Premier League - Anelka: Never write off United

Eurosport - Tue, 23 Sep 21:59:00 2008

EXCLUSIVE! In his first blog for Eurosport-Yahoo!, Chelsea and France striker Nicolas Anelka says that the 1-1 draw with Manchester United proved that you can never write Sir Alex Ferguson's men off.

2008-2009 Chelsea-Manchester United Cristiano Ronaldo Nicolas Anelka - 0

"Many of you will have seen a really good match between Chelsea and Manchester United on Sunday.

My team, Chelsea, went behind early in the game but we played really well in the second half and deserved to get a point - or even win it.

We started quite well this season, although obviously we would have liked to beat United and Tottenham.

United didn't start the campaign so well, but I cannot believe that some people were trying to write them off this early in the season!

Even if they had lost at Stamford Bridge you can never discount them because, for many years, they have started the championship in difficult circumstances.

But they always seem to come back very strong to finish in the top positions. And I think this season will be no different.

They're a great team and, like all great teams, Manchester United are always going to be there or thereabouts, performing in the big matches and making their presence felt in the title shake-up.

United proved their strength against us, by playing very well in a crucial match after an indifferent start to the campaign.

But despite struggling to stay with them at first, we were the more dangerous team in the second half and, on our own turf, we pushed really hard.

And, even though we had to come from behind, we had chances to win the match in the end.

What we did at Stamford Bridge showed our courage and togetherness as a team. We fought for everything, but I think we were a bit tired and we really missed Deco, who was injured in the warm-up.

Of course we have many great players, but Deco has been brilliant since he arrived here and he is very important to our style of play.

Personally, I missed a few good opportunities to score, and I could have done better.

But it is not secret that I play better alongside another striker, particularly with Didier Drogba in a 4-4-2.

Hopefully I'll have some more chances do so!"

Nicolas Anelka / Eurosport

Comment 29 - 48 of 68

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  1. Arsenal are far better than Chelsea...dirtiest players on the planet.

    From L H, on Tue 23 Sep 4:05PM

  2. Chelsea is very patient with Anelka, keeps giving him more and more chances, last season he was lucky that Drogba and Chevchinko were injured most of the season, Chelsea is expecting more from him.
    ANELKA, concentrate on scoring and don't waste more chances, you are a first class striker and Chelsea is a Great club, you should appreciate that and we are all supporting you.

    From HERO H, on Tue 23 Sep 4:01PM

  3. Hang on i'm talking about on the whole time chelsea are average, they usually get by through the skin of their teeth, either by own goals from other teams or with a bit of luck a goal at the end of the matches...that is my personal opinion....and they could not drive it home sunday as you say fitbutfrustrated

    From L H, on Tue 23 Sep 3:57PM

  4. Sort yourself out Yahoo!!! or are you not allowing anymore comments to be posted?

    From Fjk, on Tue 23 Sep 3:56PM

  5. don't think ayone exept LIVERPOOL should win .so i think any 1 should get suspended but no LIVERPOOLS.

    From shristi_situ, on Tue 23 Sep 3:49PM

  6. anelka lol

    From ahmad, on Tue 23 Sep 3:48PM

  7. Manchester 15 spot!!! hahahahaha you lose to liverpool!! hahahaha!!!babel roaks!!
    shame Manchester!!Go Mighty Reds

    From Bratu, on Tue 23 Sep 3:36PM

  8. anelka should put his mouth where his money is and shoot on target instead of worrying about man utd

    From licksidemony, on Tue 23 Sep 3:16PM

  9. Interesting John... I myself am a Utd fan... we have strikers Rooney, Tevez, Berba..... if they are rated 10.. how much will u rate Anelka... i might give him a 7...

    From Binop, on Tue 23 Sep 3:06PM

  10. That's typical Chelsea fans for you. They never seem to respect their players and seem keen to dump them out of the club if they don't satisfy their expectations and just buy another world class striker. You never hear Man Utd fans say such @#$% about their players. Considering the goals Anelka's scored for you ungrateful @#$% in matches prior to this, calling him worthless is really proving that many Chelsea fans have no clue about football and seem to think players are like robots, with no purpose in life except to score week in week out.
    Man Utd fan 4 life.

    From srb4life21, on Tue 23 Sep 3:02PM

  11. Yes.. corina... i too think that the article in itself is true... and i believe Anelka should really work on his game if he wants to remain in Chelsea... as i said before.. currently i guess he is only Portsmouth, Man City or Spurs Material... :))

    From Binop, on Tue 23 Sep 3:02PM

  12. come play for us, united

    From spikeymonty, on Tue 23 Sep 3:01PM

  13. Speak up Anelka. I'm glsad u r part of our team. Chelsea 4 life

    From Skippo, on Tue 23 Sep 3:01PM

  14. Typical Chelsea! As soon as you are not winning, you slag off your players. Grow up and support your team. Anelka might not have had the greatest start but he's world class and I'd rather have him in my team than against us... And I'm a Utd fan!

    From john, on Tue 23 Sep 2:45PM

  15. man unt rockz i heard dat christiano ronaldo got sespended for 8 weeks. i feel sorry 4 him aww his de cuites mguy in di planet

    From Yo!, on Tue 23 Sep 2:41PM

  16. Utd ARE better than Chelsea... FACT.

    From Yo!, on Tue 23 Sep 2:28PM

  17. I think Anelka's comments are spot on. Man U do have a habit of starting poorly, like last season, but them coming up trumps. So Anelka's caution is not unfounded.
    Anelka also acknowledges that he should have played better too - again, a fair comment, he missed a few sitters, but that's football.
    Can't see why this article is causing so much anger and frustration, and causing people to be so offensive - is this really necessary? Calm down everyone, on balance what Anelka has said is fair and justified. PS: I am not a CFC or MFC fan, just an independent level headed observer

    From corinna_harris, on Tue 23 Sep 2:08PM

  18. Chelsea to win this season

    From Nelly

    From Nnenna, on Tue 23 Sep 2:04PM

  19. Chelsea to win this season, they must have messed up but don't worry no kwams they can still rearrange the past. From Nelly

    From Nnenna, on Tue 23 Sep 1:56PM

  20. In stead of praising up Man U that worthless waste of space Anelka should put more effort into his game and its about time he found out where the goal is maybe he needs a diagrame

    From Ronald, on Tue 23 Sep 1:54PM
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