Rafa see his men top the group with a convincing win in Holland. Scolari meanwhile, has to turn to Drogba to inspire a stuttering Chelsea through to the Champions League knock-outs…
Significantly, it took the introduction of Drogba to spark Chelsea into life. His winning goal followed a first-half effort from Kalou and was enough to see off plucky Cluj who had the better of the opening 45 minutes. Chelsea qualified second to Roma in their group, giving themselves a more difficult task in the last 16.
Scolari made just one change to his lineup – with Joe Cole returning to the fold to replace the suspended Frank Lampard in midfield. That meant that Ballack and Kalou kept their places in a 4-1-4-1 formation. Drogba was left on the bench then, along with Belletti who returned from injury.
The knock-out stages will demand a far better performance from Chelsea. They continue to struggle for fluidity at Stamford Bridge, although without the drive of Lampard in midfield, it’s hard to judge them here. Ballack was disappointing on the night and will surely be under threat with Lampard’s return to the side for the weekend clash with West Ham. Drogba should also have booked a starting role with his smartly taken goal via a chipped pass from Joe Cole.
Indeed, Scolari made it clear in his post match comments that he had every intention of pairing his two strikers.
“I pray that I don’t have any more injuries because it means I can pair Anelka and Drogba and it’s Anelka who has scored the goals which have put us second in the league. Drogba is one of the best strikers in the world.”
It would seem very likely then that Kalou will drop out of the side and we’ll see some kind of shift in formation for the Chelsea lineup, away from their 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 they often employ. It remains to be seen just how this will affect Anelka’s fantasy output which has obviously been superb to this point. Elsewhere, Alex is set to keep his place at the back this weekend, with Carvalho still pencilled in for a return against Everton on December 22nd.
Over in Eindhoven, Rafa rang the changes once again, bringing in Cavalieri for Reina in goal. In front of him, Agger and Dossena made returns to the defence having been benched at the weekend. Lucas and Riera also returned in midfield, with Benayoun and Alonso stepping down. David Ngog replaced Kuyt up front and Keane started in place of Gerrard.
It was a night for Liverpool’s fringe players to make their claim then and the likes of Babel and Riera certainly did that. Both scored well taken goals in the 3-1 win over a jaded PSV side. Ngog got the third to wrap things up from a chipped Keane through-ball.
Whether that will be enough to earn Keane a starting role against Hull remains to be seen. We’ll see recalls for Gerrard and Alonso I imagine, and I can see Rafa going with Kuyt up front, with his skipper playing just behind him. Agger could well keep his place in defence, while the left back spot is well and truly up for grabs with Dossena, Insua and possibly the returning Aurellio, all in contention.