Anelka comes home

By Parky
November 12 2005

If Henry is a cheetah, then Anelka can be best likened to a panther. He is heavier set and has the more menacing eyes. Henry has eyes that glisten with anticipation on match days, Anelka has virtually no light in those dark moody pools.

Nicolas comes onto the pitch as if he is about to face some unknown tormentor, who is following him in his nightmares. The former Paris SG, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City striker brings a certain aura of menace and at the same time vulernability with him onto the pitch. As a character he is far more intriguing than the 'light-child' that is Henry. They both have pace and they both caress the ball with the outside of the right foot at pace, yet at a pinch Henry is the slightly more finessed of the two, with also more balance. When Henry is in a good mood he will score one or two goals and go home happy, that the team have won. When he is off sorts, he will play badly and disappear from games as he has done many times in big games at European level. When Anelka is in a bad mood, he can rip any defence in the world to shreds, he for me has the nature of the true predator, in some ways like Shearer : edgy, aggressive and knows where the goal is.

It is perhaps fitting in some strange way, that Anelka has been welcomed back to the
French national side by manager Domenech, at the same time as rioting has broken out amongst the under privileged and alienated immigrant youth in France.
For Anelka is from a very similar and poor background, growing up in the, 'Plain de Nauphile' sector a very poor and ghettoised suburb of Paris. He has been out of
the French squad for three years having said to former coach Jaques Santini,
"...that he would have to get down on his knees and beg, if he wanted him to wear the blue shirt again". It is something of a miracle that he has been welcomed back, but it is also the only break Anelka has had in his life. He has had to fight for everything else!

Henry and Anelka's binary stars also twinned around Clairefontaine,
the national football academy, in the very early days, along with Trezuguet. It
can be argued the other two have so far achieved more in their careers than Nicolas. It is to his credit that the new French manager had used his memory of Nicolas from the academy days when he first knew him as a 19 year old. Missing from the 1998 squad Anelka has revealed that he couldn't bear to watch France winning the title and had to be coerced by his friends to watch the victory against Brazil.

Impressive statistics from his time in the Premier League and also a
favourite with the Arsenal and Manchester City fans, it is perhaps destiny he will
return to this league and re-instate the competition with his friend Henry. His best partner here has been Bergkamp in the 97-98 Arsenal double season. His usual baggage and pseudo-friction with management has seen him get the Fenerbache president to over-ride the club manager and get him picked for the centre-forward position, rather than on the wing where he had been playing. His strike rate of five goals in seven matches has made him the new fans hero, and it will difficult for Souness to pry him away in January. But one thing has to be said, he may be surly and difficult, but he is a Souness type player primarily because of his intense self-belief (very much like the boss) who will score for fun wherever he plays.

Now at the age of 26 and already having been part of Real Madrid's
European Cup winning side at the age of 21, there is a feeling amongst those in the know, that finally Anelka will stake his claim - for a place amongst the greats of his generation. What we can take for granted is that it will be interesting as night falls and the panther comes down from the hills.

Needless to say he scored on his return to the Fort-de-France. As he
came off being subbed in the 70-min, there was a moment when he looked up into the stands, blinking slightly as¨a player would on their debut. I had the feeling he was checking that his return was real, the crowd left him in no doubt. They say life is harsh in his old neighbourhood and only god gives second chances.


Parky