Chelsea rely on speed king to lift Shevchenko.
[Independent.co.uk] Chelsea have revolutionised their efforts to get the best out of £31m striker Andrei Shevchenko by employing the former British Olympic sprinter Darren Campbell to help the Ukrainian regain his explosive pace. Despite Shevchenko's indifferent first season in the Premier League, the club are determined to get the former European footballer of the year back to his very best. Shevchenko, 31, was on the bench for Wednesday's 2-0 victory over Schalke 04 in the Champions League and has not been a major part of Avram Grant's plans since he took over the club last month, starting just two games under the new manager. However, the Israeli was first brought to Chelsea on the ticket that he could get the best out of Shevchenko. Since taking over Grant has promised that Shevchenko does have a future at the club and is understood to be supportive of the scheme to help the striker regain the sharpness that has been lacking from his game since he left Milan.
The job of rehabilitating a player whose reputation has nosedived since he came to Chelsea falls to Campbell, 34, who is well-known as a lifelong Manchester United fan as well as a decent former amateur footballer. His qualities as a sprint coach are not in doubt. He was twice an Olympic medallist, winning the silver in the 200 metres in Sydney in 2000 and a gold in the 4x100m relay team in Athens four years later. He has worked with Shevchenko at both the club's training ground and the striker's home in Surrey. The sessions began in the last few weeks of Jose Mourinho's reign and Shevchenko is believed to be already seeing a difference in his pace and sharpness. When he joined the club in the summer of 2006, Shevchenko brought a personal trainer with him from Italy although he has since returned. The player himself is understood to be enthusiastic about the new approach and has got on well with Campbell.
Their focus has been on the short bursts of pace which were the hallmark of Shevchenko's successful seven years at Milan. The coaching with Campbell has been in addition to the work that Shevchenko does with the rest of the first-team squad.
The use of Campbell was never really approved by Mourinho but his subsequent introduction after the departure of the Portuguese manager shows that Grant is willing to try new ideas and practices. While Mourinho was determined to control every element of the team's preparation, without interference from beyond his cabal of Portuguese assistants, Grant has been much more open-minded. With the appointment of assistant Henk ten Cate and first-team scout Michael Emenalo, his back-room team is taking shape. Whether that will quell the dissent among certain elements in Grant's squad remains to be seen.
26 ottobre, 2007
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3 commenti:
Al di là del titolo ad effetto, onestamente non vedo grandi news. Se un problema atletico effettivamente esiste, ben venga il velocista olimpionico come personal trainer. Ma poi si legge che Campbell era già stato ingaggiato sotto Mourinho, che peraltro non voleva intrusi nel suo clan lusitano (tutto il mondo è paese). E dunque, dov'è lo scoop? L'ennesima esclusione di Champions ha per me il solo significato di una parola fine già scritta. È l'augurio che faccio al Balon d'Or, oltre che una speranza lecita per il giugno 2008.
Provoca una indicibile rabbia vedere il nostro Sheva trattato come un appestato dal vecchio e dal nuovo trainer. Non è un Vieri oltre l'ultimo sgocciolo ma un giocatore ancora essenziale sebbene non più potente come due anni fa.Mi auguro di rivederlo in Italia con la speranza che la dignità lo induca a rifiutare una perfida proposta di Onestone Fernandel
danileone
SHEVCHENKO GETTING UP TO SPEED
Tuesday October 30, 2007
The former British Olympic sprinter Darren Campbell, the man charged with conjuring the best out of Andriy Shevchenko, says the £31m striker's fitness has already improved and believes the Ukrainian is benefiting from a more open-minded approach adopted by the new Chelsea manager, Avram Grant.
The Premiership club recruited Campbell, twice an Olympic medallist, to help Shevchenko regain some of the explosive pace he enjoyed while flourishing at his previous club, Milan. "Under Jose Mourinho, he felt that he had the best men around him and that is fair enough," said Campbell. "The new manager at Chelsea has been amazing. He is open-minded about my work, but he can see the effect it has had on Shevchenko.
"I'm just trying to work a bit of magic with Andriy. We are talking about a world-class footballer, not a sprinter and we have to remember that. We are not trying to turn him into an Olympic champion. There are a number of Chelsea players who now want to work with me because of my success with Sheva. Last week a current member of the England squad called me and asked me to do some work with him."
Shevchenko has struggled with the pace of English football since his high-profile arrival from Milan in the summer of 2006. He has been working with Campbell at the club's Cobham training complex and at the player's Surrey home.
"It is all about those first 30 yards, sprinting more efficiently," said Campbell. "He has told me he feels fitter and sharper. Under the Mourinho regime, he was not allowed to do things that he was allowed to do when he was at Milan - he had a sprint coach there and he worked with him. "I watched Sheva a lot last season from the stands and I knew that I could make a difference if I worked with him. He feels 100% better now. It's important that the Chelsea fans get off his back. He is a great player and he wants to work hard."
da: football.guardian.co.uk
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