Scolari plays down Drogba impact – who is he kidding?
I’m going to make this relatively brief today, because I have often commented on this blog that I consider Didier Drogba Chelsea’s most important player. This view hasn’t changed and I don’t want to bore you with the same views again.
However, something riled me slightly last night after the narrow victory over CFR Cluj in the Champions League. Earlier, Drogba had come of the bench and scored the goal which helped Chelsea stumble into the last 16 of the competition. The striker’s influence was there for all to see and he gave the team a new dimension, a new belief and a new impetuous.
Everyone in the ground knew that Drogba had made the difference. Chelsea were looking rather short on ideas until the Ivory Coast man came on.
However, speaking after the game, Luiz Felipe Scolari seemed to play down the impact that the striker had on the game. Despite the fact that Drogba played a huge part in securing Chelsea’s first home win since the beginning of November, Scolari couldn’t quite bring himself to heap to much praise on the player.
The Chelsea boss did describe Drogba as ‘one of the best in the world’, but this was merely a brief passing comment. Scolari’s focus was instead on ensuring that people knew that Nicolas Anelka is his main striker right now.
He said that ‘our scorer is Anelka’ and proceeded to remind everyone that his team haven’t done too badly considering Drogba has only played 11 times this season. This may well be the case, but I think it is fair to say that if Drogba didn’t play again this season, the football odds wouldn’t fancy Scolari’s men to conquer in Europe.
There may not be too much to read into Scolari’s comments, I just found it bizarre that he was being so defensive. We all know that Anelka has done well in recent weeks and we all know that Chelsea are a more threatening team at the highest level when Drogba is playing. Why not just admit that? Why is there the need to defend Anelka when praising Drogba?
Chelsea captain John Terry told it more like it is. He said that it was a ‘great boost’ to have Drogba back and that he is a ‘great dimension’ for the team. These are the views echoed by everyone – other than Scolari, whose opinion is likely to have the most impact on Drogba.
Chelsea can’t afford to lose Drogba during January, because he is irreplaceable in terms of the team’s ambitions this season. Something that makes Scolari’s nervy and defensive comments even more bizarre.
Thoughts?
By Thomas Rooney – A sports writer who blogs about football betting
Filed under: Current Players, Rants
Chelsea News 24/7
“Drogba had come of the bench and scored the goal which helped Chelsea stumble into the last 16 of the competition”. No he didn’t. Roma winning helped Chelsea stumble into the last 16!
I think the comments were purely Scorlari letting Drogba that he needs to perform in more than 1 match because Anelka has been scoring regularly – Basically laying down the challenge for Drogba to prove he is the better striker rather than think he can just walk into the team without much effort
Lutonblue – how d’you work that one out? We won, we qualified irrespective of Roma’s result.
Here’s one for you. With Anelka in the front, no matter if Drog is present, Chelsea will go nowhere. Anelka performance yesterday against Cluj proved that he’s not Chelsea class and simply Chelsea shouldn’t bank on him. Imagine what had will happen if Drogba hasn’t been introduced. Kalou despite his young age is far away better ,clever and efficient than Anelka. So, I think, if Scolari has to opt for 4/4/2, he must think to align Kalou with the Best Striker in The World. Drogba your are the best striker I have ever seen . Power, technique, cleverness, great character… What we will do when you retire!!!!!!!!!???????
Jimbravua – to be fair, Chelsea haven’t done too badly banking on Anelka so far this season. And you’re kidding about Kalou right?
Drogba had a massive influence last night, but for me the other big difference was Beletti in midfield. He actually made efforts to tackle, close down and attack their back line. Ballack and Deco did none of those things, they gave the ball away and failed to track back. We miss Essien even more than Drogba. For me our midfield should be Mikel Beletti ( SEN when fit) Lampard Joe Cole . Drogba Anelka up front
Couldn’t agree with you more about Essien’s absence Roman and I think the key to that is consistency. Unlike Drogba, who doesn’t fancy every game, you usually know what you’ll get with Essien. Ballack and Deco didn’t look particularly good together last night and you’re right even for the short time he got, Belletti made more of an impact. Its a shame he’s getting on in years because he was a bloody good buy – and like Essien really, you generally know what you’ll get when Belletti plays.
Been a brazilian myself, and knowing what Scolari is capable of, I have to say that he is really amazing in keeping the players competitive. He did not emphasize Drogba´s perform because he doesn´t wanna create pressure on Anelka, and also to make Drogba realize that he has to work harder to be “the scorer” again.
Totally agree with you Diego, I actually think Scolari’s being pretty shrewd.
Diego sorry maybe Phil’s methods are too sophisticated, but it’s gone by me. I’m just not convinced he knows what he’s doing in this league. Claims that it was great to qualify in second place ignore the history which tells us the only time chelsea missed the semi’s of the CL was when we finished second in the group.
Scolari just seems to have his L plates on.
As for missing essien of course we do, Ballack i trust having seen him over the last couple of years, Deco i don’t trust at all – trouble is he’s Big Phil’s marquee signing – why he stays on the field when joe Cole is always subbed i don’t know. Deco’s has been giving the ball away and not tracking back all year – there’s a reason why Jose never brought him to the Bridge 4 years ago and we’re seeing it now.
Scolari has a history in that kind of behavior, and I´m not surprised. Well, I don´t know how much you guys know, but I´ll say some things taking the risk of beeing redundant:
-In 2002, everyone in Brazil wanted Romario in the national team. Scolari didn´t, because Romario, a media favourite and a brazilian hero to some, wasn´t in top form. That almost cost Scolari´s job as brazilian manager – it was really close. Everyone was so outraged and the media started a campaign to take Scolari out when he went to the World Cup without Romario. Scolari stood his mind and won the competition. Now if you ask any brazilian who he wants to manage the national team, they will certainly say Scolari. As for Romario, he just played very badly since then;
-In 2003, Victor Bahia was the number one goalkeeper of Portugal. Scolari left him out, and started using Ricardo, which proved to be a very good choice. Even Mourinho stood back Victor Bahia, critisizing Scolari, who went, again, against a whole nation. He put on the best team Portugal had since the 1966´s team, with Eusebio.
I think Scolari´s philosophy is top form and commitment. Drogba was that player, but, is he now?
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