Mention Chelsea’s Champions League defeat to anyone and the image the majority are likely to conjure up would usually be John Terry. Be it his penalty slip or the tears that followed, this is what most would remember. He certainly seemed to take it harder than anyone, shouldering the responsibility for eleven men with a public apology – although I never really saw the need for that.

I guess Drogba too, made an attempt at apologising for the part he played (or didn’t as the case may be, although he did this in his own good time and it felt about as sincere as Kenyon’s statement about Avram taking us “to the next level”.

For me though, when I think about that defeat, whilst I clearly remember JT’s miss, that memory in itself isn’t the one that still induces the empty, sick feeling in my stomach, or the one that makes me want to bury my head until someone comes to tell me it didn’t really happen. No, for me, the image guaranteed to remind me of how sickeningly crushed I felt that night – and every time I’ve been reminded of it since – is the moment Nicolas Anelka stepped up to take a penalty.

He had ‘miss’ written all over his face but worse still, he had ‘couldn’t care less’ inscribed in every sulking step he took towards the ball. And as if his penalty, which was more akin to a father’s gentle pass back to his toddler than the deciding kick of a Champions League final, wasn’t bad enough, then his attitude certainly was. Because whilst Terry was falling over himself (no pun intended) to shoulder the blame – and let’s not forget, Terry’s miss wasn’t the one that finished us altogether – Anelka was shrugging his shoulders and whining like a bitch to excuse himself.

Now whilst I’ve previously accepted he had a point about the position he was played in last season, what I couldn’t accept was that he picked the mother of all games to sulk in. After all, he certainly wasn’t the only player to be brought into the game late and not only did Belletti and Anderson both look up for the penalties they willingly stepped up for, but they both did enough to score them as well.

Anyway, having shrugged his shoulders the following day stating “I had to go seventh but Edwin Van Der Sar pushed away my shot. Good for him.”, what we’re now being told is that for him, the wounds still haven’t healed. Whilst still whingeing about how hard it was for him because he wasn’t “involved at the start of the competition” he suggests the penalty miss was harder for him than JT. Anelka now says “John is a big player for Chelsea, he has already done something for the club by helping them win so many trophies. I am new so it was more difficult for me. I try not to think about it, but it’s very hard. Even if I scored the penalty I still would feel I have something to prove.”

Well, I’m going to have to disagree with him over which player out of the two would feel that defeat the hardest, but what I do agree with is that Anelka still has a lot to prove. Certainly, he was played out of position way too much last season (although so was Essien and I don’t remember him sulking about it) and he’s looked better, if not that much happier in his spot up front this pre-season. So, with last season’s words from Anelka still fresh in my mind:

“Next season it will be different, I won’t be a new man anymore, I will be a Chelsea player.”

I can only suggest I hope he starts to act like one.

Filed under: Current Players, Rants