It's no secret that Chelsea are playing the most likely contender for the title of best football player in Europe 2006. However, his progress is ahead of his wildest expectations. Surprising is the fact that Didier Drogba was at the top of the scorers charts. Indeed, in the first year at the Stamford Bridge, many critical arrows were fired at him, and the realization of scoring chances at all became a byword.
Now everything is different. This season, Drogba has already accumulated 14 goals, and in the asset of Andriy Shevchenko only five. A clear illustration of the place of the Ukrainian in the Chelsea hierarchy is the fact that Drogba often remains in the attack alone after a striker worth 30.7 million pounds is changed during the matches.
Jose Mourinho recently named the Ivorian the best striker in Europe. Which over the past eight years was considered none other than Shevchenko. But there were times when the talents of the ex-Marseilles were questioned not only in Europe, but in Chelsea itself! Now Drogba’s special position in the blue sky is reinforced by a new and improved four-year contract, which should put an end to rumors about his return to France or his relocation to Italy.
Drogba is not in vain called the last of the Mohicans. More often than any of Chelsea's forwards, he witnessed Mourinho's ruthless staffing decisions. Hernan Crespo, inclined to nostalgia, left with the permanent reservist Carlton Cole, and Eidur Gudjohnsen was forced to change London to Barcelona because of the ongoing transformations in the middle line. Matej Kezhman was sold the year before last, and even earlier, Adrian Mutu, who had failed the cocaine test, was promptly expelled. Only Drogba remained.
He always fit into the drawing of the Chelsea team game, and this went into his asset. With such impressive dimensions, power style and excellent performance Drogba did not allow the defenders to relax, even if his blows sometimes did not disturb the goalkeepers. The position of the lone striker, which he most often occupied during the first two seasons in England, required self-sufficiency. Recently, Drogba has been demonstrating her. The way he knows how to create moments out of nothing was shown by magnificent winning goals in matches against Barcelona and Liverpool. Feed from the flanks is the main diet of the forwards, but Chelsea’s narrow midfielder now and then deprives the attacking gears and forces them to take care of themselves.
Drogb’s transformation into a driven sniper can be explained by growing competition in the attack. The appearance in the team of Shevchenko would mean for the Ivorian a loss of a place at the base - if Mourinho continued to play with one striker. However, they were put together, and Drogba was the winner. And not just because the owner of the Golden Ball-2004 began to distract the defenders with his maneuvers.
Two hat-tricks of a black forward (at the gates of the Sofia “Levski” and “Watford”) speak of his firm determination not to forgive mistakes of the weak. At the same time, one should not forget about how many goals of Drogba are Shevchenko’s direct merit. The beating of “Watford”, which both together shipped four goals, showed the most convincing example of their dancing interaction, although Drogba still created more points for the former Milanese than vice versa. And long-range strikes in fights against Merseysides and garnet-blue indicate that Drogba’s football arsenal is still being updated at 28. This is also indicated by the growing interest in the execution of penalties, although it will be extremely difficult to beat Frank Lampard in this component.
With increased confidence, the Ivorian went into the shadows of his most odious game quality. Now that making a penalty is no longer one of his main goals at Chelsea, Drogba is demonstrating his ability to stand on his feet during tough martial arts. And even in the absence of goals, as in the game with West Ham last Saturday, his benefit is obvious: a goal canceled due to an offside and a forced foul by Danny Gabbidon, which resulted in a free-kick from Jeremy's goal.
By the way, Jeremy’s growing importance for Chelsea could also be predicted. Indeed, in addition to the shortage of wings, one of the “chips” of this season at Stamford Bridge is the African dominant. With the new scheme, 4-4-2 bloomed with the lush color of Drogba. Like Michael Essien, who, thanks to his versatility, became Chelsea’s most prominent midfield character. But both began the season in serious doubt about getting into the base. And if the Ivorian has a competitor in the fight for the title of best player in the team this season, then this is Ghanaian.
Speaking about Chelsea, one cannot but touch on the financial aspect. Despite the fact that Roman Abramovich with an oligarchic scale paid 50 million pounds for a couple of Africans, they suddenly turned out to be a reasonable ratio of price and quality. Drogba's value is growing, but is its popularity growing? If he retains his magnificent shape for another month, the moment of truth will come simultaneously with traditional plebiscites. At the moment, Drogba’s arguments are more powerful than ever, and competitors have their own drawbacks: Essien is rampant in tackles, and Cristiano Ronaldo has completely turned into a timely scapegoat, guilty of the English fiasco at the World Cup. And if earlier Drogba’s predisposition to falls on the field could go sideways to him, now his rating is too high.
Translation by Andrey KARNAUKHOV