TheDrogBlog

Drogba On Form and Chelsea win Against Hull on the first day of the season

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:48:10 -0500

Preamble

Chelsea managed a 2-1 win against Hull City today, with Didier Drogba scoring twice. The big Ivory Coast man manged to score two spectacular goals today, one in each half. One, a good free kick and the other a sublime chip. But the day didn't start quite so well as Drogba and Chelsea may have hoped.

First Half

In the first 30 seconds, the man who broke our beloved goalkeeper, Petr Cech, Tried again to cause permanent damage to one of our players. Hunt decided to try and embed his studs onto Frank Lampards' thigh and the ref must not have seen the yellow card offense because the former Reading Winger did not get booked. Later on, Drogba Missed a glorious opportunity right in front of the Goal. The cross in from Essien was good, however Didier's shot Was blasted wide.

The next chance was found by reading from a hunt corner fell to Boateng, Hull's captain, but Petr Cech managed to stop the goal. But, on the 28th minute, It was a blocked Boateng shot that resulted in the rebound goal from Stephen Hunt and Chelsea went 0-1 down.

It was to be a foul on John Mikel Obi that gave Chelsea a prime free kick in a Central position in front of the Goal. Myhill had poorly organized his wall and it was Didier Drogba who punished him with a well struck Free kick that was guided accurately into the bottom Right hand corner of the net.

It was becoming evident who was going to be putting on the most pressure in this Game as the 4 man Chelsea midfield was putting in a strong showing. Mikel at the base of the diamond, although when He strode forward It was Ghanaian Michael Essien who moved to that central role From his starting position on the right side of midfield. Lampard was at the tip of the diamond with Malouda moving up and down the left flank.

After the break, it was Mikel who was taken off for Michael Ballack, the German captain.

Second Half

Chelsea could have gotten the lead from a good move in the opening stages of the first half, but Anelka shot tamely from Drogba's layoff. The Chelsea Strike pairing were looking more in tune with each other in this half and Chelsea began to become livelier and far more adventurous.

Despite some pressure from Hull, it was Chelsea who were looking the Stronger team in this second half. Anleka tried to break the Deadlock but Hull defender Andy Dawson made sure the score Remained 1-1.

Carlo Ancelotti Decided to bring on another Ivory Coast man, Saloman Kalou, in order to try and get the full three points. His decision was almost rewarded with the Ivorian's fist touch, but the cross from Portuguese playmaker, Deco, who had come on for Frenchman Florent Malouda, was headed just over the Bar.

Six minutes of added time saw to it that Chelsea were able to put yet more pressure on visitors Hull. Shortly after being denied by Turner, Drogba was released by Deco and put in A cross-shot-chip that went sublimely into the Goal in the 92nd minute. Despite some increased pressure from Hull, Chelsea were able to see out the game and win it 2-1.

Player Ratings:

Petr Cech-7. Mostly a good showing today from the Czech international but some dodgy punching late in the 2nd half

Ashley Cole- 6.5. Lots of energy and good running today from Cole. Attacked well but misplaced one or two crosses.

John Terry-6.5. Strong Showing today from John. Solid.

Ricardo Carvalho-7.5. Good thing we kept him is all I can say.

Jose Bosingwa- 7.5. Given more freedom to go forward than Ashley and put in a lot of good crosses.

John Mikel Obi-6. Not that bad but was subbed off at Half time. Won the free kick that got us the goal so gets an Extra 0.5.

Michael Essien-6.5. Lots of energy and some good shots. Moved back to The central role after Ballack Came on.

Frank Lampard-7.0. Good showing from Frank but still adapting to the tip of the diamond.

Florent Malouda-7.0. Good crossing on that Left Flank from the Frenchman.

Nicolas Anelka-6.5. Decent, but should have scored early in the first half.

Didier Drogba-8. Great showing from Drogba. Scored two great goals, Man of the Match In my opinion. Back to his best.

Subs:

Michael Ballack-7. Strong showing from Ze German.

Deco-7. Good pass for Drogba's goal and good passing all round.

Saloman Kalou-N/A. On for only 10 Minutes.

Conclusion

Good Start from Carlo and the Boys. If Drogba can Maintain this form All season then He may get a good 30 Goal campaign, as long as he stays fit of course. Still Easing into our Diamond, so Carlo still has some work to do, but other than that, a good result.

Didier Drogba apparently needs a partner, So who shall it be?

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:30:09 -0500

Chelsea's new Manager Carlo Ancelotti appears to favor a diamond formation for our teams new setup. The last manager to implement this diamond at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, found this system unsuccessful. But the man up front, Drogba, found this to be his best ever season. His partner, Shevchenko, not so much. Drogba appears to thrive with a partner, scoring 33 goals for Chelsea in that one season. But, there are obviously two players in every partnership and both should do well if the team as a whole are to be successful. So lets take a look at the candidates already at Chelsea:

Fist Up, Nicolas Anleka. The Frenchman is deemed the favorite to take up the pairing with Didier, but the one concern is that both players are out-and out Center Forwards, So who is going to drop back? My guess is that we'll have another Sheva-Drogba pairing where one excels and the other flops. Or maybe we won't, and Drogelka Turns into the most feared strike pairing in the world... Maybe.

Another man who may hold the key is Saolman Kalou. He is, by trade, a support striker and a guaranteed 10 goal-a-season man. By playing him where he belongs, down the middle, he might exceed expectations and become the ideal partner for Didier. He can drift around distracting defenders or he can do what very few other players in our team seem to be able to do; run AT defenders- not around, at- and get past his man in order to make space for a pass or a shot at goal. He can also drop back into midfield or be moved out wide in order to change formations or players.

There are also players who play deeper, as No.10's, such as Joe Cole or even Florent Malouda. These players would be playing very much supporting roles and would do more assisting and creation of goals than scoring. This would also allow Lampard to drop into his favored deep position in Midfield, where he appears to do better raiding from deep.

And what of this rumoured Marquee signing? If Franck Ribery were to arrive, we could always apply him as a No. 10. Both Pato and Aguero could do the support striker role that Kalou could play, or even line up further forward, next to Didier rather than Dropping off of him. But, we need to make sure the link from midfield to attack is strong and the diamond is properly formed to do that. So this really begs the question: Who is the ideal strike partner for both Chelsea and Didier Drogba?

Should he stay or Should he leave?

Tue, 12 May 2009 14:01:20 -0500

Should he stay or should he go?

Didier Drogba is a Chelsea player, but for how long? He has in the past weeks been blasted by Barcelona players, Uefa officials and of course, the friend to the English game and billionaire owners, Michel Platini. His behavior has been called appalling by many and it is time for Chelsea to decide: Do we really need Drogba next season?

Can we survive without him?

Didier has been nothing less than fantastic for us over the years. Sure, his performances can be bi-polar at times, he may have the odd dive and maybe he isn't exactly what one would call a flair striker, but he is the best at what he does: Bully the crap out of defenses.

Can you imagine David Villa or Berbatov taking on the entire Barcelona defense and succeeding in rattling them enough to get mistakes out of them?

Or Rooney single handedly holding us up against Liverpool for 50 minutes?

Maybe Torres is going to out muscle Silvestre and Toure next time we play Arsenal.

Fact is, although Villa would have netted those Point blanks against Valdez, Would he have the muscle to get into those positions year long? Nope. Don't get me wrong, Villa is a fantastic Striker and any team would be lucky to have him, but He just wouldn't fit our current system.

He isn't what our team calls for in tight games; A long ball/ chip from Cech/Lampard and the ability to out muscle The best Center-Halves in the world.

Lets continue with that line of thought, 0-1 Loss to Liverpool. We just kept lumping long balls up to Anelka and he was overpowered by some world-class center-halves. Last season in the 3-2 win, we played the ball up to Didier and he tore Carragher and Skrtle to pieces. See Where this is going?

Can we Change?

This has far more to do with Chelsea as a whole than just with Mr. Drogba.

We've played a 4-3-3 for, hmmmm say, 5-6 years? Maybe a change here and there or a rotation to a 4-5-1 but its remained largely the same (Although we did try the 4-4-2 diamond every once in a while).

Why is that? Even after Duff, Arjen and SWP Left, we kept it up. We stopped tearing up the wings and instead gound out wins with our ridiculously strong Central midfield of Frank, Herr Ballack and Makalele or Essien.

We had half a good front 3 last season. Joe, Didier and Malouda. Last year Malouda Forgot how to try, Joe isn't really a natural winger, he tends to cut in more and Didier only played 29 times.

This season the Golden Guus has changed that and we now have a decent front 3 of Anelka, Malouda -- who has remembered how one Tries -- and of course, Didier.

Prior to that however, we had a nightmare with Scolari. The So-so One tried to turn us into Brazil of 1970 with Flying fullbacks and one-touch passing that would make grown men cry. He failed miserably. He only succeeded into making us a one-dimensional Idea-less team without anything that represented a cutting edge. And The Didier we all know and that Arsenal hate was a shadow of his former self.

Indeed, these were dark times for Chelsea Football Club. Anelka was on fire when this football worked but lets face it, Anelka is no Drogba. As soon as teams figured out our style, we started to fall way off the pace. When We tried to pass it into the net, Didier Stumbled.

When we ground it out and played some long balls, Didier Flourished.

So, If we change our system, we may need to change our Striker.

Who could we get?

Many a man has been speaking about this David bloke down at Valencia. I am of course , speaking of none other than David Villa. He is A fantastic striker, as I've said. He has pace, Vision, and great finishing. He can also be a set piece taker if required. He can play as the main striker or as a second striker. He can score, provide and he can run teams ragged. He brutalized Russia at Euro 2008 and he may hold the key to a new Chelsea. Roman has apparently given the go-ahead for one Mega-Signing this summer and he could well be it. If we do sign him, I Just hope he doesn't get Shevchenko Syndrome.

What about that Sergio Chap at Atletico Madrid? He is more of a support striker yes, but if we sell Didier and we get what, 16 million pounds for him? I'm sure if we get at least 10 million more from our other apparent sales, we would be able to get ourselves a decent Striker to partner Mr Aguero.

There is also a certain Argentine Fellow who isn't exactly enamored with his position up north. Tevez would be a spectacular signing, however, his effort is on the fine line of Being Super-intelligent covering of the pitch or Running Around pointlessly for 90 minutes, simply expending energy for no real cause.

Diego Milito? Even Ibrahimovic has been linked with us. Trezeguet Has been linked with us too. So who could we get?

Didier has had a fantastic scoring record though.

2004-05-- 18 goals, 38 games
2005-06-- 18 goals, 38 games
2006-07-- 33 goals, 62 games
2007-08-- 15 goals, 29 games
2008-09-- 12 goals, 33 games and counting

Conclusion:

Didier is a great player, a great striker and has been fantastic in his service to Chelsea.

But, do we need him?

And what do we do when he retires?

Oh and who is gonna buy A 31 Year-old striker with suspect knees, A temper and 90,000 pounds a week in wages? AC Milan? Inter? Real Madrid? These are the questions that haunt me ...