Ironically, whilst TheChelseaBlog keeps harping on about defensive concerns due to current injuries and lack of cover, Nicolas Anelka believes that our defence actually holds the key to our performances so far this season.
I mean, you can’t argue with him that we’ve scored 14 in our first 3 games without reply and a confident Anelka says “We have the mentality not to concede first and then we know almost every time we can score one goal. You know when you play with Chelsea that if I don’t score, Didier can score and if he doesn’t score, Flo (Florent Malouda) can score and if none of us score, Sala [Salomon Kalou] can come on and score. Everybody can score in this team.”
I’m not saying I don’t agree that that’s been the case so far but I will just add that so far, we have played West Brom, Wigan and Stoke. We haven’t had JT, Ivanovic and Bruma on the injury list for all three of those and I just wonder how we’d have fared firstly against better attacking opponents and secondly if those three players had all been out together sooner.
Anyway, onto a point I won’t question from our French striker and that is the form of Florent Malouda at the start of this campaign, with Anelka stating “Flo likes to listen to ragga music in the dressing room and dance and it is fun. On the pitch he is intelligent, he can score, he can assist and also he is very strong. Now he scores more goals than before and he wants to score more and more. He has been here three years and he has got use to it, he has more confidence. It is difficult to come from the French League and straight away to a big club like Chelsea. In England it is tough, it is stronger, everything is quicker and you have to get some games to get used to the English game. Now he knows the English Premier League and you see it on the pitch.”
Definitely no argument from me there because Malouda has started this season the way he finished last season and if he can sustain that momentum even after the international break, yet again he stands to be one of our most important players in the defence of our title.
Blue is the colour
