Martin Samuel responds: should Chelsea ditch Didier Drogba?

On Monday, our Chief Football Correspondent asked you if the Chelsea striker should remain at Stamford Bridge or be sent packing after a run of recent indiscretions on and off the pitch. Here he replies to your comments:

Chelsea should swap Didier Drogba for Adriano, who does not get on with Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan and should mature under the influence of Chelsea's Brazilian contingent. He'll give us strength to hold up the ball, an aerial threat and goals from outside the box when we cannot break down top opposition, as we have struggled to do this season. Scolari needs more time and better attackers. With Joe Cole injured, he needs more creative, tricky, fast players, unlike the wasteful Salomon Kalou and the disappointing Florent Malouda, who grins infuriatingly every time he loses possession. Tom.

MS: A bit of a contradiction here, Tom. You say you need forwards who are creative, tricky and fast, yet also wish for Adriano who, the last time I saw him, looked slow, clod-hopping and unfit. There will be a reason he has fallen out with Mourinho, maybe because he is not meeting the exacting standards of a top player anymore. Drogba’s problems are with his temperament; nobody has accused him of not wishing to do the hard work. Maybe you are correct and Adriano would respond to a Brazilian manager, but why take a chance when players exist with his ability who are also prepared to graft?

Simple answer: yes. At his age there is only one way from here and Chelsea are already carrying plenty of ageing attacking players in their ranks such as Deco, Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard. Nicolas Anelka is no spring chicken, either. The whole Chelsea team needs overhauling, in fact, with forward and wide areas requiring attention sooner rather than later. Piers.

MS: Second in the league by one point, remember, and to hear Piers talk one would think they were bottom half and one step from the knackers yards. He does have a point, though. Chelsea’s average age is higher than their rivals and when they introduce the next generation, such as Franco Di Santo or Miroslav Stoch, they do not appear to have the same zip about them as equivalents at Manchester United or Arsenal. An overhaul is perhaps too extreme, but work needs to be done.

Drogba: over 30, bad knees, missed over half the games since the beginning of the 2007-08 season, always in danger of a red card, can no longer outpace centre-backs, unhappy at Stamford Bridge. Didn't Chelsea learn their lesson in this area with Andriy Shevchenko? Barry.

MS: Comparing Drogba to Shevchenko is ludicrous. For the last three years he has been in a different class. And he can get the better of defenders, which is the other error in your litany of negatives.

Just watching Drogba's brilliance was alone worth the price of my season ticket, but it is patently obvious that the guy does not want to play for Chelsea anymore. Mourinho brought the best out of him and I feel they will soon be reunited. He will leave sublime and ridiculous memories, but what a player. John.

MS: I agree, John. At his best, he made the difference and gave some individual performances as lone striker that were as good as anything I have seen in the position.

As a Manchester United fan, it would to be a pleasure to see Drogba leave Chelsea. They are not formidable without him. With Lampard and John Terry, he made Chelsea what they are today. Nikhil.

MS: Bit harsh on Anelka and the players that went on such a roll at the start of the season to say they cannot survive without him. They looked pretty formidable against Aston Villa, so there will be alternatives, the key will be picking the right one.

If you take into account every time this despicable cheat has feigned injury to get an opponent booked, every time he has whinged about how unhappy he is despite having the best job in the world, or committed an act of prima-donna selfishness dropping his team-mates in it, he'd have more than three strikes against him, more like 333. Why does Mourinho love him so much? It must be the attraction of mutual narcissism? Susan.

MS: He loves him because, despite the faults you list, on his day he remains one of the bravest, most talented and most potent strikers in the game and each one of Chelsea’s rivals would love to have him.

I have just heard that Drogba will not leave in January. Perhaps he has had a nice chat with Luis Felipe Scolari, the Chelsea manager. The coin-throwing incident is irrelevant to his future at the club. Yes it was stupid, but it was only spur of the moment, a top sportsman in a moment of high tension, so punish him and move on. Jamie Carragher of Liverpool did something similar once, and Manchester United did not exactly rush to get rid of Eric Cantona after what happened at Crystal Palace. There is plenty of life in Drogba at Chelsea yet. Lee, Brighton.

MS: Point one, the person who said Drogba will not leave in January was Peter Kenyon, the chief executive, which is why I have pretty much disregarded this statement. Chelsea say a lot of things that do not quite pan out, so forgive me if I let this one slide and see what develops. As far as your points about Carragher and Cantona are concerned, I agree, it is possible to view a clash with supporters as a one-off incident if, in Drogba’s case, it was a one-off. Coming as one of a series of petulant displays suggesting a player not thinking of the harm he is doing to his club, I would argue it has greater significance. The incident at Selhurst Park aside, Cantona was regarded as a model professional at Manchester United, and the mentor to a generation of young players. Carragher is hardly known for causing Liverpool too many problems aside from that one day at Arsenal, early in is career. Drogba is approaching 31 and was playing in a Carling Cup tie against Burnley. He should have known better.

If Drogba is having a negative effect on the dressing room, it can, as with Dimitar Berbatov at Tottenham Hotspur, create problems on the pitch. Chelsea have the quality and resources to do without him. Adam.

Chelsea had the best of Drogba, and should have made the Champions League final his last appearance for the club. They would have received more money for him in the summer as well. The trouble is, it will take silly money to replace him. Jimmy.

MS: Fortunately, Jimmy, silly money is the one thing Chelsea do have; but you are correct that the summer would have been the time to depart, because his value is decreasing quite sharply now and a disgruntled player is harmful to morale, as Adam recognises.

The answer is - maybe. T Ludden.

MS: Not on this forum it isn’t, mate. If this lot wanted naval gazing introspection they would be reading The Guardian. I’m stopping you right there.

Drogba is no good and he has been that way for some time now. Scolari, too, is no good and Chelsea are unconvincing with him at the helm. Chelsea were best under Avram Grant. We owe him an apology and should make maximum efforts to bring him back. Michael Statham.

MS: I didn’t know you had changed agents, Avram old son. Not subtle this new bloke, is he?

Chelsea will need Drogba if they are to recapture the form that saw them undefeated at home for years, title winners and Champions League finalists. There has been a distinct lack of depth in Chelsea's forward line for a long time and Drogba's performances and goals have masked that. Richie Woodcock.

MS: Actually, I think Lampard’s goals from midfield masked that, Richie. Take Lampard away and Drogba (and therefore Chelsea) would never have scored the goals required to win that first title under Mourinho.

So, against Burnley Drogba disregarded his importance to the team and also in the Champions league final? Funny how we never hear this argument when it is Wayne Rooney flying off the handle. When an Englishman behaves badly it is an anger problem, when a foreign player loses his temper it is assumed he has taken a minute to think about it and decided to do it anyway, team be damned. Jim.

Jim, I think the sheer volume of bile directed at David Beckham after his sending off for England against Argentina undermines your argument. Razinho.

MS: Also, the reaction to Rooney’s dismissal in 2006 was an exception, because so much was made of Cristiano Ronaldo’s supposed intervention and that whipped up the standard mass hysteria that surrounds England. In the stadium at the time, I thought Rooney hard done by. If I recall rightly many first believed he had been sent off for pushing Ronaldo, and not for the challenge on Ricardo Carvalho which in real time looked more clumsy and over-competitive than malicious. It took a few replays to get to the bottom of it and from there any sympathy that followed for Rooney was caused by the perception of Ronaldo’s inflammatory role in the red card, and the knowledge that England’s coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, had hung his entire tournament campaign on the shoulders of a young player who was not fit and very frustrated as a result. I think as time wore on the appraisals had greater detachment, but clearly there were bigger issues in Gelsenkirchen that day than Drogba dealt with in a Carling Cup tie against Burnley.

Maybe they should ditch him in the summer, but not now. I cannot see any value in Chelsea selling their best striker mid-season, no matter how much trouble he is. Iandel.

MS: Simple logic, Iandel, and under normal circumstances that would be my take on it, too – see today’s column on Emile Heskey and Wigan Athletic – but is there not a point when a player is so much trouble that he is not worth having?

Some healthy competition should keep Drogba in check. His selfish ego cannot be controlled when he is certain to start matches. New forwards are required. As a Chelsea fan it is hard to enjoy watching your team when you have grown to detest all of the forwards, bar Joe Cole. Kalou and Malouda are selfish footballers of limited ability and Anelka is not half as good as he thinks he is, so Drogba swans about like he owns the place. Clayton.

MS: Blimey, mate, Saturday evenings must be fun at your house.

Drogba has been a blight on the English game for too long. Even his old manager admits he is a diver who thinks of nobody but himself. Let him go to Milan. Andrew.

MS: To link up with that old manager you mentioned. Funny how he still wants him, then, isn’t it?

Drogba should have gone over the summer along with Anelka. Both are liabilities. A one legged footballer could have scored the number of goals Anelka has this season, and he has done nothing in big games. John Terry would be better up front: he is more physical, better at heading and doesn't topple over like a toddler. Fixed.

MS: I think Anelka has played well this season but I agree Chelsea’s scoring record against their biggest rivals suggests the forward line is happiest against easy targets. I’m disregarding the comment about Terry. It was meant as a joke, wasn’t it?

Comments

[Stephen Warren]

Stephen McKenna- you must never have seen drogba play. Finals Goals did you see them

[jamie]

are you on first name terms with all those fellas mark? i take my imaginary hat off to you sir.

[Mark]

This is crazy! Drogba should not go anywhere. he didnt cost us the Champs Lgue, Terry n Anelka lost it. Drogba is our best player. He must feel loved, like RRonaldo is at United, Like Kaka is at Millan, Like Zlatan at Inter, likes Cesc at Arsenal.

No matter what we must stand by him. To add to those stats we have only lost 6 Games out of 115. Point made

[Nick]

If recent comments regarding the need for Chelsea to be "self funding" are to believed, then they are in trouble, and the Drogba situation illustrates this perfectly. He's too old to command a premium in the transfer market, so the money he'd get won't buy a decent replacement. But he doesn't seem very motivated to stay. The same applies to a lot of other top Chelsea players - Lampard, Ballack, Deco - they have a couple of seasons left at the top, but no resale value to speak of. There don't seem to be too many new faces ready to come through to replace them, not compared with thier rivals.

Chelsea's squad was in the main bought 3-5 years ago, built up of mature proven players. This means it needs replacing over the next 2-3, and its hard to see that being done by being "self-financing".

[Lloyd Man]

I don't know why people are so high on Drogba. Yes, he can score goals and so does a lot of the strikers. If a striker cannot score goals, he might as well go home. Why is he so special? I agree that he can adapt to the English game because he got pace and he is strong in the air. So I admit he is good inside the penalty area but does it make him one of the best in the game. I think not. He is clumsy with the ball and he can't make any passes. The worst thing is that he likes coming out of his position and dribble with the ball. Nine out of ten, he ended up losing the ball or kicked the ball to nowhere. There are a lot more good strikers out there and let us get rid of him as fast as we could while he still has some value.

[James]

I think the simpler option is to sell Drogba, who is unsettled & over 30, buy Vagner Love to play alongside Anelka. Anelka's strength is when he is given space to run at opponent. Physically, it is difficult to expect Anelka to run his opponent ragged like Drogs. I think Wagner will give us a great option in unlocking tight defences. Malouda & Kalou. for all their reputation, are not up to standard after having at least 1 1/2 seasons to settle down.

If possible, I like the trio sold to finance Wagner. Also, there is a relatively unknown player called Wesley from Lexicoes who is at the top of the Portuguese league. He is among the leading goal poacher with 6 goals in 9 games. Chelsea should search for such talent when they are relativey cheap before they attain cult status. That's the approach that Arsene Wenger takes in making Arsenal sucessful.

[Sean London]

I'm one of the few Chelsea fans that thinks Chelsea are half the team when Drogba is not playing. Sure he antics are sometimes painful to watch (his red card in the Champions league is the most obvious of many examples), sure he does down too easily, sure he is constantly leaking stories to the press that he wants to move on. However he is, on his day, the best striker in Europe. He can hold the ball up, he gets physical when it counts, and can score from nothing. Remember Everton away, 2-3 ? His turn and volley against Liverpool? Etc. Anelka can score against weak teams, but he can't unlock a quality defense in the big games. Shevchenko? He was a never anything than poor- weak mentally, weak pace, weak finish. Had Chelsea not bought Shevchenko then Mourinho would still be there and they would have won the league last season. Drogba is the best there is- he just needs to feel loved and then he will perform. It's easy not to like him, but like with Lampard, I'm not jumping on that bandwagon.

[FIXED]

Martin...Yes the JT comment was a joke. But I still believe that Chelsea would be better off without Drogba and Anelka. I agree that Anelka is in good form, but is only effective against weaker opponents and quite frankly is not a big picture talent for the club. And even if Drogba comes back I am not sure he is going to push too hard. Happy to be proven wrong on that point as he is a great player when he wants. Perhaps Benitez can provide him with some words of motivation....

[Mo]

I think Drogba is still one of the best players in the league. Like every team Chelsea have there weakness but he is not one of them. I was disappointed to see that everyone has jumped on the band wagon for are current loss of form. It happens to most teams United had a dip at the start, Liverpool although top are stuttering and Arsenal are hardly a model of consistency. I think this is panning out to be a great season in the making because no one is running away with the title and be prepared for more shocks to come

[Stephen McKenna]

Martin I like your aritcles but please dont talk rubbish. Drogba played well for 1.5 seasons when Jose went long ball apart from that his goal return for an out and out striker playing for one of the best sides in Europe is poor. How you can say his performances were some of the best youve ever seen in that position is beyond me. Top european managers had no interest in the summer as they understand football and Drogbas limitations.