salomon kalou knows chelsea fc have had "a few bad results" but hopes a rousing performance against mšk Žilina will help them "get back to how we were at the start of the season".
chelsea fc forward salomon kalou sees tuesday's uefa champions league game against mšk Žilina as an opportunity for the london club to regain lost momentum after a turbulent few weeks.
while another point would guarantee pacesetters chelsea top spot in group f, for kalou, there is a more pressing reason to deliver against the slovakian titleholders at stamford bridge – to make amends for a run of three defeats in the blues' last four premier league outings.
"we've had a few bad results but that's football," said the ivory coast international, whose side nonetheless boast a 100% group stage record. "there are moments in football when you have injured players, poor form and bad results, but we have to work on that and come back stronger."
after a positive start to their english championship defence, carlo ancelotti's men have slipped up three times in 13 days, including a surprise 3-0 home defeat by sunderland afc on 14 november – their heaviest stamford bridge reverse in eight years. however, kalou is confident they can put those results behind them and regain their spark – beginning against group f back markers Žilina, a team yet to pick up a point.
"we have to win games," the 25-year-old said. "we enjoy playing football and working with the manager. right now we are having a difficult period, but we were playing well at the beginning of the season. i think we have to come back to that level and enjoy every game. if we start doing this again i'm sure we'll get back to how we were at the start of the season.
"we were winning by four and three," continued the ex-feyenoord front man, who has scored five premier league goals in ten appearances this term. "there is always a moment in a season where you can become tired and don't play so well. it's part of football. it is impossible to stay at the same level all season, there are always ups and downs. right now we are little bit down but we have to keep the confidence. we are the same players we were at the beginning of the season, so we don't have to worry. we will keep our composure and not lose our focus. i think tomorrow night is an important game for us as we look to get back to form."
the home side recovered from babatounde bello's fine goal to take the points thanks to daniel sturridge and florent malouda.
a youthful chelsea fc side needed a late winner from florent malouda to secure a fifth consecutive uefa champions league victory as they finished top of group f.
second-half goals from daniel sturridge and florent malouda came to the rescue of carlo ancelotti's reshuffled side, who fell behind to babatounde bello's fine 19th-minute strike for mšk Žilina. the visitors were unrecognisable from the side that suffered a record 7-0 home defeat against olympique de marseille on matchday 4, and looked set to earn their first point of the campaign despite sturridge's equaliser six minutes after half-time, only for malouda to pounce with four minutes of regulation time remaining.
ancelotti made seven changes to the side that beat fc spartak moskva 4-1 on matchday 4, notably handing a full debut to 17-year-old midfielder josh mceachran and giving starts to defenders patrick van aanholt and jeffrey bruma, with ross turnbull between the posts. there was an understandable lack of the usual fluidity from the hosts in the opening stages, and the visitors took full advantage to snatch an unexpected advantage. picking up the ball outside the area, bello twice swapped passes neatly with róbert jež before steering a shot past turnbull with his right foot.
it was just what the game needed, giving tomáš majtán the confidence to ghost past two chelsea defenders before unleashing a vicious angled shot which turnbull did well to block at his near post. at the other end, sturridge and malouda both tested martin dúbravka and the latter was particularly unlucky to see a thunderous 20-metre effort deflected away for a corner.
ancelotti replaced gaël kakuta with salomon kalou at the interval and the ivorian only needed six minutes to make an impact, his cross from the left somehow finding its way through for sturridge to rifle in from an acute angle at the far post. with pressure mounting, chelsea promptly set about looking for a winner and very nearly found it a few minutes later. dúbravka was at full stretch to tip didier drogba's angled free-kick from the left on to the crossbar and branislav ivanović could only head over when bruma pulled the ball back.
van aanholt had no better luck when his rasping shot hit the post, but chelsea's experienced heads secured the points with time running out. substitute nicolas anelka sent over the cross from the left, drogba headed firmly down and malouda stuck out a leg to guide the ball in.
yardımcı hakemler: alain hoxha (aut), mario strudl (aut)
4. hakem: thomas gangl (aut)
çizgi hakemleri: bernhard brugger (aut), oliver drachta (aut)
chelsea: ross turnbull (gk), branislav ivanović, ramires, didier drogba (c), florent malouda, paulo ferreira, daniel sturridge (dk. 74 nicolas anelka), patrick van aanholt, jeffrey bruma, gaël kakuta (dk. 46 salomon kalou), joshua mceachran (dk. 90+2 jacob mellis)
teknik direktör: carlo ancelotti (ita)
Žilina: martin dúbravka (gk), stanislav angelovič, mário pečalka, Ľubomír guldan, tomáš majtán (dk. 85 pavol poliaček), róbert jež (c), tomáš oravec (dk. 65 momodou ceesay), jozef piaček, babatounde bello, roman gergel, admir vladavić (dk. 90 emil rilke)
teknik direktör: pavel hapal (cze)
goller: dk. 19 babatounde bello (0-1) dk. 51 daniel sturridge (1-1) dk. 86 florent malouda (2-1)
1. chelsea fc...5...5...0...0...14...3...11...15 2. olympique de marseille...5...3...0...2...11...3...8...9 3. fc spartak moskva...5...2...0...3...5...9...-4...6 4. mšk Žilina...5...0...0...5...2...17...-15...0
birçok insan gibi ben de cl'deki son maçında evinde marsilya'dan 7 gol yiyen zilina'nın bu maçta beşiktaş'ın 8-0'lık rekorunu kıracağını düşünüyordum.
ilk yarı 1-0 zilina bitince şaşırdım haliyle. ikinci yarıda chelsea sağlı sollu bastırıyor ama bir türlü gol atamıyordu. zaten 2. yarıda zilina kalecisi ve kale direkleri adeta dövüldü. ama chelsea bir şekilde 2 gol atıp maçı almasını bildi...
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