Drogba & Terry Could Be Dropped Tomorrow

[White Noise]

Drogba set to be dropped for Fulham clash as Ancelotti looks to cater for £50m Torres


By Matt Lawton Chief Football Correspondent


Last updated at 11:00 PM on 13th February 2011


EXCLUSIVE


Carlo Ancelotti is giving serious consideration to dropping Didier Drogba for Monday night's Barclays Premier League clash at Fulham.

The Chelsea manager tried to accommodate new £50million signing Fernando Torres alongside Drogba and Nicolas Anelka when his side met Liverpool at Stamford Bridge eight days ago.

Making way: Drogba (right) could be left out on Monday night to help Torres

After losing that encounter with Torres's former club, the Italian insisted he would persist with the formation that sees Anelka deployed behind two strikers.
It had worked successfully at Sunderland when Anelka had played behind Drogba and Salomon Kalou and he insisted it could work again.

But after a week examining the formation in training Ancelotti is no longer convinced it is a system that best suits his new British-record signing and he wants to give the Spaniard the best possible chance to succeed.

Slow start: Torres struggled on his debut for Chelsea against his former employers last weekend

That leaves Drogba in a vulnerable position. He has not been in his finest form since recovering from malaria - certainly not in the form of Anelka, who had scored in four of the previous five games prior to the defeat by Liverpool.

Abandoning the new system is unlikely to go down well with Drogba, especially when he will already see Torres as the player who has been brought in to eventually replace him. Drogba, after all, is 32.

But Ancelotti, who will make his decision this morning, is under pressure. Not just to turn Torres into an instant success and so prove that Roman Abramovich was right to smash the British transfer record to buy him but to make sure Chelsea do not lose touch in the race for Champions League football next season. With Tottenham winning at Sunderland on Saturday, Chelsea are three points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham.

Under threat: Terry could make way for new boy Luiz

Ancelotti also revealed that captain John Terry is no longer an automatic choice due to the arrival of £25m signing David Luiz. He insisted signing the Brazilian means he can rotate his central defenders and said his team 'will not have a problem in the centre of defence in the future'.

Ancelotti added: 'With Luiz we can have more rotation with our players and maintain more fresh defenders. 'Now we have a lot of opportunities to choose players and give someone else a rest, and to maintain every defender's fitness for the rest of the season.
'When a good player with a lot of skill comes to improve the squad, everyone is happy. 'Obviously in top teams there is competition. This is normal. It's a good motivation.'

Luiz, 23, and Terry, 30, will start at Fulham tonight. But the expected return from a knee injury of Brazil defender Alex, 28, in time for the second leg of Chelsea's Champions League clash with Copenhagen on March 16 will put extra pressure on Chelsea skipper Terry.

Right back Branislav Ivanovic, 26, who signed a five-and-a-half-year contract last week, can also play at centre half. Terry, who earns £150,000 a week, will demand to play if he is fit, but Ancelotti knows the former England captain needs two or three days to recover from each match.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1356701/Didier-Drogba-set-dropped-Fulham-clash.html#ixzz1DssfS6D9

[HatterDon]

damn, and I was so looking forward to seeing Terry fall on his ass again.