Sunday, January 21, 2018

Chelsea’s Plan B of target man and crosses may prove no plan at all | Sean Ingle

Football | The Guardian
Chelsea’s Plan B of target man and crosses may prove no plan at all | Sean Ingle
Champions’ hunt for old-school reinforcements may not bring the desired returns if they start to rely on desperate crosses into the penalty area again

How times change. At the dawn of the Premier League the news that Chelsea wanted a rugged English striker to hurl himself at crosses, preferably after smashing through a centre-half in the brusque style of Kerry Dixon or Mick Harford, would barely have caused a ripple. Yet when it emerged last week that they were lining up a £20m bid for Andy Carroll – and then started making eyes at Peter Crouch – their fans were entitled to check their calendars to make sure it was not 1 April.

Much of this, of course, was down to the incongruity of Chelsea chasing after a 29-year-old who, according to Physioroom.com, had eight injuries last season – and then, when he inevitably knackered his ankle (again), doubling down on Crouch, who has scored only 10 league goals in the last two and a half seasons and turns 37 next week.

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