Just watching the Chelsea Barca game and there are obvious comparisons in style between Drogba and Our Yann. And yet I hate Drogba. Do you think that if Kermit was an opposition player, we'd find him unbearable? Is it just that where he's on our side we see him going down all the time as brave and heroic? Imagine being forced to support Drogba just by virtue of the fact that he plays for your team? I don't believe Yann has the same intent as Didier at all - I'm just interested in the comparison (or indeed the contrast).
You don't hear RDM or any of the previous Chelsea managers commenting on the battering that Drogba took. In reality League 1 is far more physical than the premier league and it should be wrong to compare the imaginary battering that Drogba takes to the actual physical contact which Yann bears the brunt of. Next season will, of course, see us in a higher league where the actual physical contact is less (but the physios are on more!) and we should see a difference in the style of play and the delivery from Yann. My feeling is that he could be devastatingly good in the Championship when he is given more freedom of movement and the style of play will (hopefully) be more along the ground than the long ball game which he has borne the brunt of this last season.
The key difference between Yann and Drogba is that Yann actually gets hurt, true...he makes the most of it sometimes, but seemingly only so the referee actually notices and gives him some protection. I've never seen Drogba with a bandage on...yet Kermorgant hasn't even played a full season for us and he's still appeared like an actor from a low budget 'The Mummy' film at least 4 or 5 times.
I can't help liking Drogba. Sure he can be a complete tart and the theatrics really depress me. But when he is good he is awesome. And the night he berated the ref I laughed. But you could see his point. Yann is a proper bloke. He goes down because he gets thumped. And thumped again. On several occasions this season I have worried that he'd lose the plot, deck someone and get sent off but he's always stayed, just, on the right side of the line despite the provocation. Total star and should be the first name on on the team sheet next season. Hard as nails but he's probably the sort of bloke off the pitch who breeds guinea pigs and reads philosophy. Remind you of anyone?
