Nicolas Anelka fulfils his huge potential at last with Chelsea
28 Nov 2009 - 16:44:14
As an 18 year-old, scoring freely as Arsenal won the Double in 1998, Anelka seemed capable of becoming the best striker in the world, especially under Wenger's nurturing care.
Two roads diverged and he the one more monied took. Bad advice aggravated an already adolescent attitude and the short-term gamble on the glitz of Real Madrid ended in predictable failure.
Related ArticlesSong finds harmony in the familyArsenal v Chelsea: match previewAguero dismisses Chelsea linkMichael Ballack: football must learn lessons from Robert Enke tragedyJohn Terry distances himself from email furoreWenger: Fifa failed to punish Chelsea over KakutaThere followed a nomadic career, shuffling between middle-ranking clubs in England and on the continent. That extraordinary promise remained frustratingly unfulfilled.
On Sunday, though, Anelka can hold his head high. He may have unwittingly sacrificed some of the best years of his career but, at 30, Anelka is maximising the years left to him at the top level.
Putting the ego into the service of the team as a greater entity: that seems to be the simple epiphany behind Anelka's blossoming late style.
Having fluctuated in form last season, Anelka has developed a more integrated approach to his game under Carlo Ancelotti. His partnership with Didier Drogba is becoming more cohesive and he is embracing a free-floating role that makes him very difficult to track for opposing defenders.
With seven goals in 16 games, he is also delivering the centre-forward's hard currency.
'For me, he is a big surprise,' said Ancelotti. 'I knew about him, of course, about his quality but now it is a little bit different. He has an important feeling for the way we play. I always thought he was an individualist but he's a top player who plays for the team. Usually, top players like to play for themselves.
'I don't know if he's still getting better but his play and his condition is still very good. I like his movement, he doesn't have a definite position on the pitch, he likes to move between the left and the right. I don't want to keep him in one position. For us, his position on the pitch is very, very important.'
Ancelotti admitted that Anelka's career 'could have been better' had he made better decisions in his youth — Wenger must wonder what might have been had Anelka stuck with his side over the last 10 years.
Certainly, his reputation as the enfant terrible of French football proved a difficult one to shake, despite his leading a highly professional life in recent years.
These days it is a compliment to the way he has gone about his football that fans no longer get exercised about the man they used to call the Incredible Sulk. In fact, it is the previously spotless Thierry Henry who is the Gallic target of football's outraged.
Fittingly, the job of restraining Anelka will fall to another moody Frenchman enjoying a fine autumn to his career. William Gallas, of course, moved in the opposite direction, leaving Chelsea for Arsenal at the time of Ashley Cole's controversial transfer.
It was this time last year that Gallas was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy for criticising some of his team-mates, claiming they lacked courage. Already having a reputation for eccentric behaviour it seemed that Gallas was destined to be sold.
However, Wenger, who is capable of being austerely, almost callously, objective obviously saw that Gallas still had much to contribute. So it was Kolo Toure, the player with whom Gallas had had the most problematic relationship, who was sold.
That has proved an extraordinarily prescient piece of business on Wenger's part because Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen have forged an outstanding partnership. The tough Belgian is certainly not short on courage, for one. His clashes with Didier Drogba will be another compelling spectacle this afternoon.
Ancelotti is fully aware that Arsenal are capable of reaching greater heights than his side. Two seasons ago he watched a Cesc F?egas-inspired side eliminate his Milan from the Champions League, in a display that made his European champions look old and tired.
Going into Sunday's game, after which Chelsea could have an 11-point lead on Arsenal, Ancelotti conceded that only Frank Lampard is capable of match the Spaniard's superb performances this season.
'Yes, I can say that they are fantastic midfielders,' he said. 'Not just like midfielders though because F?egas has scored a lot of goals this season, which Lampard does also. I think one of them will be man-of-the-match. I hope Lampard.'
