Matt Oldfield


Referees, foreign owners and international duty are the three biggest causes of managerial headaches. When players go away to represent their countries, bosses worry about injuries they might pick up, jet lag that might affect their fitness and more and more in recent years, excuses players might come up with to go AWOL, extending their stay at home by an extra few days.

Of all international football, however, the Africans Nation Cup is the one peddling most Ibuprofen. Unlike most international matches, which are organised around domestic European leagues, this tournament has plonked itself down in the middle of January every other year and refuses to budge.

15 years ago, an African continental competition would have had little to no impact on English football. Daniel Amokachi and Tony Yeboah might have disappeared for a while, but rarely did anyone notice. The last ten years in particular, however, have seen a phenomenal increase in the amount of Africans plying their trade in the Premier League. And not just any old Africans playing for any old Premier League team. In Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Adebayor to name but a few, Africans make up some of the very biggest stars in the league.

Manchester City must be smiling smugly; Adebayor will not be going to Angola, as Togo again failed to qualify. Chelsea and Arsenal, on the other hand, must be twitching nervously at the prospect already. But whereas Arsenal face the prospect of losing often bit-part players Emmanuel Eboue, Johan Djourou and Alex Song, Chelsea could lose first-team regulars including Essien, Drogba, Salomon Kalou and John Obi Mikel.

January is a bad time to be losing players. After a hectic Christmas-New Year schedule, the last thing the players need is to be thrust into another important tournament. Also, in English football, January is a key time for turning a club’s fortunes around. A few wins at the start of the year and the title looks a lot closer, but equally a few defeats and relegation starts seem real. Manchester United are the champions of early New Year form and the titles they have won indicate how crucial this period can often be. Many might think that it is far too easy to overestimate the impact of a two week tournament. However, the problems of the African Cup of Nations start before the 10th January and the consequences often continue well into February.

Chelsea are certainly in a tricky situation. With Manchester United slipping up against Liverpool and Chelsea, this season’s title race shows every sign of going down to the wire and the Blues cannot afford to take their foot off the gas at any point. Will they be able survive without their four big Africans even for just two weeks? Essien and Drogba are stonewall starters at Stamford Bridge and Kalou and Mikel are generally strong rotation players. Do Chelsea really have enough strength in depth?

Losing two strikers does not look good but the Chelsea’s 5-0 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers recently gave the Blues hope they can cope, and Carlo Ancelotti won’t be despairing. On his day, Nicolas Anelka is a world-class replacement for Drogba, as shown during large parts of last season.  Anelka will be supported only by the raw pairing of Daniel Sturridge and Franco Di Santo if he returns from his loan spell at Blackburn. Malouda will probably fill Kalou’s versatile role but the African’s work-rate and knack of scoring important goals will be sorely missed. Kalou is now a key component in the Chelsea attack, offering something different from Drogba’s power and Anelka’s understated energy.

Of the four players missing, Michael Essien may, however, be the most significant for Chelsea’s title challenge. The Ghanaian is one of the world’s best anchoring midfielders and he has a thunderous shot when called upon. Without Essien’s ball winning in front of the defence, Lampard, Ballack and co could struggle. Mikel is Chelsea’s only other true defensive midfielder and without both of them, Chelsea could find it difficult to break down good teams in the middle of the park. Formation as well as personnel could have to change, with Ancelotti likely to use a defender such as Juliano Belletti or Alex in a more advanced role. Not an ideal solution and a situation that could encourage Ancelotti to enter the transfer market.

So with a title race to win, Chelsea will be hoping for an African Nations Cup full of shocks, where big guns Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria all suffer early exits. Unfortunately, the chances of that are fairly slim.

As the weeks left until Drogba and co board the airplane to Angola tick away, Carlo Ancelotti must be sizing up the transfer market. The recent freezing of the Blues transfer ban – pending an appeal – has allowed the Italian the option of dusting off Roman Abramovich’s chequebook to ensure their title challenge does not lose its momentum. The question all Chelsea fans are asking is, will he use it?

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 Photo Courtesy: stefanmeisel