Both Jon Obi Mikel and Salomon Kalou have recently praised their new boss Andre Villas-Boas (much like you’d expect) and say that the new Chelsea boss has made a great first impression on the squad.
The duo will be hoping to start anew this season under the new manager as they both had their reasons to be disenchanted and frustrated during the reign of Carlo Ancelotti.
Mikel, 24, told the club’s official website:
“The new manager has worked really hard on our sharpness and it is going very well.
“The double sessions are hard but working with the ball makes it so much easier than running all the time, and it is enjoyable as well. The other coaches are also playing their part in supporting the manager and adding their own ideas.
“Everything so far has been great, we’re all enjoying their training and everything is going well so hopefully we can have a good season and for me it will be good to pick up information because I still want to improve.”
Kalou, 25, also had high praise for Villas-Boas:
“We see that everything is with the ball. Before, you start more with the running first before even going to the ball. So that’s a big difference.
“Everyone is looking forward to the season, everyone is excited about the way we’re working. It’s good for everyone to be back and see everyone.”
The fact that both of them commented on how Villas-Boas has a preference for training with the ball is particularly telling, as I believe getting players to run around all day doing fitness work is an outdated approach as the modern day professional is more than capable of keeping himself in shape.
Kalou says working with the ball in training makes a ‘big difference’, which makes me wonder about Ancelotti’s training techniques as most of a footballer’s training should be with the ball and as far as I know, most of the big sides in Europe, like Barcelona, only do a little fitness work.
Those two need to be impressed. They aren’t exactly our 2 best players so mentioning how good the gaffer is will only aid their cause for a place in the team. Hopefully AVB see’s past Kalou or makes him into a decent player- I would accept either but the current Kalou is not good enough.
@James They are not trying to sell themselves.they mean what they said.
hopefully this season will be gud for us the chelsea fans..i wish the new coach a season filled with fun and silverwares…
2be honest.these two players are never given their credit for their hardwork. People always critsise thm i thnk its bcz of their colour not their qualities.lets not be racists.how many minutes was gven 2 kallou? And hw many tyme dd this guy came frm z bench and won the match or equalized?. Mikel is the player who stabilizes our team every tyme he is not playing we are outplayed in the midfield go to stats all z matches we lost he wasnt playing . These guys are our future plays wz pasion 4 our team lets suport them..