Chelsea's Didier Drogba getting shirty
By Jonathan Wilson
Sport.Telegraph, 21st October 2007
At the final whistle Didier Drogba ran to the travelling support, applauded
them, kissed his badge, stripped off his shirt and threw it into the stand.
The Chelsea fans responded by chanting his name, but it will take more than
such gestures of mutual respect to convince anyone that the Ivorian forward
will not follow through with the threat he made in France Football magazine
and quit the club in the summer.
He would be badly missed. Drogba described the club as having been "broken"
by the departure of Jose Mourinho, but he certainly hasn't been. Yesterday,
on his return from suspension, he was not at his rambunctious best, but he
still took the opening goal with an elegant efficiency, and his power and
intelligent running unsettled Middlesbrough throughout. "I think players
need to speak on the pitch and he is doing this very well," his manager,
Avram Grant, said. "I can tell you what players say to me, how they behave
on and off pitch.
"When he speaks to me he's very positive and he's very positive on pitch.
He's not a problematic guy. I can tell you how I see players.
"If he was negative on the pitch or in the dressing-room or when he spoke
to me, this would be a negative thing."
Grant did, though, admit a disappointment that Drogba had voiced his concerns
by going to the press. "If someone has problems," he said, "the only way to
deal with it is to knock on my door."
Drogba's strike was a masterpiece of simplicity. From the moment, eight
minutes in, when he received the ball 20 yards inside the Middlesbrough
half, a goal seemed inevitable. There was nothing complex about his one-two
with Frank Lampard, but it was more than enough to outwit a Middlesbrough
defence that yesterday added deference to its growing list of faults.
Controlling the return ball with his right foot, Drogba almost casually
rolled the ball past Mark Schwarzer with his left.
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Just as inevitable then was Chelsea's victory. It was proficient, leaving
Grant with a respectable seven points from his first four Premier League
games in charge, but it was far from thrill-a-minute stuff, something that
can't entirely be blamed on Middlesbrough's attacking deficiencies.
There were some neat flurries of passing after Alex had given them the
cushion of a two-goal lead 12 minutes into the second half with a 35-yard
free-kick, but this was very much in the category of professional away
performance.
Given Chelsea had lost on their last two appearances at the Riverside, there
can be no real quibbles with that: job done, take the three points, and hope
Roman Abramovich does not ask too many questions.
Grant, though, is aware that winning alone is not enough. "Football is
entertainment and you need to do it in a positive way," he said. "I feel an
obligation to entertain — it's the right way in modern football.
"You have to win games, but the way you do it is important, not like it was
before. We try to change a bit and do it my way."
That sounded suspiciously like a dig at Mourinho, but this was a win very
much from the Mourinho blueprint. The shape was back to the 4-3-3 of the
Portuguese's first two seasons at the club, the style was functional rather
than flamboyant, and there was even a five-minute run-out for Andrei
Shevchenko, his ineffectual cameos now as much of the Chelsea tradition as
celery and the singing of Blue is the Colour.
Without John Terry and Ashley Cole, Chelsea, far from the impervious barrier
of two years ago anyway, were occasionally creaky at the back, but
Middlesbrough, missing Julio Arca and Jeremie Aliadiere, never looked to have
the thrust or the guile to make the most of Chelsea's shakiness. "We didn't
get out of the blocks at all," Gareth Southgate admitted. "That's the fourth
game on the bounce when conceded in the first 10 minutes, and we looked short
of confidence and belief."
They lie fourth from bottom, and could slip into the relegation zone if
Tottenham get a point at Newcastle on Monday. Drogba may have thrown Chelsea
into a panic, but Middlesbrough stand no less precariously on the brink of
crisis.
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