Shevchenko: form is temporary; class is permanent
Sunday, 08 October 06, 08:56 PM · Comments (13)
If sections of the media are to be believed, £31m of Roman Abramovich's hard earned cash might just as well have been flushed down the Stamford Bridge plumbing this summer.
Why? Because one of European football's greatest ever strikers can't hit the proverbial cow's arse with a banjo now that he's wearing the blue of Chelsea.
Andriy Shevchenko's goal scoring travails have become the latest hot topic - or another stick with which to bash the Blues, depending on your point of view.
"[Shevchenko's] impact on the English game will be minimal and we'll all come to see his time spent at Chelsea as a great player picking up one last, well-deserved paycheck," writes ITV Sport's Justin Zehmke.
Shevchenko scored 173 goals in 296 appearances for AC Milan, the majority in a league notorious for its focus on the defensive aspects of the beautiful game.
In the 2005/06 season, he scored 19 goals in the 22 games he played in Serie A. He scored 9 goals in 12 appearances in the Champions League. If it wasn't for a knee injury, his World Cup might have proved equally as successful. He did manage to score two goals despite a lack of fitness.
Now that the onus is on him to produce similar form for Chelsea, and with just one goal in seven Premiership games, his ability is being doubted, which beggars belief.
"I think he looks heavy-legged. I don't think he can run that fast.
"When we saw him at the World Cup, he'd been out for a long time and the argument was that he wasn't fit. I keep on hearing and reading that he's going to get better and in time he will score goals.
"I'm not so sure. His performances so far in the Premiership have not been that great and when Michael Ballack and Joe Cole come back, I'm not sure he's going to play," said the BBC's Alan Hansen during last weekend's Match of the Day.
It is fair to say that Shevchenko has not been at his best in recent weeks.
But what his doubters have failed to recognise, or chosen to ignore, is his all round play and contribution to the team: his movement, passing and link up play has been as good as ever. His mere presence has brought the best out of Didier Drogba, who is producing his best form in a Chelsea shirt.
Of course there is the possibility that he will continue to struggle and ultimately fail to adapt to the English game and style of play favoured by Jose Mourinho.
But such a scenario is almost unimaginable. He is a proven striker at the highest level, a class act. We are not talking about Mateja Kezman here.
It's only October. Shevchenko needs more time: time to get used to the pace of the Premiership, time to adapt to Mourinho's way of doing things - particularly the emphasis placed on him to link up the play. Maybe he still needs time to recover from his knee injury and the World Cup.
Don't write him off just yet. It's definitely not a myth that form is temporary and class is permanent. His goal scoring drought is doubtless nothing more than a blip. It's perfectly conceivable that he'll score 20 for the Blues this season once his confidence returns.
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i must admit that i was worried but after watching the game against Villa, he was back to his old self. His touch and passing improved dramatically and that brings confidence to his game.
goals will come
As a die hard CFC fan - when I first heard of Sheva's signing I was dismayed.
a) we spent far too much on a 30 year old
b) he has no experience in the EPL - at his age taking a season to settle in means a lot more then if he was 21.
Bascially I agree that Sheva was one of the greatest strikers ever - remember he was called the white ronaldo and was feared for his pace.
The pace is now gone and although he is quite clearly an accomplished player I do feel that he has no hunger at CFC - I think both him and Ballack have joined simply as their retirment fund.
I do hope I am wrong but I would have preffered spending 30 million on either Torres, Adriano, Ibrahamovic or even Tevez.
I mean we spent 24 million on Drogs when we could have bought Rooney - lets keep buying young (Kalou, Robben, Essien, Obi-1, etc) and forget the OAP's (Ballack, Sheva).
God bless Roman's Blue Army!!
TrueBlue....
I think you are wrong about sheva....like u admitted, d guy is not lacking in skill and though his speed/stamina may not be like dat of SWP/essien or any of the other younger blokes, one can not really say it has waned....where the folks u mentioned (save for torres, maybe) exhibit exuberance and power, sheva shows skill and experience....dont know about you but i'd opt for skill and experience anyday, so long as there are other compliments in the team...
Take the case of france at the last world cup (a team whose core was made up of actual/potential retirees)...they started poorly trying to find their form, and all the critics went to town about the age of the team and all other crap...you saw what happened when they found their rythm....the young and exuberant ones fell at their feet (spain, brazil and portugal)...italy could have fallen too, but for the zizou-boot and ill-luck
Makalele is one of the best in the world today in his midfield role....and thats a player who is battling with retirement from international football even as we talk...a great 'TEAM' is made up of players with different strengths
If you ask me, i think JM should compliment sheva's strength by allowing players with vision to hold his midfield....mikel should be given some more playing time.....his pass rate is superb (whether long or short passes) just a couple of games to drive his confidence and we'll sure be the better for it....
Always blue!!!
First time on here, love this website by way guys, great job!
Ok i usually just read and keep my thoughts to myself but True Blues comments made me want to speak a bit of my mind.
True Blue, i'm with you in that i'm a forever Chelsea fan but you need to check the facts out buddy. Sheva is Europe's finnest ever goal scorer, proven FACT! So to mention names Like Torres, Ibrahimovic and Adriano is a mockery to him. Those three strikers alone are the most hit and miss things in Europe mate. Tevez, well we clearly are better with Sheva who already has a goal over him.
And i cannot stand it when people bad mouth Ballack. Ballack is like an emporer when he gets on that field, he dictates play and makes everything look so easy. I mean it when i say he is the best midfielder in the world. He can shoot, tackle, head and most importantly use both feet. Get behind them, we're not even a quarter into the season yet!
And lastly, i'd rather have Drogba in my team than Rooney right now.............wouldn't you?
Blue Geeza - spot on.
Up the Chels!
Blue Geeza and Alex:
I agree that Sheva and Ballack will go into the football hall of fame - they have been consitant tops class players in their respective leagues. However - I do feel they are being shoehorned into the team at the expense of other great players.
Do you agree that this term we have not been playing anywhere near as well during Jose's 1st 2 seasons? Both of those seasons we started and finished strong. This season we are struggling to match that form.
My concern is that Ballack and Sheva have a maximum of 2 seasons left in them - this being the 1st. I agree that Torres et all, are not in the same league as Sheva but they are younger and have much more potential. I mean why not go and sign Pele - he was the worlds greatest ever!! But as I state with sheva and ballck - he is too old to play. Ballack and Sheva will play well - but at the expense of Obi-1, Robben/ J.Cole etc - this is just wrong. There are reports that Diarra is now looking for 1st team football elsewhere in Jan!!
In my humble opinion - CFC should be focusing on developing our youth players rahter then buying aging stars. Makka is still great - but should be used sparingly with Diarra playing that role more often. Then in Midfield we should have Frank rotating with Essien and Obi-1 leaving us 2 solid wingers to play with in Joe and Robben.
I do hope I am wrong - the game against Barca will be very revealing in terms of seeing if this stratgey is correct. I just hope we smash those spanish bastards and don't get humilated on our turf. They are a good team with insider knowledge (Eidur will sing like a canary !!) so I am worried a lot about that game.
Please adopt me Roman!!
13 Comments · Add yours
It took Dennis Bergkamp about 7-10 games to start scoring for Arsenal. People are too quick to talk up players when they have one or two good games and they're too quick to write people off after a few bad ones.
Shevchenko is quality.
I have no doubt that Sheva will come good. He's playing well in an unfamilar position in an unfamilar league. The return of Cole and settling of Ballack will help immensely. I do worry, though, that it takes new players a few months to get used to the JM requirements (I think Mourinho has alluded to this himself when talking about SWP).