I’ve said it plenty of times before and I was saying it again the other night against Marseille – I think Nicolas Anelka is a bloody good player for us – and I’m not the only one who thinks so.
After France’s embarrassing World Cup and Anelka’s laughable ban that followed from the French Football Federation, our French striker predictably took plenty of stick from the Marseille supporters in our Champions League game. Totally unbothered though, Anelka not only put in the sort of performance that would wind them up even more, he had the front to score a cheeky penalty to boot.
Fellow Frenchman Florent Malouda was pretty impressed with him, stating “There was a lot of pressure on him because, as everyone knows, a lot of people in France were watching the game so he had many reasons to want to score. Everyone at the club knows his quality so I’m glad he had the chance to show that quality. I’m happy for him.”
Anelka already signed an extension to his contract in the summer, so he’s with us until 2012 anyway but with his continued good form, John Terry wants Anelka to stay as long as possible. The Chelsea captain says “Nico has stressed before how much he loves the club. The fans love him, the players love him. We would love him to stay here for years to come. He is a great character to have around the place. He is a nice guy and a really good professional, someone who myself and the young players look up to and learn from. He has found a nice home here at Chelsea. He has come out and said how much he has settled here. We have a good base of French players here as well, so that helps people settle in. People like Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda are key to keeping people happy and so it works well.”
Blue is the colour
