After Fernando Torres put pen to paper and signed for Chelsea on January’s transfer deadline day, many people expected Nicolas Anelka would be left out in the cold as Carlo Ancelotti would seek to accommodate his new signing, but could Didier Drogba be the one to shown the cold shoulder?
Torres and Anelka linked up well in last night’s game against FC Copenhagen, with the latter scoring a brace in a 2-0 win to take back to Stamford Bridge for the return leg.
Ivorian forward Drogba was named amongst the substitutes last night, but angered many fans when he decided not to join his team-mates in the warm up before the game, which disappointed Sky Sports’ pundits and former Chelsea players Ray Wilkins and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Hasselbaink also said that he believed Drogba could not play up front with another striker and Anelka would provide a more natural partner for Torres, so it could leave Ancelotti with something of a selection headache ahead of a crucial match against Manchester United next week, especially if Drogba persists with such stroppy behaviour every time he’s left out in Carlo’s new rotation policy.
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Former Chelsea manager John Hollins argues that Drogba should remain on the bench.
Hollins told talkSPORT:
“With centre-forwards sometimes the combination isn’t right.
“And it seems if you had all three of them on the pitch they all want to do a solo run but don’t see other people and then the ball fizzles out, the opposition have got it back.
” I think Anelka is the best player to play with either of those two strikers because he does hold the ball up, he does make runs for other people to pull people away and I think if the best combination’s going to be right as two front men you would have Anelka and Torres.
“Anelka does make things happen for other people whereas Torres and Drogba are always wanting to be the one that’s going to finish. There’s not much interplay anywhere else.”
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They should play a diamond formation where Drogba play from middle of attack behind Torres and Anelka like and assist role to striker .
Drogba has been dreadful and has acted like a petulant child instead of trying to fight for his place.
We all know this is the way he is, why he has such a love/hate relationship with the fans, but I don’t believe he’s worth the trouble anymore and expect him to be shipped out in the summer.
Sorry but I’m dead against the diamond. Far to narrow. We play better with a bit of width. If Carlo goes with 442 then I would guess he will go with Anelka as he scored in the last match. But I don’t think he will play 442 against utd. Fergie will go with 1 up front and I have a horrible feeling we will.
It is too narrow, but with Malouda out wide it wasn’t too bad. Essien and Lampard both went forward though, which meant Ramires had to tuck in a lot.
It’s a work in progress. I think pursuing a Anelka/Torres partnership is worthwhile for the remainder of the season, even if we go like-for-like against United on the short-term.
Drogba has bin playing rubbish b4 Torres sign, he has bin losing lot of goals n has not bin at his best, I think he can b bench now.