A tale of two knee ligament injuries
The Premier League’s big two both felt the effects of their Champions League ties this week. While Manchester United’s trip to AaB Aalborg and Chelsea’s to CFR Cluj looked equally straightforward on paper, United comfortable picked up three points on Tuesday while Chelsea could only manage a draw last night.
It would still be a major surprise if both clubs did not qualify from their respective groups. But for Chelsea the task looks more difficult, and not just because they dropped points in what should have been their easiest away game.
The main talking points after both matches were the injuries. The ligament damage sustained to the knees of both Paul Scholes and Didier Drogba will hit both teams hard, but it is the repercussions of Drogba’s injury which will have the most impact.
Scholes’ influence on his United team-mates and his links to Fergie’s last great side should not be underestimated. However, he had probably just dipped out of that purple patch of form he showed last season when he played some of the best football of his career. He is still a class act, but Ferguson has young midfielders raring to go in Scholes’ absence.
The loss of Scholes has also been lessened by the news of another injury that did not involve ligament damage. Wayne Rooney’s ankle injury is not as serious as first expected and his link-up play and football brain will be important for a Scholes-less United.
At Stamford Bridge, Drogba’s loss is devastating not least because the club already has a lengthy injury list. Deco, Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Essien are already out of contention, and Ashley Cole, Alex and John Terry are also nursing injuries. Although Drogba is not a favourite among the Chelsea supporters, even his harshest critic would acknowledge that he is probably the one player the Blues could not afford to lose.
Without the Ivorian international leading the line Chelsea never have quite as good a shape, nor do they look as much of an attacking threat. As a big targetman, albeit one who can play too, Drogba offers Chelsea a dimension that no other player in their squad does.
So it is Chelsea who have come off worse from the two knee ligament injuries.
Topics: Chelsea, English Premier League, Features, Manchester United, UEFA Champions League
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not to bring bad karma to my United or even myself but I’ve been waiting for Drogba to go down for a long time.
October 2nd, 2008 @ 17:30He’s a great striker and very powerful, but I hate watching him. Most likely it’s because of the fact if he’s playing, he’s most likely going to score. But thank the football gods that he’s out for awhile. Chelsea are dropping players left and right. Scholes wasn’t as big a hit, but he will be missed for 10 weeks.
I really hope Rooney is not too hurt. Apparently hes back for englands matches
October 2nd, 2008 @ 20:56Rooney will be fine – he’s one of the toughest players in European football, and it would take a pretty significant injury to keep him out of action or from playing at a high level. Being a Man U fan, I’m happy to see Chelsea forced to play without a significant attacking threat, although I would never wish an injury on any player. It’s a shame for them they shipped off Shevchenko, because now they’re left without any viable front line options. I see a major standings drop soon to follow.
October 2nd, 2008 @ 22:39I was just arguing with my friend ealier bout this. He’s a new breed chelsea fan (just started ‘supporting’ them in last couple years). I had to laugh when he tried to convince me that Drogba wasn’t a big part in their squad and Chelsea would still be top. It’s obvious he doesn’t keep up with football as much as he should if he’s making a comment like that. I rate Drogba as easy top 3 strikers in EPL. It’s a major blow for Chelsea when he’s out. They have Anelka and Kalou to rely on now. Deco, Joe Cole, Drogba, Essien, Ballack haven’t hard time staying fit. Only goo thing they have going for them is Lampard is still on top of his game and that he stayed. I agree with Will in that I expect to see the team at the top taking a couple changes in the next month. Glad to see Berba getting a brace. That’ll up his confidence so he can score 2 more against Blackburn this weekend.
October 2nd, 2008 @ 23:13Update: Drogba injury wont be as bad as Scholes, and probably less time on the sidelines then United man.
October 3rd, 2008 @ 01:42Chelsea’s injury line is long but they have enough dept in their squad to pull them till January. United are in a much better shape then Chelsea, but its not about injuries they should be worried about, its about consistency and defence. The goals Liverpool and Chelsea scored against United were served on a platter. All 3 of them!!! So Scholes or not, Its the others who need a kick up their a** to remind them the pride of wearing the red shirt.
October 3rd, 2008 @ 03:18lol i went through our first team list to see what kind of team we would have with injuries, As it stands we can field a strong team but an injury to mikel/lampard/anelka will see us with a squad with very little depth and we may have to dip into the reserves.
October 3rd, 2008 @ 04:06I’m not sure what all the deabte is about. Drogba has been consistently injured during his Chelsea career. In fact he’s only a ligament or two away from being Saha.
October 3rd, 2008 @ 11:17They’ve coped fine in the past without him, although I do agree that they look light up front.
In fact, it’s an enigma of the high spending Abramovich era that Chelsea have never been ‘top heavy’ up front. They seem to have a knack of buying highly rated strikers who just don’t do it for them. Lack of width?
That said, their quality in the middle usually carries them thru.
As for Scholes, he was out for 3 & 1/2 months last season and it didn’t cause a blip. Now is the time for Anderson to establish his credentials.