Kalou, Wright-Phillips and Malouda Must Grab Their Chance To Shine

Ask any Chelsea fan to sum-up in a couple of words the Chelsea careers of the players mentioned in the title of this article and you are likely to get the answers; “so-so,” “average” and “stop-start.” All three have shown glimpses of quality in a Chelsea shirt, but not often enough for a club in the position that Chelsea are in.

Below I examine their Chelsea careers so far, and come to a conclusion about their Chelsea futures.

Salomon Kalou, 23
106 appearances, 20 goals

Salomon Kalou’s first two seasons at Chelsea have been slightly better than average, with him scoring some vital goals, such as the equaliser against Spurs in the 3-3 draw in the FA Cup and the winner against Newcastle in the Premier League last season.

He has an edge over both Malouda and Shaun Wright-Phillips in terms of his age, meaning that he has time to improve before hitting his peak. A return of 20 goals in two seasons is a good total for the Ivorian, and he was Chelsea’s top assist maker last season with nine.

Kalou definitely has the potential to be one of the best wingers in the Premier League. He is quick, strong, good in the air and possesses impressive dribbling skills, demonstrated by his wonderful solo goal against Nigeria in the 2008 African Nations Cup.

However, there are aspects of his game that he needs to work on if he wants to be placed on top of the winger’s pedestal in the Premier League.

Kalou’s finishing at times can be very erratic. He seems to get too excited in front of goal and ends up ballooning the ball over the bar. At other times he seems very calm and collected, none more so than when he successfully took his penalty in the Champions League Final.

Also, he gets caught offside a lot. According to Wikipedia, he has the record for the most number of times caught offside in a season, 107 times in 30 games.

I often remark that it seems he was born offside, and every time I see make a run I expect to see the linesman’s flag go up. This can again be attributed to the fact that he gets a bit eager and excited when he gets near the goal.

If he can work on these two aspects of his play then he can have a big future at Chelsea. Time is certainly on his side.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, 26
124 appearances, 10 goals

Eyebrows were raised when Chelsea paid Manchester City £21 million for Wright-Phillips in the summer of 2005 and the wisdom of the move can certainly be called into question. Early on in his time at Chelsea, the argument could certainly be made that Jose Mourinho didn’t give Wright-Phillips the chance to impress, with him making only 15 appearances in his first season at the club.

However, I think that argument doesn't hold much water now. He has played 48 games in each of the past two seasons, ample time to show his quality.

Towards the end of the 2006/2007 season, Wright-Phillips began to show Chelsea fans what he was capable of, scoring two great goals in Chelsea’s 4-1 win over West Ham.

This form was carried over to the start of the 2007/2008 campaign where he put in a number of man of the match performances. He was being touted as a potential player of the season by some Chelsea fans. Finally it seemed as if he had established himself at Chelsea.

However, the disease that has afflicted his Chelsea career reared its ugly head again: inconsistency. Wright-Phillips is blessed with bags of pace and a low centre of gravity, but his passing and shooting is often frankly dreadful, as he has shown again during preseason.

Another infuriating aspect of his game is his penchant for going on a run and forgetting to take the ball with him, or, if he does manage to do that, then knocking the ball yards in front of him and losing possession of the ball. Capable of moments of brilliance, Shaun Wright-Phillips often wallows in mediocrity.

Things could be different under Scolari. A fresh start could be just what Wright-Phillips needs. He needs to show some improvement quickly, as I feel he is currently not good enough to be a regular starter for Chelsea.

There have been rumours of a £10 million move to Portsmouth, but Scolari seems happy to keep Shaun on board. “He said he is happy in Chelsea and if I am happy, he does not want to go out,” Scolari said recently.

I think this season will make or break Shaun Wright-Phillips’ Chelsea career.

Florent Malouda, 28
38 appearances, four goals

Florent Malouda started his Chelsea career in pretty scintillating form. He scored the equaliser in our defeat, on penalties, to Manchester United in the Community Shield, out muscling Rio Ferdinand in the process. Then he scored against Birmingham on the opening day of the Premier League season.

It seemed like we had a fairly handy player on our books. I even remember remarking to my Dad from my seat in the West Lower on that day against Birmingham that Malouda looked “world class," a judgement that subsequent events have proved to be fallacious and can call into question my state of mental well being.

Malouda’s performances for the rest of the season highlighted the lack of wisdom in my judgement. He would go on to add only two more goals to his tally, a very fortunate goal against Schalke in the Champions League and a more accomplished finish against Newcastle in the penultimate game of the season.

Euro 2008 showed Malouda at his worst. Alongside Nicolas Anelka, he was the worst of a very bad French team that limped out of the group stages of Euro 2008 having scored only one goal and picking up just a solitary point.

Malouda, like I mentioned with Shaun-Wright Phillips, has to improve this season and take the chance to make a fresh start under Scolari. Last season’s performances highlighted the biggest problem I see with Malouda’s game: he seems afraid to try and go past people.

Nine times out of ten he’ll receive the ball and just pass it backwards, not making any attempt to move up the pitch with it and make the defender commit himself. Such a trait makes me pine in a way for Arjen Robben, but his ability to dazzle is heavily tempered by his proneness to injury.

Scolari again seems happy to keep Malouda in his squad and give him and Wright-Phillips the chance to impress him next season. In preseason Malouda has started to show Scolari what he is capable of.

In the 5-0 demolition of AC Milan, Malouda provided two assists for Nicolas Anelka and came close to scoring a spectacular goal. This is the kind of Florent Malouda Chelsea fans would like to see next season.

To sum up, I feel that Salomon Kalou has the most potential out of the three to be a regular first team player for Chelsea. Both Malouda and Wright-Phillips will need to buck their ideas up next season unless they want to be facing the exit door come the summer of 2009.

It is a route I can see Shaun Wright-Phillips taking, as I still don’t think he is Chelsea quality.

Of course, I did say last year that Florent Malouda was “world class,” so who knows!