
"It's about learning. There's the standard if you want to be a top England international. That's what you're up against. That was European standard football out there, and that's what we aspire to and what the lads must keep working towards."