Should Guus play Anelka or Drogba? Or Both?

By: Rob | February 18th, 2009

They kicked and screamed and complained about the fact that Phil Scolari wouldn’t play them together. When they did play together, they looked a bit rubbish. Under Avram Grant, if they were on the pitch together, Anelka was sulking because he was playing wing.

According to the Telegraph, new Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink is planning on trying a 4-4-2, with four central midfielders, and both Drogba and Anelka up top.

So imagine your stepping into Hiddink’s shoes, how would you approach this weekend’s game against Aston Villa?

Anelka and Drogba have looked poor when they’ve played together, but that could be a lack of practice together, a lack of understanding that can develop over a bit of time. So I wouldn’t yet be too worried about that.

But the reason that Big Phil didn’t play the two together, presumably was that with Shevchenko shipped off to Milan on loan, and promising young striker Scott Sinclair spending the season at Birmingham, there isn’t really a realistic back up should Anelka or Drogba get injured or sent off.

Which means you have to completely change the team, mid-match and switch to a more defensive formation – which is fine if your winning, but if your 1-0 down, the last thing you want to have to do is switch to a 4-5-1.

So if you’re picking one?

Well, Drogba is and has been an integral part of Chelsea for the last few seasons. Two years ago he looked like one of the best strikers on the planet, and seemed to have finally superceeded Samuel Eto’o as the best African striker on the planet.

No more though, he was good last season, if not reaching the heights of the season before. Meanwhile, Samuel Eto’o has more than got his mojo back at Barcelona. Not Drogba is increasingly looking like a poor mans Eto’o again, in every regard.

But this team knows him well – Lampard regards him as one of the best strikers on the planet, and the Mourinho glories were built around the “pump it up to Drogba” tactic.

Anelka meanwhile, is always a difficult, tempremental character to judge. He often goes through phases of looking like he can’t be bothered. Although I think its fair to say that this season, that hasn’t been true, he has decided he’s wanted to play. The proof is in the pudding so to speak, and Anelka is top scorer in the Premier League. A problem which Scolari fell foul of – how do you drop the Prem’s top scorer?

So, over to you. Who would you go with?

Who should Hiddink start with?
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