Anelka Tests AC Milan’s ‘Quality’ Keeping
Hot on the heels of Zeljko Kalac wetting himself over the calibre of keepers the Rossoneri have, the Milan shot-stopper has the mother of all nightmares between the sticks. Kalac, who’s display won’t have helped in his fight against Abbiati and Dida for the top spot, stated before the game “Concerning the role of the keeper, I think that at Milan there are no problems. I have never seen three goalkeepers of this quality in one squad.”
So, taking full advantage of that quality, Nicolas Anelka proceeded to put four past Kalac as his coordination deserted him. Following on from Lampard’s through-the-legs opener, Anelka took advantage of a poor defensive header 8 minutes in. Ten minutes later and Kalac, doing a grand job of auditioning for Lord of the Dance, but a poor one of keeping goal, gifted Anelka a second. A Malouda cross saw Anelka’s third headed into the corner of the net and surprising, the pairing that didn’t even exist last season, combined again for Anelka to volley his fourth and Chelsea’s fifth.
Anelka definitely didn’t live up to his price-tag last season but Scolari feels that a decent pre-season suggests the Frenchman could be about to start earning his money. Scolari, who felt the game against AC Milan was more important as far as everyone else’s confidence in Anelka goes, than for the striker himself, stated “Today was good not because he scored four goals but because he played more free and with more quality than in other games. Anelka today and in the last game played more inside the penalty area than before. That is where I asked him to play and where I need him, not right and left as before. He was playing against a big club and to get four goals against Milan, for his confidence it is fantastic.”
Not to take too much away from Anelka but to be fair, without the likes of Kaka and Ronaldinho, Milan didn’t have much to threaten us with – no recognised striker and a pretty inept defence meant they were never really in the game. Mind you, he still had to take his chances when they came, which he most certainly did, albeit with a little help.
Kalac was right though – I’ve never seen 3 keepers of that quality in one squad either!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kkk-2TB07c]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uVQKEv-4dU]
Filed under: Current Players, Match report, Rants, Videos
Mialn are an ageing squad….so are we “apparently”….so I dont buy into the “they were understrengthed” debate. Ok…they had no recognised striker on the pitch and the commentator mentioned at one stage Milan were playing a 4-6-0 formation. Apart from that, the players they still had at their disposal should have put in a sterner test.
We started the game without Carvalho and Joe Cole. Probably our two best players from last season. Add to that Deco…I would say that pretty well balances itself out with them missing Kaka, Ronaldinho and Pato.
There were stages we were cutting through them at will. Players like Pirlo, Gattuso, Maldini, Ambrosini, Zambrotta.all experienced heads in the Milan team where nowhere to be seen.
I think we deserve a bit of credit for such a performance. Albeit in a pre-season friendly I’m not getting carried away, but no-one wants to be on the end of a humping. Milan are by no means the team they were several years ago as their league position last year shows.
Their keeper didnt help matters, He had the mother of all nightmare games.
So happy for Anelka. He needs to keep it up, but I am convinced (as I have stated before) that he will be a huge success story this season.