Kalidou Koulibaly in full doubt
Announced as one of the future defensive monsters of the Premier League by joining Chelsea after eight years in Naples, Kalidou Koulibaly, 31, experienced a delay in ignition, between the change of coach and physical glitches.
"
This is also the beauty of football, I arrived with a coach who wanted me at all costs and he left
", he explained at the beginning of October to Corriere della Sera, in reference to the brutal dismissal of Thomas Tuchel who saw in him the successor of Antonio Rüdiger who left for Real Madrid.
“
Tuchel and Potter play with a three-man defense.
In Napoli, I was used to a four-man defense.
It's a new string to my bow.
We never stop learning
,” Koulibaly commented in the Italian newspaper.
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He also added that former Blues, Didier Drogba and Gianfranco Zola, had "
warned him that it would be difficult for (him), and it was
".
Potter had been very complimentary about the player though.
“
He impressed me a lot.
As a person, he is very honest and he understands why he had to wait a bit to play
, ”he assured before his first start in the Champions League against AC Milan at Stamford Bridge.
“
I know my time will come, we have a lot of matches.
I give everything in training.
I'm a hard worker, when I'm not playing I put all my energy into training
“Koulibaly had confirmed before this match.
He played the next five games, with Chelsea keeping a clean sheet in his presence, before another knee glitch knocked him out of the squad.
But the "
capi
" is ready to lead his "
Lions
".
"
We know that the defensive base will be important on Monday, we will try to defend well, to plug the gaps at first and then go forward
" to tickle van Dijk.
Read alsoWorld Cup: Pape Gueye promises an "ambitious, very ambitious" Senegal
Virgil van Dijk, more fragile than before
Pillar of the "
Reds
", Virgil van Dijk gave unusual signs of weakness during a failed start to the season for Liverpool.
Far from his dominating and reassuring face in all circumstances, he even embodied the defensive fragility of his team, hit by a wave of injuries in the rearguard, during a historic shipwreck in Naples (4-1), the Former Koulibaly team, opening the Champions League.
Despite his qualification for the eighth and a sixth place in the Premier League snatched thanks to three consecutive victories in the last meetings before the truce for the World Cup, this chronic irregularity tarnishes the aura of "
VVD
".
"
The last few months have just been weird.
Everyone was trying to find consistency (in the game), not just us (…).
But no one could identify the problem
, ”he pleaded recently.
"
Obviously, a lot of it has to do with the fact that there will be this big break coming up for the World Cup, that some players got injured and that others weren't in their best shape
," added- he.
Perhaps the arrival of this deadline which weighed on the start of the season will complete the release of the player who intends to be the leader of a very promising generation in Qatar.
Virgil, the name flocked on his jersey, does not hide the ambitions of his team.
“
We have a fantastic coach, very experienced, players who play in the best clubs in the world.
We have a good mix between youth and experience
, ”he explains.
“
Success is obviously never guaranteed, but it's a good start.
»
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