If Scolari Keeps His 4-5-1 Tactics, Drogba Must Get the Nod

Didier Drogba has been injured since last May and has not played a full 90 minute game since the final of the Champions League in Moscow.

As the Ivorian player missed the start of the season, Nicolas Anelka had to step up and fill his shoes. So far Anelka managed to bag two goals in five Premier League games and also one against Bordeaux in the Champions League.

This is actually not a bad goalscoring record and "Big Phil" Scolari must be quite pleased with the Frenchman.

However, now Drogba is slowly making a full recovery and has already played 15 minutes against Manchester City and 45 minutes against Manchester United, but to be totally honest, so far he looks very rusty.

His strength appeared to be nowhere near as good as last season and he looked out of place in both games. It is quite clear that Drogba is yet to find his full fitness and once he does that, there is no doubt that he will become a goal machine again.

So here is the dilemma: Anelka has been on good form so far, scoring a few goals and looking very sharp, so he certainly deserves a place in the starting line-up.

On the other hand we have a recovering Drogba, who we all know is unstoppable when fully fit and therefore should be in the starting 11 too.

This certainly will give Scolari a headache, but lets look at the negative sides of these two strikers.

First Nicolas Anelka—a player who seems to know where the net is and yet miss from four yards from a Joe Cole cross against Manchester United.

This is a problem with Anelka.

Now and then he misses chances that causes Chelsea fans say "even I would have scored that".

Against Bordeaux in the Champions League, Anelka could have scored five or six goals if he managed to hit the target, but he only managed one goal. It did not really matter against the French side as Chelsea came out on top regardless, but against the English champions Manchester United, that miss from four yards out certainly did matter.

This is the reason why Anelka drives so many Chelsea fans mad and looking at the hand signals of Luiz Felipe Scolari when Anelka missed, its pretty clear that the Brazilian manager was not too pleased either.

Now lets see what negative attributes has Drogba got. Well apart from the attitude, there aren't any.

Give Drogba a chance and he will put the ball into the back of the net using either his head, his right foot, his left foot, or any other body part you can think of.

Last season Didier was hit hard by injuries and the African Cup of Nations, but whenever he played for Chelsea, he always looked like he was going to score and as a matter of fact, most of the time, he did score.

After the Champions League final, the Chelsea fans were understandably upset with Drogba; his red card may have cost Chelsea the trophy and yet the majority of the fans forgave him straight away for a simple reason—Drogba is the number one reason why Chelsea got to the final in the first place.

So if Drogba can get his form of the last two seasons back, there is no doubt that he should start over Anelka.

Here is another thought though.

Why not play them two together with Deco just behind them playing as "the creator"?

Lampard and Ballack can stay in midfield with Mikel playing just in front of the back four. This of course would mean that Joe Cole and Malouda would have to sit on the bench, but to be honest their performance against Manchester United did not set the world on fire and therefore they will not be missed on the pitch.

In my opinion, a Drogba—Anelka combination CAN work, with the Frenchman running about trying to create something for the Ivorian who will certainly put the ball in the back of the net.

Something tells me though that Scolari will keep his 4-5-1 formation and if that is the case, then Drogba should certainly start every game and there is no doubt that he will be a massive success again this season.

And if he ever gets injured, there is always Nicolas Anelka to score, and then miss from four yards out.