Tough times for Chelsea’s Drogba – is he really that bad?

Didier Drogba is a great striker. There is no doubt that he is one of the best. If you ask central defenders throughout the Premier League who they would least like to play against, he may well top the list.

Power and pace

Power, pace, ability on the ground, ability in the air, strength and, of course, the ability to fall over on the slightest of contacts.

There we have most people’s perception of the thirty year-old Ivory Coast striker in a sentence. Great player, but not a very nice bloke. He’s got a temper, he’s a bit of a diver and he throws coins at fans!

Impression

Of course, we all form this impression of the man without actually knowing the slightest thing about him. All we know is what we see on the pitch. Drogba became a big star at Marseille where he spent one season, scoring a goal every other game and helping them to the Uefa Cup final.

That season earned him a £24 million move to Chelsea in the summer of 2004. Since then, he has continued to score one goal every two games and he has helped them to two Premier League titles, an FA Cup win and two League Cup wins. In the season 2006-07 he was the top scorer in England and was voted African player of the year.

Found things tough

The last few weeks and months have not been easy for Drogba who has revealed that he has found things tough in an interview with Sky Sports.

The Chelsea striker has gone through a really difficult time since the end of last season which culminated with him being sent off in the UEFA Champions League final defeat to Manchester United. His petulant slap around Nemanja Vidic’s face (brave and stupid move!) led to his dismissal and him missing from the Chelsea line-up of penalty takers at the end of the game.

He then suffered an injury which meant he did not play until September, by which point Nicolas Anelka had established himself in the side and had become the Premier League’s top scorer.

Violent conduct

Then upon his return he was charged with violent conduct by the Football Association for throwing a coin back at Burnley fans during their Carling Cup clash at Stamford Bridge earlier this month.

The interview was conducted prior to the alleged meeting between Drogba and the officials from Inter, so now you can add the furore concerning that alleged meeting to the list!

Drogba talked to Sky Sports about the last few months,

“It has been really tough in the last six months. But I’ve been through difficult moments before, so I know how to get myself out of this. Too many bad things have been said on me in the last few weeks, I don’t really want to speak about it; I feel like what I’ve done [the coin throwing] is really bad. So it is better for me to keep quiet on that and to be back on the pitch and do what I know best.”

Drogba knows that he has acted badly and made mistakes, but he feels that some of the criticism he receives is unjust.

“It’s not my fault. I’m a football player and a public person; to be criticised, okay – but I think sometimes we need to be fair. It’s easy to say Drogba is guilty for the loss in Moscow instead to say Chelsea were unlucky. I had to take the blame. I was really disappointed as there was only a few minutes to go, once again I don’t know how I put myself in this situation during a game you can do something you don’t realise. People say I would have taken the fifth penalty and we would have won the game, but I may have missed it anyway – you learn a lot from this sort of situation and that is what life is about – you have to learn and I am learning every day. It’s difficult – from this coin situation, from the red card. But I can’t lose and I won’t lose my happiness; it’s not possible.”

If it is proved that Drogba did hold a clandestine meeting with officials from Inter, he will face the type of investigation that is partly to blame for the reason that Ashley Cole is so universally disliked. That will be another real test of his ability to deal with the less pleasant side of being a well known footballer.

Terrorising

Whatever happens, as a football fan, I want to see Drogba on the pitch and terrorising defenders. That is why he is famous, not because of his personality but because he has a fantastic ability at playing football.

I hope all the fuss dies down and Drogba can quickly get back to what he does best. Away from the pitch Drogba is actually well known for his charity work and he was appointed by the United Nations Development Programme as a Goodwill Ambassador in 2007. He is married to and has three children. In other words, he isn’t a bad man, he is just a footballer.

Whatever you may think about Drogba the man, Drogba the footballer is an awesome proposition.