He has been such a great buy for Chelsea. He never really was awarded the credit he deserves by the pundits, club and the fans in my opinion. At times he has been our best forward (yes even better than Drogba and Malouda) and has scored prolifically for the club. He scored 59 goals for the club in only 4 seasons, won a golden boot and created a great partnership with Drogba and Malouda. He was quick, he had a great finish, and he didn't complain when being played out of position for most of his Chelsea career.
The front 3 of Malouda, Drogba and Anelka could be argued as the most sucessful front 3 we have played together under the Roman years. Yes even better than the Duff, Robben and Drogba/Gudjohnson partnership.
He also along with Malouda got the best out of Drogba, at first they were said that they couldn't play together, particularly under Scolari. But under Hiddink and Carlo they really played brilliantly together!
His last two seasons weren't the greatest I admit, and it was the right time for him to leave so the club can move forward. But I will be sad to see him leave, because unlike the other clubs he played for, he definately cared about Chelsea, and was settled up to this year when we decided to drop him.
Heres a vid of some the great goals he scored, and some of the more messy poaching goals, but when watching this I think its easy to see how good a player he was for us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ezw88trnPA
I will miss you Anelka!!
Anelka
posted on 15/1/12
Definitely underrated by too many Chelsea fans.
On this forum only Mr Chelsea really fully appreciated him and his value to CFC
posted on 15/1/12
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posted on 15/1/12
He wasn't played out of position really as he still did very well on the right paticularly 09/10, and we've seen both good and bad performances from Anelka wherever he's played. However, along with Drogba and Sturridge he has probably been one of only 3 succesful striker buys since Roman came out of God-knows how many.
When he was bad he was very frustrating and you're right he left at the right time buty I hope it does not alienate people from how good he was between 08-10 (same with Malouda), as both were very good and two of the best in the PL during that time. Hope he comes back to Europe soon
posted on 15/1/12
2008-2010 he was excellent for us. After that, not so much. I think he was muchly appreciated when he was performing well. And he, Malouda and Drogba were untouchable when we won the double. But last year he was awful. Most players have their peaks, and unfourtunatly he was past it.
posted on 15/1/12
Now that he's gone we can eulogise about his good performances and forget the bad.
After a slow start I grew to quite like Anelka. Some say he only played well when we played well and that he goes missing in games when we're playing poorly and need something extra. I'm inclined to disagree, I thought he was quite a key player and he actually made the team play well with good performances, and the team suffered without him showing good form.
posted on 15/1/12
I think that he was a great servant for the club and the conflicty with AVB was a shame, he should be leaving in much better circumstances. The only season when he played as a central striker he won the golden boot, after that he was always on the right, but managed to adapt and got a lot of goals and assists for us. Under Hiddink and Ancelotti he realy shined, these two managers really got the best out of all our attacking players, and I agree that the trio Malouda-Drogba-Anelka was the best in the country in 2008-2010.