Premier League - Anelka questions Everton

Eurosport - Wed, 08 Oct 15:09:00 2008

Eurosport blogger and Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka mulls over how a lazy summer can impact on a club's season.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Champions League Chelsea Nicolas Anelka - 0

"I'm not going to comment on what Newcastle's stand-in manager Joe Kinnear said in that press conference, but it seemed to have some kind of effect on the players - coming from two down to draw at Everton is a good result by anyone's standards! Hopefully it will give them some confidence to build on.

On the other hand, Everton should be challenging the big teams but I did have a feeling that they would struggle to repeat last year's top-five finish. And now I really doubt they can come close to it.

They have started the season quite badly, and their recruitment in the summer did not match the level of their ambition.

Everton lost several players in important positions, but they did not bring enough of the right men in to replace them and to improve the team, while other clubs have made big signings. They will not do so well this season, I think.

Hull City, however, are a massive surprise. I hope that they continue in this way but it will be difficult because the season is long and a lot of things can happen.

They have made a very, very good start because in the summer they brought in loads of good players, players who can cut it at this level. I mean Geovanni played for Barcelona a few years ago and he is still pretty young!

I don't think their performance, and the good start by West Brom, says that the Championship is necessarily closing in on the Premier League.

What I do think it shows is that, if you are a well-run club like Hull, and you use the money you get for promotion in a clever, coherent way, that you can close the gap quite quickly.

And it also shows that the bigger clubs cannot be complacent with this kind of competition going on in the market.

Back to Chelsea, I came off during the 2-0 win against Aston Villa, but it was more of a precaution than anything else.

We have so many injuries at the moment that there was no point in risking losing another player. Joe Cole, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Didier Drogba, Alex, Michael Essien... It's getting a bit silly now!

I hurt myself before that match, in the Champions League draw with CFR Cluj, but it was just a little tightening in my thigh.

I suppose I could have played beyond half-time last weekend but it was decided that I should not come out for the second half in case I made it worse. The whole team played a really strong match and, after the game against Cluj, we were able to get back to a good level of play.

It is true that we have a lot of injuries at the moment, but we cannot complain too much because that is what happens in football and we have a strong squad to help in these times.

The short break we are getting for the international games should do us some good and we will try to hit the ground running on our return."

Nicolas Anelka / Eurosport

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  1. God Bless Anelka...4get d haters and do what u do best ...hustle hard 4 chelsea and bang in goal after goal...let them talk about us cos we're hot

    From licksidemony, on Tue 14 Oct 7:57PM

  2. re54: prawn sandwich lol !!!!!
    that's a new one lol

    From chicken salad, on Fri 10 Oct 10:55AM

  3. re: prawn sandwich lol !!!!!
    that's a new one lol

    From chicken salad, on Fri 10 Oct 10:51AM

  4. Hello

    From Tim, on Thu 9 Oct 10:50PM

  5. ohhhhhhhhhh take a chill pill swisstern

    From Suzy, on Thu 9 Oct 7:25PM

  6. Good to see that NA is not shy to get his opinion across, obviously reasonably articulate and has a good amount of experience to make comment upon! I've always seen him as over-confident and lazy but seems to have turned it around at Chelsea, keep it up! and feel free to throw in the blue shirt for a black and white one (magpies) when ur legs start to go! the championship would be happy to have ya!!!

    From martinfrohock@..., on Thu 9 Oct 6:34PM

  7. I think this column is a fascinating concept. Personally, I wouldn't care if anyone else was writing this column (even Dirk Kuyt!) because I would still read it. What better way is there to view the game from the standpoint of the game. Anelka's resume - love it, hate it - makes him one of the best qualified CURRENT players to write about the game.

    You gotta love it when the potty mouths try to explain what being classy is. I hope that if Anelka is actually reading this garbage (comments) he laughs and sighs as much as I (most of us) do.

    P.S. Why the F do Liverpool fans always have to make everything about them? There is nothing in this article about your club. STOP IT!

    From swisstern, on Thu 9 Oct 5:26PM

  8. To the idiots who say Chelsea dont have history,

    To be honest i dont care if we have history i want success now i dont care what happened 50 years ago. History doesnt mean anything.

    From chelsea.jake14, on Thu 9 Oct 4:04AM

  9. to dannik bates the chelsea @#$%
    "wouldnt have the balls tp say the stuff they do to your face"

    nice one you illiterate cockle munchin cockney beaute, get back to raping your parole officer or whatever you abortion fiends do after smoking your stolen crack pipes

    From mda04tre, on Wed 8 Oct 11:48PM

  10. 2 - 1 you prawn sandwich @#$%

    From mda04tre, on Wed 8 Oct 11:38PM

  11. let the man air his views, i bet you'll like him as a family member you assh.....! SHERIFF

    From tijani711, on Wed 8 Oct 10:46PM

  12. Heres a thought for you chelsea fans. until recently a friend of mine worked at the bridge, in the finance dept. next time your paying homage to all your wannabe glory boys. and when your paying out your hard earned cash, on tickets and merchandise run this lot through your mind.one of your massively paid african stars put in a expenses receipt for a bottle of evian 99p. the ring kisser claims for moisturiser.big tart. I wonder if he has doubts on his sexuality, (just watch him he even runs like a girl with his hands up level with his shoulders). several others claim for manicures, etc. this does nothing for the hard image that chelsea are so adamant about. Somehow i cant imagine chopper Harris getting his nails done.and to top it all just about all of them claim for hundreds of lottery tickets. what a bunch af greedy self centered grabbing b..tards

    From John Hartley, on Wed 8 Oct 10:12PM

  13. TO ryan.peter39, THE TRUTH LIVERPOOL DIDN'T WIN YET EPL..THAT FACT

    From andrew, on Wed 8 Oct 7:38PM

  14. number 49. anelkas record. has he played a big part in those comps. probs NO !!

    From Suzy, on Wed 8 Oct 7:15PM

  15. hey brainbox number 48. im reading bout anelka cos im wondering how he has the right to say something is rubbish wen he is rubbish too. if u love just go marry him.

    From Suzy, on Wed 8 Oct 7:13PM

  16. Anelka's Record
    Not bad for someone is supposed to be a @#$% player
    1998 Premier League Winner (Arsenal)
    1998 FA Cup Winner (Arsenal)
    2000 Champions League Winner (Real Madrid)
    2000 European Championships Winner (France)
    2001 Confederation Cup Winner (France)
    2005 Turkish Super League Winner (Fenerbahçe)
    2008:: Champions League Runner-up (Chelsea)
    2008:: League Cup Runner-up (Chelsea)

    From INGRID F, on Wed 8 Oct 7:08PM

  17. Why do idiots keep slagging off Anelka, if they don't like him, don't bother reading what he writes, simple enough. He might have played for a lot of different clubs, but he's also scored a lot of goals for most of them.

    From INGRID F, on Wed 8 Oct 7:03PM

  18. glad chelsea have anelka now. hes as rubbish as everton r at the mo.
    LFC FOREVER

    From Suzy, on Wed 8 Oct 6:44PM

  19. anelka: arsenal, liverpool, man city and chelsea. all he needs to do now is play for leeds and he's a proper @#$%!

    **MUFC**

    From Strutter, on Wed 8 Oct 5:08PM

  20. Mr Anelka you make some good points please continue and dont mind these incompetent weak minded foold who wouldnt have the balls tp say the stuff they do to your face

    good job 100%

    to the everton fans

    The truth hurts deal with it

    CHELSEA TILL I DIE

    From DanielB, on Wed 8 Oct 4:50PM
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