Indy:

Chelsea 5 Milan 0: Anelka's four-goal haul impresses Scolari

By Rich Jones
Monday, 4 August 2008

The Chelsea manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, believes that Nicolas Anelka
has finally showed he can be a lethal striker for the London club with
a four-goal rampage against Milan in Moscow yesterday.

The cool Frenchman scored two goals in each half as the Blues
overwhelmed the Italians 5-0 in the pre-season Railways Cup after
Frank Lampard's early opener. A strong Chelsea side, including Michael
Ballack for the first time this summer, proved too good for a weakened
Milan shorn of the likes of Kaka and Alexandre Pato.

Scolari said that it was the new-found ruthlessness and focus shown by
Anelka that pleased him most just two weeks before the start of the
Premier League season. "This game was important for Anelka but more
important for us – the fans, the coach and the other players who will
have more confidence in him," the Brazilian told www.chelseafc.com.

"Today was good not because he scored four goals, but because he
played more free and with more quality than in other games. He was
playing against a big club and to get four goals against Milan, for
his confidence it is fantastic and Anelka today and in the last game
played more inside the penalty area than before. That is where I asked
him to play and where I need him, not right and left as before,
because we have one striker and that is Anelka."

With Didier Drogba getting ever closer to returning to training after
a knee injury, Scolari admits he has some tough decisions to make
before the meaningful action kicks off against Portsmouth on 17
August.

"Maybe I will receive good news about Drogba and we have 12 days to
train and maybe we will have something I don't expect," he said. "I
have quality, competitive players and they fight for places on the
pitch. I have 22 here, five at home."

Milan's miserable display was typified by some comically inept
goalkeeping by Zeljko Kalac. Lampard put Scolari's side ahead in the
second minute when his curling free-kick was missed by everyone and
the ball flew in through Kalac's legs.

It was two in the eighth minute when Anelka latched on to a poor
defensive header to fire home low from the edge of the area. The
Frenchman added a third 10 minutes later and completed his hat-trick
six minutes after the restart, heading home from a Florent Malouda
cross.

It was four for Anelka and five for Chelsea in the 58th minute as
another flowing move down the left ended with Malouda centring once
more for the former Bolton striker to volley home.

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Mail:

Anelka hits four as Chelsea thrash AC Milan in Moscow

By Sportsmail Reporter

Kaka might want to reconsider his loyalty to AC Milan after the
Italians were hammered by his summer suitors Chelsea in Moscow.

Four goals from a razor-sharp Nicolas Anelka were more than enough to
settle the third-place play-off in the Railways Cup pre-season
tournament after Frank Lampard opened the scoring.

Milan's Brazilian star did not feature as his team put in a miserable
display, typified by some comically inept goalkeeping by Zeljko Kalac.

A strong Chelsea line-up saw Michael Ballack make his first appearance
of the Blues' pre-season following his late return to the squad after
Euro 2008 duty with Germany.

But it was his central midfield partner Lampard who put Luiz Felipe
Scolari's side ahead in the second minute when his curling free-kick
was missed by everyone and the ball flew in through Milan keeper
Kalac's legs.

It was two in the eighth minute when Anelka latched on to a poor
defensive header to fire home low from the edge of the area.

The Frenchman added a third 10 minutes later when Kalac's day went
from bad to worse.

Attempting to clear a routine backpass, the Australian kicked nothing
but air, allowing Anelka to steal in and tap into an empty net.

Chelsea were utterly dominant and Shaun Wright-Phillips very nearly
headed a fourth soon afterwards as they sought to make amends for
their shoot-out defeat to Lokomotiv Moscow two days ago.

A Milan side with no recognised strikers, but featuring former Arsenal
star Mathieu Flamini in midfield, were providing little resistance and
Anelka completed his hat-trick six minutes after the restart.

Deco played in Florent Malouda down the left and the winger's cross
found his countryman, who headed accurately into the corner of the
net.

Remarkably if was four for Anelka and five for Chelsea in the 58th
minute when another flowing move down the left ended with Malouda
centring once more for the former Bolton striker to volley home.

The Barclays Premier League runners-up took their foot off the gas in
the last quarter but still dominated and the lively Malouda fired
narrowly over with a good long-range effort.
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Guardian:

Anelka grabs centre stage as Scolari waits on DrogbaFrenchman hits
four past Milan as Chelsea win 5-0
Injured Ivorian to return for Tottenham fixture
Dominic Fifield in Moscow The Guardian, Monday August 4 2008


Luiz Felipe Scolari is resigned to beginning the new campaign with
Nicolas Anelka as his only recognised first-team striker with Didier
Drogba regaining his fitness as he recovers from a long-standing knee
injury.

The Chelsea manager will have drawn encouragement here from Anelka's
excellent performance which gleaned four goals in a 5-0 rout of an
under-strength Milan in the Railways Cup yesterday. The France
international finished as the team's top scorer on their pre-season
tour with six goals in five appearances - he had scored only twice in
his first six months at the club - and Scolari will lean heavily on
the 29-year-old in Drogba's absence.

The Brazilian has been in regular contact with the medical staff at
the club's Cobham training base for updates on the Ivorian's fitness.
"I speak to the doctor every day and he gives me a report," said
Scolari. "Didier's getting better and has started to train on the
field. He has a fitness coach there working with him and, next week, I
hope he will be ready to start training with us. But he will not be
available for the first game.

"It is important that he is fully fit and in good shape. If he plays
too soon and is not really ready, it will not be good for him and it
will not be good for us. He will only play when he is in good
condition again. If not, we risk losing him for longer. You never know
when you have problems with your knee but he won't be playing in the
first game [against Portsmouth]. He should be back for the third game
of the season."

That would most likely see him available for the visit of Tottenham
Hotspur to Stamford Bridge on August 31. Drogba's future at the club
had appeared in doubt over the summer, with the player having been
unsettled last season, but Scolari and the club's chief executive,
Peter Kenyon, have since reiterated that the forward would remain in
London. Talks have as yet not begun on a potential new contract -
Drogba has two years to run on his current deal - though there remains
the possibility of him extending his stay.

There was also a return for Michael Ballack at the Lokomotiv stadium
yesterday, the German playing his first football of pre-season before
being withdrawn at the interval against the Rossoneri, though it was
Anelka who caught the eye. The Frenchman was irrepressible, albeit
against a porous defence and with the Milan goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac
mustering an almost comical performance.

Chelsea led 3-0 after 18 minutes with Anelka adding his third and
fourth goals before the hour mark. With Andriy Shevchenko still
working on his fitness, Salomon Kalou at the Olympic Games and Franco
di Santo just beginning to make his mark, the Frenchman has quickly
become key. "It was important for Anelka, but more important for me to
help generate more confidence for this player," said Scolari. "He's
one of the players that we will look to this season. He played with
more quality and freedom and it is fantastic for his confidence to
score four times against a team like Milan.

"He believes in himself more and the other players believe in him
more. That is the best outcome. He played more in the penalty area
than before. I'd asked him to do that because I want him in the
middle, not on the left or the right. That is more important at the
moment because we have only one striker and that is Anelka."

The reality that he was often employed out wide last term following
his £15m arrival from Bolton in January, often with Drogba playing
through the middle, contributed to his meagre goal tally since moving
to the club. Others provided the width and invention yesterday, the
excellent Florent Malouda crossing expertly for the two second-half
rewards after Anelka had volleyed his first of the afternoon beyond
Kalac following Giuseppe Favalli's inadvertent knock-down.

Chelsea already boasted a lead by then courtesy of Frank Lampard's
free-kick which drifted through a clutch of players, flicking off
Daniele Bonera and dribbling through the hapless Kalac's legs. The
Australian duly air-kicked Marek Jankulovski's back-pass to allow
Anelka to tap into an empty net, with Roman Abramovich enjoying the
scene from a box up in the Gods of the arena.

Scolari will assess his players over the next fortnight at Cobham
before the opening league game against Portsmouth, but admitted he had
pencilled in "85% of the team". He could yet add the Real Madrid
forward Robinho to his ranks before then with the Brazilian understood
to have informed the club's manager, Bernd Schuster, and president,
Ramón Calderón, that he wants to swap the Bernabeu for Stamford
Bridge.
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The Times
August 4, 2008

Nicolas Anelka is last striker standing at Chelsea
Matt Hughes in Moscow

Luiz Felipe Scolari yesterday revealed that Didier Drogba is likely to
miss the first few weeks of the season as he continues his
rehabilitation from a knee injury, leaving Chelsea with one fit
striker for their opening Barclays Premier League match against
Portsmouth. The Brazilian manager may want to wrap Nicolas Anelka in
cotton wool for the next 13 days because the France striker is his
only option for his first match in English football, with Andriy
Shevchenko recovering from a groin operation and Salomon Kalou playing
for the Ivory Coast at the Olympic Games.

Scolari would like to have more options to cover Anelka, but it is
Drogba who will be most badly missed. The 30-year-old was left behind
from the club's preseason tour after suffering a setback to a knee
injury that was operated on last December and has yet to return to
full training. Chelsea are hopeful that Drogba will be fit for their
third match of the season, against Tottenham Hotspur on August 31, but
given his history of knee problems they may choose to keep him back
until after the international break at the start of next month.

"I speak to the doctor every day and he gives me a report," Scolari said.

"Drogba is getting better, starting to run in the field. He has a
fitness coach there and I hope next week he will be ready to start
training. He will not be available for the first game. It is important
he is fully fit and in good shape.

"If he plays without his condition, it's not good for him and not good
for us. When he is in good condition, he will play. If not, we will
lose him for longer. He will probably miss the first two games, but by
the third game he will be ready if there are no more problems. When
you have problems in the knee, you never know."

Drogba's injury will give Anelka the opportunity to make good on his
pledge to improve on last season's dismal displays for Chelsea. The
29-year-old scored one league goal after his £15 million move from
Bolton Wanderers in January, but has looked sharp in preseason,
scoring four goals as Chelsea completed an embarrassingly one-sided
5-0 win over a weakened AC Milan team yesterday. Frank Lampard scored
the other.

"I think it was important for Anelka, but more important for us, for
the fans and for me, the coach, to have more confidence for this
player," Scolari said. "He's one of the players that we need this
season. I was happy today, not because he scored four goals, but he
played with more quality and freedom than in the other games.

That's important for us because that was our last training match, and
against a big club like Milan. It's fantastic for [Anelka's]
confidence to score four times against Milan. He believes more, and
the other players believe in him more.

"In the last few games he has been making more runs through the middle
than before. I asked him to do that and I wanted him down the middle,
not down the left or the right. That is important because we have one
striker, and that is Anelka."

Scolari confirmed that his plans for the Portsmouth match are nearly
complete, with one remaining area of doubt centring on how he can
squeeze Lampard, Deco and Michael Ballack into the same midfield.

Scolari could soon have another player to accommodate after Robinho
rejected Real Madrid's offer of an improved contract over the weekend
and told the club he wants to move to Stamford Bridge.

"I only know 85 per cent of my team," Scolari said. "Today I received
Ballack for the first time. I need to assess the players at Cobham
[Chelsea's training ground] to get that last 15 per cent, but I have
the main team."
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