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"The Possibilities Are Better" + Video

Russian Railways Cup
By Since66 August 7 2008
Yes, yes, yes I know this article is late, but you know what they say - better late than never!! Chelsea rounded off their pre-season friendlies with a resounding, ney outstanding demolition of Serie A's AC Milan. The star of the show was Nicolas Anelka who helped himself to a four goal haul including the perfect hat-trick and the question on everybody's lips is, has Anelka been re-born?

 Anelka 1

When he joined Chelsea last January his arrival was considered an extremely good bit of business. He scored his first goal at Wigan in the FA Cup and the expectations of perhaps 'nicking' the title from Man Utd were looking very, very good.

After that, Anelka did nothing and his miserable time in Blue was compounded by missing that penalty in the Champions League final.

On tour, Anelka scored six goals and played the way he played in his time at Bolton as a striker, not on the right, not on the left as Scolari put it when asked about Anelka's contribution. Although he left Bolton in January Anelka ended up as Bolton's top scorer with eleven goals.

Anelka 2

Chelsea made five changes (from the Moscow game) to the starting line-up. In came Ivanovic, Alex, Ballack, SWP and Malouda and it was Frank Lampard who scored the opening goal inside three minutes with a curved free-kick that went through everybody including the legs of the hapless Milan goalkeeper, Kalac.

Kalac was also later to gift Anelka's 2nd goal as he air-kicked a back pass and Anelka raced on to stick the ball into an empty net. Oh dear, oh dear.

Scolari's assessment before he boarded the plane home was positive. He said, "The possibilities are better for the game against Portsmouth than they were before.

"I am happy because I saw players go up in their level from training and the last game.

"It was not the normal Milan, they had four or five players out, big players with quality, but our team played very well and the performance today was better than the four earlier games.

On Anelka, Scolari said, "This game was important for Anelka but more important for us - the fans, the coach and the other players who will have more confidence in him.

Anelka 3

"Today was good not because he scored four goals but because he played more free and with more quality than in other games.

"He was playing against a top club and to get four goals against Milan, for his confidence it is fantastic and Anelka today and the last game played more inside the penalty area than before.

"That is where I asked him to play and where I need him, not right and left as before, because we have one striker and that is Anelka.


"Malouda and Wright-Phillips, I saw today in their games that they closed more inside (when we didn't have the ball) and more open when we had the ball."

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS - MILAN 0 CHELSEA 5

http://ifutbal.com/videos/11528/chelsea-vs-ac-milan-

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