Chelsea Season Preview: Forwards
Despite being an older player, Anelka still has a lot to offer. His experience with so many different clubs makes him an essential for the team, if not in the starting eleven then at least on the bench.
In the event of an injury suffered by Anelka, has always been available and has proved to be a more than worthy replacement, and the same is expected of him this season. Anelka also proves to be useful in the Champions League fixtures, despite missing a very important penalty against Manchester United in the Champions League final in 2008, which led to the Blues losing the match, Anelka has more than made up for it. He has playing an important part to ensure Chelsea reached the semi finals in the next Champions League. Ancelotti was successful in keeping Anelka, who signed an extension to his contract, which will keep him at Stamford Bridge until 2012.
Another forward hungry for Champions League glory is Drogba’s young countryman, Salomon Kalou. When signed, it was expected that Kalou would be more like Drogba, but Kalou does not possess the same physical presence. He is quick on his feet but is easily overpowered and dispossessed by the opposing defenders, but since his debut Kalou has come a long way.
Even though he does not get regular starts when Drogba and Anelka are fit and functional, Kalou has made the most of his playing time, surprising everyone when he score a hat trick last season in a match that Chelsea won 7-0. Kalou was recently asked what he thought about the ageing squad and he said, “This season will be a great season for Chelsea, because this will maybe be the last opportunity for us to win the Champions League or to win more prizes together.”
In the upcoming season, Ancelotti will be faced with an interesting choice when it comes to forwards. Pundits have labeled the current Chelsea squad as “too old”, and have predicted they will not be able to repeat last season’s success. But Ancelotti has young strikers lined up for when Drogba and Anelka are unable to perform, even though there are still a few more years left before that happens.
Apart from Kalou, there are two very promising young talents, just waiting to be explored.
One is Daniel Sturridge, the 20 year old Englishman. He was signed from Manchester City in 2009 and impressed everyone when he scored on his debut. Since then, he has been scoring on and off, often being played in the reserves and holds the record for being the youngest player for Chelsea to feature in the Champions League and is among the only five English forwards so far to have played in the Champions League. He set the record for being the only player to score in the third, fourth and fifth round of the FA Cup, which Chelsea went on to win, along with the Premier League. Even though Ancelotti does not like to admit it, more than his goal scoring abilities, Sturridge has a knack of earning penalties in important matches, which are always converted by Frank Lampard. It will be interesting to see if Sturridge can maintain both scoring goals and earning penalties, this two in one striker can take the Blues a long way.
And the second player is Gael Kakuta, the French youngster whose arrival at Stamford Bridge was clouded by FIFA bans and fines on both player and club. Apparently Chelsea had convinced Kakuta to break his contract with previous club Lens in order to sign for Chelsea. The punishment was harsh, Kakuta was banned from football for four months and Chelsea were banned from signing any players until January 2011, but FIFA soon realized how ridiculous this ban was and lifted it. Kakuta started off by playing in the youth team, he was an instant hit. He played with Michael Ballack in a match where he impressed the German international, who later told reporters after the match, “Go see the French lad, he is the star.”
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