Source: Telegraph
Guus Hiddink's faith in Chelsea's odd couple
16.00 THE HEADLINES AT THE END OF THE DAY[LNB]Michael Essien – whose worth to Chelsea has grown with every passing week this season – will be back in action for Chelsea next month after making solid progress in his recovery from a very, very severely twanged knee ligament. [LNB]'According to rehabilitation physio Thierry Laurent, it should not take more than one month for me to play actively again,' said Essien, backing up what we just said. So Chelsea should welcome him back in the nick of time to beat Arsenal to that last Uefa Cup spot then. Phew.[LNB]Before then, Guus Hiddink has other worries, namely most of his defence out injured and, worse than that, Petr Cech not among them. In should come England and Wolves' Michael Mancienne for a first Premier League start against Aston Villa.[LNB]Read more here...[LNB][LNB]While up top, the crazy Dutchman thinks he can square the two moody circles that are Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba in the same team. If anyone can do it, he can. But no one can, so it doesn't really matter.[LNB]Elsewhere Steven Gerrard has one less thing to worry about – his hamstring's better rather than that Phil Collins induced difference of opinion resolved, unfortunately for him and Real Madrid.[LNB]Read more here...[LNB][LNB]And Seb Coe has been asked to do that thing he does so well with international voting bodies who award major sports events for England's World Cup 2018 campaign – and said yes.[LNB]Read more here...[LNB][LNB]--[LNB]15.00 THE HEADLINES THIS HOUR [LNB]Michael Platini continues to grow in to his role at the top level of European football administration. In between rounds of bad mouthing the Premier League and English football in general, electioneering and lavish eight course lunches, he's found time to learn a thing or two from the man at the very top – Sepp Blatter. [LNB]Want people to listen? Come up with a new rule or two to be added on a whim. But whatever you do, don't consider technology. [LNB]'If we have additional referees, they would have seen the mistake,' said Platini of Adriano's hand of blob goal for Inter in the Milan derby, before claiming that having two more officials prowling the pitch would catch '99 per cent of the unacceptable mistakes' without holding up the game with pesky replays. [LNB]It's better than forcing the Doncaster Belles to wear volleyball outfits, at least. [LNB]New Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink is toying with the idea of handing England's Michael Mancienne his first Premier League start against Aston Villa, what with half his defence currently with heir feet up due to injury or suspension. [LNB]Read more here...[LNB][LNB]And Liverpool's chances of beating Real Madrid in their Champions League first leg match against the Spanish Champions has increased by a power of around 10 after it emerged that Steven Gerrard's hamstring twang has got all better just in the nick of time. [LNB]Read more here...[LNB][LNB]--[LNB]14.00 THE HEADLINES THIS HOUR [LNB]The first tickets will go on sale for the 2010 World Cup on Friday – but don't be planning on throwing a sickie from work the be on hold for three hours while the website repeatedly crashes in front of you, unless you are reading this in South Africa. [LNB]'Early completion of stadiums will allow us to determine the exact number of tickets to be made available,' said ticketing chairman David Will, sparking concern that they are starting to build stadiums over there without deciding how big they are going to be first. The Bung is no architect, but that can't be the way to go about things, can it? [LNB]'For now we have approximately three million tickets available,' Will continued, vaguely. [LNB]It's a big day for expensive suit-wearing football administrators. First Seb Coe has been opted on to England 2018 World Cup campaign – for his Olympic hand-pressing skills rather than Olympic running ones, no doubt. [LNB]Read the full story here...[LNB][LNB]And then Ian Watmore, a senior civil servant, is the new chief executive of the Football Association. No, us either, but he was part of Tony Blair's government, apparently, worked with FA big wig Lord Triesman, supports Arsenal and previously had a successful career in IT. Made for the job then, eh? [LNB]Read more here...[LNB][LNB]--[LNB]13.00 THE HEADLINES THIS HOUR [LNB]Samuel Eto'o, like any self-respecting has-been, will be heading to AC Milan next season. Will Becks still be there then? Looks like it, if Milan are prepared to pay £15 million for him. Which may be a slight problem... [LNB]Seb Coe will lead England's bid to win the 2018 World Cup. So if it comes down to a foot race, we're laughing. [LNB]And Andrea Dossena says Liverpool fans have not seen the best of him yet. "Will I improve? Yes. Now that I feel better I will make progress in the rest of the season. It's been difficult because Italian football is very different." That different? [LNB]--[LNB]12.20[LNB]The FA have appointed Ian Whatmore as their new chief executive. Watmore, a lifelong Arsenal fan (and, you can bet, a new entry into Rafa Benitez's dossier of 'facts') will start his new job in June. [LNB]--[LNB]12.00 THE HEADLINES THIS HOUR[LNB]Eduardo has spoken about the moment he (well, Martin Taylor) made the whole of football go 'eeeeeeeeee-ugh'. As he waited for the stretcher, Eduardo remembered: "Lots of people were talking and I heard someone say I could lose my foot.' Nice sensitivity there from the lads… [LNB]Arsene Wenger may consider them 'untouchable' but Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed the rift that threatens to tear Manchester United – they have too many good players. 'Everyone has done so well that I'm beginning to dread picking the team. It puts the club in a strong position but it doesn't make the job very easy.' Poor Ferg… [LNB]And YouTube is going crazy over this kid – six-year-old Algerian Madin Mohammed.[LNB]One trick pony if you ask me… [LNB]–[LNB]Guus Hiddink is about to give Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka what they want. [LNB]Hiddink, who took his first training session yesterday, seems ready to cheer up football's odd couple by playing them both up front against Aston Villa this weekend. [LNB]And far be it from the Bung to take issue with an undoubted managerial genius who got South Korea (current world ranking 46) into the semi-finals of the World Cup. But I'm telling you friends, it's never gonna work. [LNB]You'd have to go back to not extravagantly successful days when Alan Shearer and Duncan Ferguson played together for Newcastle to find the last time a manager thought two such similar strikers could work together. [LNB]Based on his first training session, here's Hiddink's line-up (4-4-2) for the game against Villa. [LNB]Cech, Bosingwa, Mancienne, Terry, Ferreira, Deco, Mikel, Lampard, Ballack, Drogba, Anelka. [LNB]Let's forget about the presence of four central midfielders for a second and concentrate on the forwards. [LNB]It seems to me that the only difference between the pair is that one sulks, while the other strops. And that's not enough variety on which to base a partnership. [LNB]Both men play best as loan lone strikers, or with clever No. 10s alongside them. Anelka, in his early days at Arsenal, was superb with Dennis Bergkamp, while Drogba was stunning as Chelsea's one-battering ram, with wide players to service him. [LNB]Drogba and Anelka have both complained that Felipe Scolari didn't give them a chance together, but on the occasions they did share a pitch, they were awful. Anelka's goals have dried up since Drogba came back. And Drogba has been poor since Anelka arrived. [LNB]But unlike much of Chelsea's football this season, it should at least be fun to watch. The sight of Drogba and Anelka running into each other (and Drogba theatrically flinging himself onto the floor) will be a riot. [LNB]
