Roma manager, Jose Mourinho has revealed that former Ivorian striker, Didier Drogba, had a difficult period adjusting to life at Chelsea.
According to the Portuguese tactician, the striker couldn’t score or lead the attack initially when he joined the Blues from French Ligue1 outfit, Marseille, in June 2004.
The former Chelsea coach said he was lucky to have won three Premier League titles with Drogba who later became a renowned goal poacher.
He said the Ivorian is forever one of his favourite players that he has coached.
On his Instagram page, Mourinho wrote, “20 July 2004 I signed this striker. He couldn’t score, he couldn’t work, he couldn’t fight, he couldn’t lead. I was lucky to win 3 premier leagues with this guy. Forever one of my gang @didierdrogba.”
Mourinho: Why Drogba Wasn’t An Instant Success At Chelsea
European Super League Dead On Arrival - Drogba
James Agberebi
James is a sport content creator and also does analysis on sports.
Also, James has covered international matches involving both Nigeria’s men and women national teams.
X handle (formerly Twitter) @james_agberebi
Facebook : James Agberebi
Related Posts
5 Comments
He destroyed attacking prowess of Mikel by converting him to defensive midfielder and this was to the detriment of being a prolific attacking midfielder.
There wasn’t much gap between Messi and Mikel at FIFA World Cup U.20 before you knew it few months after World Cup the gap between the aforementioned players was incomparable and unbelievable respectively as a result of Jose’s rubbish on Mikel
@AFUYE you said it all. Just wondering which coach, after watching the performance of Mikel at that U-20 World cup will convert him to a defensive role? That’s unfair, that’s murder. Imagine Ronaldinho being asked to play as a defensive midfielder. Mikel agreed because he doesn’t want to waste the opportunity and that he succeeded shows his versatility, but we did not see the best of Mikel Obi.
I dont agree with you my bro, mikel was never an attacking midfielder, neither was he a prolific one, mikel obi was a central midfieder for the flying eagles, siasia played three midfielders in that 2005 flying eagles team, keita, mikel and late isaac promise, keita and mikel stays deep while promise advances, more
Mikel was also not that prolific as you are feeling, he had two or three assist and one goal from penalty, the distance between him and mess is big in that turnament its because there was nobody to fill the gaps between them that is why you think mikel was close to messi, mikel dont score goals and he is not a good dribbler, how was he a prolific attacking midfielder,
However mikel was a verry good central midfielder who can dictate from deep positions, he is verry hardworking in the midfield and posesses the midfield against any team if he is on his goodday, mikel strenght is his ability to control the ball and guard it off opponent allowing players to take positions and also gives him Time to take good decisions, mikel also use to have good eyes for long passes, he is also verry strong on the ball and hardly loses the ball, these are the quality that made him come second in the turnament fabrigas played, thanks to siasia, because the entire squad was good.
An attacking midfielder must know how to shoot the ball, they can dribble from right wing and left wing, a normal attacking midfielder can play as a winger, it requires high level of speed and skills to be considered a prolific attacking midfielder, mikel was lucky to join chelsea when morinho was there, because morinho was very patient with him, the premier league level was too high for his experience at that time, coming from a Norwegian league and also staying for a year without playing football matches, chelsea had big midfielders and mikel was no where close to them, beside that the premier league was too fast for his slow stile of play, morinho been a coach who likes to justify his transfers, decided to utilise him as a defensive midfieder, to under study essien and makalele, which i think improved him alot and it was added to his central midfield experience which made mikel one of the most sucessfull Nigeria players in premier leagues despite scoring close to no goal, morinho has to be praised for mikels carea, if mikel was a natural attacking midfielder converted he could still be able to prove it even from a defensive position, essien posses more danger than mikel obi, ngolo kante, yayatore, gerrard, onazi etc are all defensive midfieders who became popular by their attacking ability, victor moses, or osayi samuel are converted wingers to rightback, you can still see how they poses danger upfront.
The only natural attacking midfielder we have gotten ever since jayjay and wilson oruma retired, is alex iwobi, he is the defination of prolific attacking midfielder, bang goals i think already have 11 goals for eagles and about 8 assists, we are hoping for another one, the only option i have seen so far in my scouting is tosin kehinde, if we are lucky to have olise in our team then we are good, we never had good attacking midfieder to be honest, after okocha retired. we have good central and difensive midfielders but we hardly produce good attacking midfielders, kalu uche alwas took that AM role when amudu was incharge, sunday mba did verry well in keshi team for one turnament and couldnt go further, a player that had quality but wasnt given much opportunities was rabiu ali of kano pillers, etebo was promising but finally settled for a defensive and central midfield, youth players like haruna,rabiu, and ajagun all disapointed us at the mainstage, i pray iwobi remains consistent, if joins intermilan will be good for us. an additional Am like tosin kehinde will do us much good. Manchester United brought up, he too good.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PAjSkXNs8eg&pp=ygUNdG9zaW4ga2VoaW5kZQ%3D%3D.
Collins ID, Your analysis is very correct.
This story you have written and according to the headline, please tell me the “WHY”!. You said Muorinho wants to tell us why Drogba was not an instant hit….but I can not see any “why” in the story.