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Home , Brendan Rodgers, Graeme Souness

Sports FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2014 Chelsea facing striker crisis before Man United match

LONDON: Chelsea face the prospect of hav- ing veteran Didier Drogba as their only fit striker for their visit to Manchester United on Sunday in what is usually one of the stand- out matches of the season. Jose Mourinho’s league leaders will defi- nitely be without their nine-goal top scorer , who has a hamstring problem. Frenchman Loic Remy is also a doubt after injuring himself while scoring Chelsea’s opening goal in their club record 6-0 Champions League victory over Maribor on Liverpool’s gestures in this file photo. —AP Tuesday. Drogba, 36, came off the bench after 16 minutes to replace Remy and scored Balotelli and Rodgers from the penalty spot for his first goal since under spotlight returning to the club following a two-year spell away. He is Chelsea’s only fully fit regu- : Under-pressure Liverpool taskmaster lar first team striker, but Mourinho could will tackle troubled striker Mario Balotelli over both a half-time shirt- include 17-year-old Dominic Solanke in the swap and a pedestrian effort as Real Madrid ran rampant at Anfield squad for the visit to , after the on Wednesday. Rodgers himself is also coming under scrutiny, with teenager came on as a late substitute to Liverpool struggling in the Champions League and sluggish in the make his senior debut against Maribor. Premier League since the sale of star striker Luis Suarez to Barcelona. “We know Solanke’s talent is there, but he is in the phase of being far from (complete),” LONDON: Chelsea’s Didier Drogba (right) is congratulated by teammates in this file At 3-0 down at half-time on Wednesday, Balotelli had shown photo. — AP none of the bite or brilliance that took him to Inter Milan, Manchester Mourinho told reporters on Tuesday before City and AC Milan, and Rodgers says he would have been subbed adding, “I am on a day off tomorrow, I don’t and drawing one of their opening eight Southampton are also in unfamiliar terri- even without the shirt swap with Pepe. want to talk about injuries, I don’t want to games, with City in second place followed by tory in third spot after their top flight club “I only heard about it when I came off the pitch (after the game),” hear from the doctor.” Chelsea will be seek- the unlikely pair of Southampton on 16 record 8-0 win over Sunderland at St Mary’s he said. “For me, if you want to do that it’s something you do at the ing to extend their unbeaten run from the points and West Ham fourth on 13. City trav- last weekend. They are at home again to end of the game. I will deal with that, he said.” The highly-rated but start of the season to 13 matches and seven el to West Ham after a miserable couple of mid-table Stoke City tomorrow. unpredictable Balotelli has scored just once in 10 appearances for straight wins in all competitions against a days in a bleak and cold Moscow, where the Although another thumping success is Liverpool, and Rogers had lost patience with a lack of endeavour Manchester United side that are sixth in the confidence they have shown in the Premier unlikely, they look good value to chalk up from the giant striker. Former Liverpool captain was table after an indifferent start under new League disappeared as they flopped once their fourth home win out of five against a equally scathing of the Italian’s performance against Madrid.”You coach . more in Europe. City, who beat Tottenham Stoke side managed by , who never watch Mario Balotelli and think ‘Wow, he’s put a real stint in’. Hotspur 4-1 last Saturday, allowed a 2-0 lead spent two years as a player with “The criticism is for him not showing any enthusiasm,” said UNITED PROBLEM to slip against CSKA Moscow, who came back Southampton between 1998 and 2000. Souness. But the former international also pointed the fin- They avoided defeat at West Bromwich to draw 2-2 and leave City’s progress to the Liverpool, who rode their luck to win 3-2 ger at Rodgers for signing Balotelli in the first place after other top Albion on Monday when Daley Blind scored knockout rounds of the Champions League at bottom-placed Queens Park Rangers on managers had failed to get a decent return from the eccentric Italian. in the 87th minute of a superb game at The in the balance. Sunday, before being taught a harsh lesson “ twice, Jose Mourinho had one look at him and Hawthorns to salvage a 2-2 draw. United, in a 3-0 defeat at home to Real Madrid in the very quickly said ‘I can’t work with this guy’, said however, also have a problem in attack with TOUGHER MATCH Champions League in midweek, face Hull after the World Cup he made a giant mistake taking him to Brazil,” he captain Wayne Rooney suspended, following They are also likely to have a tougher City at Anfield tomorrow. explained. “What makes you (Rodgers) think you can get something his sending-off against West Ham United on match against an improved West Ham side Hull were seconds away from winning 2-1 different from him?” Against Madrid Rodgers got little indeed from Sept. 27. than the four games they played against Sam at Arsenal last week before Danny Welbeck Balotelli, but praised another of his summer signings, the man he Yet United defender Luke Shaw cannot Allardyce’s team last season. equalised for the Gunners in stoppage time. brought on at half-time . wait to face the London side. “I think you can City won home and away in the Premier Arsenal left it late again to beat “In the second half you could see every player pressing and work- safely say this is one of the biggest games in League and both legs of their Capital One Anderlecht 2-1 in the Champions League on ing,” insisted Rogers. “At Liverpool that is the minimum we expect. world football. I really hope I am part of it, I (League) Cup semi-final, scoring 14 goals and Wednesday with Kieran Gibbs and Lukas You could see Adam Lallana when he came on he was tireless in his want to show people what I can do in games conceding one. Podolski netting in the 89th and 91st min- work.” Ahead of a fear-inspiring trip to Madrid, the Reds now lie third like this.” Whatever the outcome Chelsea will West Ham have improved since then and utes. They will hope to end a poor run of one in Champions League Group B with defeats to both Basel and Madrid stay top of the pile as they are five points celebrated Allardyce’s 60th birthday last win in their last seven league matches when and their single win coming against Bulgarians Ludogorets. They are, clear of champions Manchester City with the week with a 3-1 win at Burnley to rise to they go to Sunderland, who will be keener however, fifth in the Premier League, albeit nine points adrift of lead- first quarter of the season nearly completed. fourth, their highest position since returning than ever for a win after their humiliation at ers Chelsea. — AFP Chelsea have 22 points after winning seven to the Premier League in 2012. Southampton. —- Reuters Premier League defences aren’t what they used to be

LONDON: In its own way, it was a thing of beauty. Santiago It was Manchester United’s obliging crew offering free pas- last weekend’s keep wooing us to believe, are generally more Vergini, under no pressure as the ball arced slowly towards the sage for West Brom’s Saido Berahino to score as he liked with inept than a generation ago? edge of his penalty area, swooped towards it, ready for the no central defender within five metres, prompting an apoplec- There is, naturally, no need to ask that question to simple task of hoofing it to distant safety. tic Rodney Marsh to cry on the radio: “That for me is Sunday Liverpool fans, who are still feeling a little shell-shocked at wit- Instead, bewilderingly, the Sunderland defender caught morning football defending. Terrible, terrible defending.” nessing Sunday’s back four of Glen Johnson, Martin Skrtel, the ball sweetly on the half-volley, simultaneously curling it at and Jose Enrique. Or, rather, is it merely further breakneck speed into the corner of the net. His own net. GNARLED DEFENDERS indication of just how FIFA rule changes over the last 20 years, His goalkeeper, Vito Mannone, could only perch on one Basically, then, one of those weekends that intermittently including revamped offside laws and greater protection for knee, forlornly contemplating the glory of one of football’s crop up when gnarled defenders of the old school bark, as Lee strikers from robust challenges, have begun to shift the odds most exquisite own goals as up in the stands at Dixon, one quarter of the famed Arsenal back four of legend, in favour of attackers? Southampton’s St Mary’s stadium, watching his side go one did four years ago after watching a weekend of 35 goals flying Remember when cricket was a game for bowlers and bats- down in historic fashion, an elderly, bespectacled Sunderland in from all angles: “The quality of the defending...seems like it men before Twenty20 demanded six-hitting hoopla? fan was caught by the cameras shaking his head in dismay. is at an all-time low.” Defenders now moan that football, as part of the entertain- Not in my day, his old face seemed to scream in a snapshot Well, last weekend witnessed 40 goals and a series of ment industry, has become a game for strikers. which stood as a symbol of a weekend of comedy rearguard calamities at the back which would have had , the action in the Premier League. Does nobody know how to old Liverpool maestro who recently retired after a career on NON-CONTACT SPORT defend any more? the BBC’s ‘Match of the Day’, as of quality defend- ‘Bite yer leg’ challenges in the style of former Leeds United It was not just poor old Santiago, of course. It was the rest ing, spinning in his old pundit’s seat. hardman Norman Hunter that once earned nothing but cheers of his pitiful colleagues, who went on to ship seven more goals Only once before in Premier League annals had more goals more than a generation ago are now deemed dangerous yel- against Southampton in one of the most abject displays of been scored in a single round of games — 43 in February low or sometimes even red card offences, leading to the old capitulation the Premier League has witnessed. 2011. After eight rounds of the current season, the average chestnut about football increasingly becoming a non-contact It was Richard Dunne, expertly bundling in the 10th own number of goals per game is running at 2.95. If that continues, sport. It makes defenders like Dixon fear the new breed, wor- goal of his career for QPR. It was following suit it will easily be the most goal-laden of any Premier League ried about over-committing to tackles have become almost with another ‘og’ to gift victory to Liverpool, whose own campaign and will continue a trend. All but one of the six neutered. “I genuinely think players are a little bit nervous of defending was described by their former stalwart Jamie biggest-scoring Premier League seasons have occurred over making tackles now because there are so many yellow and red Carragher as “awful” in the mad 3-2 victory. these past five years. Does this indicate defences, as events like cards flying around,” he told the BBC. — Reuters