Didier Drogba vs Emile Heskey, Houllier Believes Heskey Is As Good As Drogba
New Aston Villa boss Gerard Houllier said ahead of the Chelsea clash that he believed that Villa striker was as good as, if not better, than Chelsea striker Didier Drogba. He said that the fact Heskey had retired from international football only made him
more vicious, because now he could focus all his energy on his club.
Houllier’s faith in Heskey is not newly found; the Villa boss paid an expensive fee of £11million to lure the English striker from Leicester City to Liverpool, when he was the manager there. Now that he is in charge of Villa and he has the services of Heskey,
he believes his side can be unstoppable like the Blues.
One can only imagine how relieved Heskey will be with the arrival of his old fan, Houllier. If it was any other manager, Heskey would have been a bench warmer from this season on, only coming in as a substitute in the easy fixture. Much of this can be credited
to his performance in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Robert Green, the England goal keeper in the tournament, is blamed for England’s premature exit from the World Cup, but most people are beginning to realize that maybe the problem was at the opposite end. England were depending on
Heskey for fire power and the 32 year old striker only managed to shoot blanks.
However, Houllier has blind faith in the ageing striker. The term ageing does not necessarily refer to his age; it refers to the stagnant stage he has settled at. When a player stops evolving and developing is when he can be called
as ageing. Houllier did not realize that, as he shamelessly compared Heskey to Drogba.
He said, “I watched Chelsea’s game against Arsenal. Drogba is a hard-working centre-forward but we have a centre- forward who can do the same - Emile is strong, quick and powerful. It is mainly a matter of faith in himself sometimes.
In terms of skill, he does things in training that you would be amazed and surprised to see. Emile forgets sometimes how good he can be.”
It seems Heskey is not the only one forgetting how good he is, many other people have trouble remembering as well. Houllier claimed that Heskey was a selfless player, who had no trouble passing the ball to his teammates if they were
in better positions. This was an attempted hit at Drogba, who is often accused of being selfish but in the end it just sounded like a failed attempt to explain Heskey’s lack of goals as compared to other top strikers.
Houllier went on to say how he felt that Heskey was “blossoming”, especially during training. Anyone would agree that it is ridiculous and close to impossible for a 32 year old striker to “blossom”. If anything, Heskey is close to
retiring and false hope by Houllier will do no one any good, especially Villa if they are expecting on Emile Heskey to secure any points for them.
Houllier urged fans to be patient with the former England international, he said that Heskey deserved a chance and when given that chance he would prove to everyone just how good he really was. He said that undue pressure last season
was one of the reasons why Heskey failed to find the back of the net.
He said, “With strikers, we are sometimes not very patient. We expect too much for him. If a midfielder has an average game we seem to forget it. But if a striker has an average game, and misses a couple of chances, then you can sometimes
destroy his confidence. That probably happened with Emile last year. Because they’re the main figure in the team – they make the goals – sometimes we put too much pressure on and we expect too much.”
Goals: Drogba vs Heskey
2004-05 Drogba: 16, Heskey: 11
2005-06 Drogba: 16, Heskey: 5
2006-07 Drogba: 33, Heskey: 8
2007-08 Drogba: 15, Heskey: 4
2008-09 Drogba: 14, Heskey: 6
2009-10 Drogba: 37, Heskey: 5
2010-11 Drogba: 6, Heskey: 3
Total Drogba: 137, Heskey: 42
Tags: