Salomon Kalou

When Kuyt and Kalou left Feyenoord, like most people expected Kuyt to take little time to adapt. Kuyt was made for the EPL. By the way he hasn't shown top-shape yet (at his best he would have scored 2 yesterday).

I rate Salomon very high, but wasn't sure if the EPL was the right choice. What amazes me most is the amount of playing time he gets. I expected him to get less playing time & perform better (I haven't seen all Chelsea matches).


My first question: Why does Jose play Kalou this much? Is he doing so well during training? He probably will, but that will not be enough for a manager like Jose. Is Jose so convinced of his qualities, that he wants him to mature asap, taking average eprformances for granted as some kind of investment? Kalou & Drogba seem to get on fine (Didier acts like his aolder brother), does this influnce selections?

So far I've only seen brief moments in which Salomon shows what he's capable of. He's not happy too. I haven't seen him smile this little since his bro (& the Ivory Coast team) were jailed by the Military. Kalou was always smiling (even when not playing that well).

Why hasn't he come up with the goods yet? Dunno, it's not because he lacks pace or skill, just the more physcial nature of the EPL doesn't seem to be the (only) reason. He was not always that alert when playing for Feyenoord, and he hasn't exactly an over my dead body mentality, too nice, kind of expected that would be more of a problem. Could have a little to do with tactics as well, at Feyenoord, a positional passing game was played in order to get the ball to wingers, the game was more focussed on getting the ball to him and giving him 2 meters of space.

Wonder what others (especially Chelsea fans) think. I would be amazed he still keeps appearing in the line-up.

By the way wouldn't mind Kalou at Arsenal. Though La Liga might be better for him.

By the we you need a Feyenoord striker to be a EPL top 4 side. When will Jol table a surprise bid for Julio Ricardo Cruz?

Kalou is a goal threat, which SWP isnt, and if Joe Cole were fit Kalou would be on the bench. We all know Jose doesnt want to play Sheva so only choice is Kalou

Target Man wrote:Kalou is a goal threat, which SWP isnt, and if Joe Cole were fit Kalou would be on the bench. We all know Jose doesnt want to play Sheva so only choice is Kalou

Kalou >> SWP totally agree. Yep Cole is really missing for Chelsea. I rate Kalou higher than him (on intrinsic qualities, Joe is very skilled, but no way near Salomon), but Kalou has not delivered in the EPL yet, while Cole knows what it takes.

Wonder if not playing Sheva has anything to do with Drogba (preferring Kalou).

Might be that, but there is only going to be one CF which is the Drogba and i doubt Sheva will provide any width and he lacks pace, so the ideal situation is playing Kalou.

Target Man wrote:Kalou is a goal threat, which SWP isnt, and if Joe Cole were fit Kalou would be on the bench. We all know Jose doesnt want to play Sheva so only choice is Kalou

it might have something to do with the fact he hasnt been played regularly....

at Man City he was class....if he is played week in week out and gets his confidence back he is a goal threat..for City he would score from 30 yards sometimes!!

Chelsea didnt pay £21m for a shit player

Deaño-WHUFC wrote:

Target Man wrote:Kalou is a goal threat, which SWP isnt, and if Joe Cole were fit Kalou would be on the bench. We all know Jose doesnt want to play Sheva so only choice is Kalou

it might have something to do with the fact he hasnt been played regularly....

at Man City he was class....if he is played week in week out and gets his confidence back he is a goal threat..for City he would score from 30 yards sometimes!!

Chelsea didnt pay £21m for a shit player

it's way overpriced though. I know much better right wingers for half the price, e.g. Castelen. There were lots of Gunners, who wanted SWP. I never wanted him, the only good enough thing (for Arsenal) is his father. Which should be no reason for buying him. Performing well at City, where you can play on the break a lot, is different from playing for a top team.

jonathan de guzman wrote:

Deaño-WHUFC wrote:

Target Man wrote:Kalou is a goal threat, which SWP isnt, and if Joe Cole were fit Kalou would be on the bench. We all know Jose doesnt want to play Sheva so only choice is Kalou

it might have something to do with the fact he hasnt been played regularly....

at Man City he was class....if he is played week in week out and gets his confidence back he is a goal threat..for City he would score from 30 yards sometimes!!

Chelsea didnt pay £21m for a shit player

it's way overpriced though. I know much better right wingers for half the price, e.g. Castelen. There were lots of Gunners, who wanted SWP. I never wanted him, the only good enough thing (for Arsenal) is his father. Which should be no reason for buying him. Performing well at City, where you can play on the break a lot, is different from playing for a top team.

he should be able to play better with better players around him.....

SWP is only being slated because of his form at Chelsea....if he went to Arsenal he would've carried on his City form and would be a fantastic player....even going to Spurs,West Ham or Newcastle SWP would be great....its because hes at the club who waste players!

Speaking of SWP- he was a disgrace yesterday - falling like a sack of shit everytime he gets near a Liverpool player - he's spent far too much time with Robben & Co.

Deaño-WHUFC wrote:

jonathan de guzman wrote:

Deaño-WHUFC wrote:

Target Man wrote:Kalou is a goal threat, which SWP isnt, and if Joe Cole were fit Kalou would be on the bench. We all know Jose doesnt want to play Sheva so only choice is Kalou

it might have something to do with the fact he hasnt been played regularly....

at Man City he was class....if he is played week in week out and gets his confidence back he is a goal threat..for City he would score from 30 yards sometimes!!

Chelsea didnt pay £21m for a shit player

it's way overpriced though. I know much better right wingers for half the price, e.g. Castelen. There were lots of Gunners, who wanted SWP. I never wanted him, the only good enough thing (for Arsenal) is his father. Which should be no reason for buying him. Performing well at City, where you can play on the break a lot, is different from playing for a top team.

he should be able to play better with better players around him.....

SWP is only being slated because of his form at Chelsea....if he went to Arsenal he would've carried on his City form and would be a fantastic player....even going to Spurs,West Ham or Newcastle SWP would be great....its because hes at the club who waste players!

He's wasted for sure. And I do think he could be an asset to lots of clubs, don't think he is skilled enough to play Arsenal's game (positonal passing game). If Arsenal would play differently we could use him, but currently not. Having said that Freddy L ain't exactly skilled either, but he is positionally very good.

Grim wrote:Speaking of SWP- he was a disgrace yesterday - falling like a sack of shit everytime he gets near a Liverpool player - he's spent far too much time with Robben & Co.

What Robben & SWP have in common is too little awareness of players around them. Robben constantly looks at his own boots & goes for own glory to often (because he doesn't see options around him). SWP often makes wrong choices.

jonathan de guzman wrote:

Target Man wrote:Kalou is a goal threat, which SWP isnt, and if Joe Cole were fit Kalou would be on the bench. We all know Jose doesnt want to play Sheva so only choice is Kalou

Kalou >> SWP totally agree. Yep Cole is really missing for Chelsea. I rate Kalou higher than him (on intrinsic qualities, Joe is very skilled, but no way near Salomon), but Kalou has not delivered in the EPL yet, while Cole knows what it takes.

Wonder if not playing Sheva has anything to do with Drogba (preferring Kalou).

It's got a lot to do with Cole's injury. And Kalou may well be more skillfull technically (i.e. at dribbling) than Cole, but tactically he is miles off the Englishman, who was probably the best attacking midfielder in the league last season.

Kalou spends too much time beating people and not enough time finding the right positions and spaces. He'll learn, but right now Cole would be ahead of him for Chelsea and rightly so.

Should have gone to valencia after his first season with feyenoord but opted to stay in Holland. At the time valencia had no established strikers, he'd be probably be leading the attack with David villa now had he gone their.

SWP doesn't lack a goal threat he just doesn't suit chelsea's style.

In his last season at Man City he got 11 goals from the right wing in a 4-4-2.

SWP relies on pacy counter attacks though unlike Kalou who I think is much more tactically versatile

I think it's just desperation from Mourinho because of Shevchenko's poor form.