Drogba criticizes new Chelsea boss for being unwise
"I don't recognize my club anymore," Drogba told Canal+ after Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League. "It's not the old club anymore. Chelsea now has a new owner with a new vision. Of course, we try to compare it to what happened under Roman Abramovich, when a lot of players were also brought in. about, but the decisions are very smart."
After taking over Chelsea for nearly 190 million USD in the summer of 2003, Abramovich pumped about 2 billion USD to invest and recruit players to help the club rise to a position of power in the English Premier League and Europe. In his 19 years with the team, Chelsea have won the Premier League five times, the Champions League, two Europa Leagues, five FA Cups, a European Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup.
According to Drogba, Chelsea under Abramovich recruited a lot of high-class and experienced players to elevate the team and compete for titles such as Petr Cech, Andriy Shevchenko, Herman Crespo, Michael Essien, Florent Malouda or Drogba himself.
The former Ivory Coast striker also said that Chelsea now has a different strategy when "bet" on young players. Drogba then stressed that former team-mate Frank Lampard was "very difficult to manage" in the dressing room with more than 30 players, and suggested that Chelsea currently lacks personality traits who can handle difficult situations and lead. teammates in the right direction. "You need players who can take on the responsibility, bring a little bit of madness onto the pitch," he said.
Under new owner Todd Boehly, Chelsea spent a total of $ 668 million to bring in 16 players over the last two transfer windows, for the 2022-2023 season. Therefore, in the second half of the season, the Stamford Bridge owner has 31 players in the first team, although new contracts Andrey Santos and Malo Gusto have not been registered. Former coach Graham Potter once expressed concern that the quality of training sessions would be affected because there were too many players and could not find a satisfactory frame.
Yesterday, Chelsea continued to lose 0-2 to Real Madrid in the second leg of the quarter-finals at Stamford Bridge, thereby being eliminated from the Champions League with a total score of 0-4. Therefore, Chelsea is definitely empty-handed this season, having been soon eliminated from the FA Cup and League Cup and only ranked 11th in the Premier League.
Joe Cole commented that Chelsea are going through a similar situation in the 2015-2016 season, when the team finished 10th in the Premier League and was soon eliminated from the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup. The former England midfielder considers an absence from the Champions League for at least a year that can help Chelsea, citing the fact that new coach Antonio Conte immediately helped the team win the English Premier League in the 2016-2017 season. Cole also advised Chelsea "to liquidate at least 10 players by the summer of 2023 to build a stronger team from next season".
Lampard led Chelsea four games as interim manager, but lost all of them. In addition to two matches against Real, "The Blues" lost to hosts Wolves 0-1 and away team Brighton 1-2 in the English Premier League. The British coach will look for the first victory in the Chelsea match against Brentford in the 33rd round of the Premier League on April 26.
