As Nicolas Anelka stepped up to take Chelsea’s seventh penalty against Manchester United in the Champions League final, he carried with him the hopes and expectations of the entire Blues faithful. Score, and he would prolong the shootout for another round of kicks and keep Chelsea in it. Miss, and he would hand Manchester United their second European Cup and crush the dreams of millions of True Blues.
We all know what happened, and the events of that May evening rounded off a pretty miserable season for the Frenchman.
His words after that game also did little to endear him to the Chelsea fans and dismiss his "Le Sulk" nickname:
"I never thought I would come onto the pitch.
"I stayed sitting on the bench for 110 minutes, and then I have been asked to play after just one minute of warm-up.
"I don't know if it has ever happened in a Champions League final, with such an intensity, to play without a warm-up.
"I was asked to be among the five penalty kickers. I said 'out of the question. I came in almost as right full-back and you want me to kick a penalty?' Finally I had to go as number seven."
Bought by Avram Grant from Bolton Wanderers for a fee of £15 million, the deal was seen by many at the time to be a shrewd bit of business that would add some more bite to Chelsea’s forward line. I held such a view, and couldn’t wait to see Anelka in action.
The early signs were promising, as Anelka came very close to scoring on his debut against Tottenham, hitting the bar and forcing a top save from Radek Cerny.
He scored his first goal for the club against Wigan at the end of January in a 2-1 win. A couple of days later Anelka grabbed his first goal in the Premier League, scoring a header in Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
Chelsea, it seemed, had done a good bit of business. However, from then on, Anelka’s form took a turn for the worse, and the events in Moscow just rounded off a pretty miserable season.
Avram Grant must also shoulder the blame for Anelka’s poor form. The Israeli inexplicably persisted in playing Anelka out wide on a number of occasions, most notably in the Carling Cup Final, where Grant got a number of tactical decisions very wrong.
Nicolas Anelka is, and always will be, a centre forward, who loves playing through the middle and on the shoulder of the last defender. Luiz Felipe Scolari has recognised this, and has given Anelka playing time in his favoured position, and the results have been impressive.
Today, Chelsea rounded off their pre-season with a 5-0 win over AC Milan in Moscow. Anelka scored four goals, to add to the two he scored in our three other games.
Alongside Deco, he has been one of Chelsea’s most impressive players. Of course, scoring a few goals in pre-season doesn’t mean a great deal, but it’s a start at least.
Played centrally, Anelka could play a big role for Chelsea this season.
He has every right to expect to start against Portsmouth on August 17th based on his pre-season performances.
If he does so, he can start to redeem himself to the Chelsea faithful who were left so devastated by his penalty miss in Moscow.
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