Nicolas Anelka has held his hands up to a shocking performance against Manchester United on Sunday, suggesting “Personally, I missed a few good opportunities to score and I could have done better.” Not that he could do anything else but admit he was worse than useless anyway.
However, the French striker – and I use the term ‘striker’ loosely here – believes his struggle to find the back of the net is down to a lack of strike partner and wants Scolari to team him up with Didier Drogba. The 29-year-old says “But it is not secret that I play better alongside another striker, particularly with Didier Drogba in a 4-4-2. Hopefully I’ll have some more chances do so.”
Anelka, like most people, also believes Deco’s absence played a part in Chelsea’s under-par performance against United, saying “We fought for everything, but I think we were a bit tired and we really missed Deco. Of course we have many great players but Deco has been brilliant since he arrived here and he is very important to our style of play.”
However, rather than lay all the blame on absentees, or delve into the realms of who’s dad’s bigger than who’s, it was good to see one of our players being big enough to acknowledge the opposition, stating “United didn’t start the campaign so well but I cannot believe that some people were trying to write them off this early in the season. Even if they lost you can never discount them because, for many years, they have started the championship in difficult circumstances. But they always seem to come back very strong to finish in the top positions. And I think this season will be no different. They’re a great team and, like all great teams, Manchester United are always going to be there or thereabouts, performing in the big matches and making their presence felt in the title shake-up.”
And bearing in mind it was only one point we got on Sunday, he’s absolutely right to keep his feet firmly on the floor.
Blue is the colour
