Anelka is not good enough

Filed in archive Players on September 22, 2008

I have never been a fan of Nicolas Anelka so I know I am totally biased against him. Actually, that isn't totally true, when he was a teenager at Arsenal I was as impressed with him as was everybody else. It is since he left Arsenal that he has been such a disappointment.

Watching Chelsea play against Manchester United on Sunday, I couldn't help but feel that Anelka looked totally out of place. He simply did not look good enough to be playing in that company.

You have to ask if he would displace Adebayor or Van Persie at Arsenal, Torres or Keane at Liverpool or Berbatov, Rooney or tevez at United. I think the answer is an emphatic no.

In fact, you could go on. Would Villa, Manchester City, West Ham, Everton, Blackburn, Fulham, Middlebrough, Portsmouth, Wigan, Bolton, Newcastle or Tottenham, select him ahead of Carew, Agbonlahor, Jo, Robinho, Ashton, Yakubu, Santa Cruz, Zamora, Johnson, Alves, Defoe, Crouch, Heskey, Davies, Owen or Bent?

I would say that the answer is still no. Less emphatic, but still no.

Can anyone explain how Anelka finds himself in the starting line-up for potentially the strongest team in the country? I certainly can't.