Chelsea FC winger Florent Malouda: Other teams fear us no more
Chelsea winger, Florent Malouda has said that his team has lost the fear factor due to recent poor results at home.
Chelsea enjoyed a magnificent start to their season and won their opening 5 fixtures in the English Premier League. Since then, The Blues have seen a slump in form, which includes 3 defeats in the last 4 league matches.
One of the three losses included a 3-0 humiliation in front of their home fans, while playing against Sunderland FC. It was a shocking result for Chelsea considering the fact that they had only lost three home games since 2004,
while remaining unbeaten for a record 86 home games.
The French winger is of the opinion that other Premier League clubs now no longer believe that Stamford Bridge is an unassailable fortress it once used to be.
Chelsea have not only been leaking needless goals at the back, they are also not clinical when it comes to finishing the attacking moves. In contrast to the free scoring blue-machine at the start of the season that scored goals
at will, Carlo Ancelotti’s men have only managed one goal in their last 4 league games.
The Blues laboured to a less than convincing 2-1 win over MSK Zilina in a midweek UEFA Champions League clash, in which Malouda scored a late winner.
Expressing his concern over his side’s dip in form, the Frenchman said, “Have we lost the fear factor? Yes. Maybe teams have more confidence when they come here. Right now we have so many injuries and it's more difficult for us
physically and mentally. It's a period of the season where the games are more difficult. You can recover better after a win, though, which is why I'm so happy we beat Zilina. This is the moment when players have to come in and show their quality."
The English champions’ miseries have been compounded by the suspension of Michael Essien and injuries to fringe players like Frank Lampard and John Terry. Both veterans, however, are close to making a return to 1st team
action.
Chelsea’s Ivorian striker, Salomon Kalou believes the results will begin to improve once all players return to full-fitness. Kalou also dismissed all rumours that suggest the sudden sacking of Raymond Wilkins is the reason behind
Chelsea’s dismal form.
He said, "When the injured players get back they'll bring their experience. They will bring back that anger a player has when he hasn't played for a while. It has not been weird for us. Everything has been the same. We have trained
like normal. Chelsea is a big club. When things aren't going well we have to be focused and not concentrate on other things outside.”
Ancelotti faces a tough fixture in the Premier League when he travels to St. James’ Park on Sunday to take on Newcastle United FC.
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