
With Drogba, Essien, Kalou and Mikel all off on ACON duty, Florent Malouda is hoping he’ll get his fair share of the limelight – and not quite in the way the press wanted him to have it.
A couple of days ago, we heard from the press that Malouda was whingeing about the unfairness of it all at Chelsea and suggesting Frank Lampard gets far too much credit. Malouda was reported to have said of Lampard “It’s his position in the national team. He plays like that in the England team, and we are in a World Cup year. But at a certain point, the status has to be in relation with the performances.”
He was also alleged to have said “Before the match against Birmingham, I talked to the coach to tell him about my frustration. The frustration is above all for the big games. I’m ready to look elsewhere. Finding another club is not a problem. But the club has closed the door to any departure, whether it be in January or in June. The coach is counting on me. We’ll see from now until the end of the season.” However, Malouda flatly denied the stories, insisting “Nothing that you could read today came out of my mouth. I was really shocked and surprised when I came and we had a meeting at quarter-to-12 when I discovered my words. My reaction was to go and talk with the manager and talk with Lamps and the meeting was clear. The rest I don’t want to talk about that because they (the press) did it on purpose and tried to put trouble in our team. I would say that is disgusting.”
So, with that cleared up Malouda is hoping to give Ancelotti something else to think about while his team-mates are away, stating “As I said to the coach, there are choices to be made and he told me I have to take my opportunity now. That’s what I tried to do from the beginning of the season and I will try to do it until the end of the season. You have to accept that and I’ve never complained. That’s the way it is when you are with a big team and Chelsea is one of the three biggest clubs in the world. I’ve played in the big games, the Champions League final and the FA Cup final, so I’m here for them when the coach needs me.”