Ballack warned that he must fight for place

The Times

July 16, 2007

Matt Hughes

JOSÉ MOURINHO WARNED Michael Ballack yesterday that he has lost his “untouchable” status and is facing a difficult fight for his place at Stamford Bridge. The Germany midfield player has not travelled on Chelsea’s preseason tour to the United States after having an ankle operation last week and is a doubt for the start of the season.

Mourinho named Ballack as one of his nine so-called untouchables last season, but the player’s fortunes have dipped in the past six months, with relations with the manager deteriorating after his unilateral decision to have ankle surgery in May. The Portuguese has resolved to play a more attacking formation with two wingers in the coming campaign, leaving Ballack vulnerable, while Claude Makelele is under increasing pressure from John Obi Mikel.

“What I can say is that Ballack is a player I like, but his life is not easy,” Mourinho said. “Like for the other people life is not easy. We have a lot of good players. I’m not the kind of coach that gives places to people just because they are faces or names. Everybody with me has to fight for his place. But I think they have a difficult task because the squad is really good.”

Mourinho issued a similar challenge to Andriy Shevchenko, who, despite labouring for 45 minutes of Saturday’s 2-1 win over Club América, of Mexico City, is still interesting AC Milan. “If he performs, if he shows me day after day and match after match that he deserves to play, I’m very, very happy,” Mourinho said. “If Sheva plays magnificently I’ll have to play him and [Didier] Drogba together. No problem for me, I’ll be very pleased with that.

“What I want is a free competition between players and players with their performances to influence my decisions. I’m not stupid. If a player is performing at a high level, I play them.”

Mourinho’s reversion to wingers in a 4-2-3-1 formation showed signs of promise against Club América at Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California, with Florent Malouda, on his debut, scoring the equaliser and creating the winner for John Terry.

The France player celebrated his goal with a bizarre dance routine in reference to the Crazy Frog song he performed for his teammates during his initiation of Friday. “It was great fun out there playing with my new teammates,” Malouda said. “We like to entertain, but it was difficult at first because it was so hot out on the pitch. But we won and that was an important way to start.”

Wayne Bridge will be out for three months after having surgery on an injured pelvis in Colorado this weekend, leaving Tal Ben Haim to fill in at left back in the absence of the injured Ashley Cole. “Without Bridge and Cole for a few more weeks, I think Tal is my first option for left back,” Mourinho said. “I will play him in one of these matches at left back because I want to give him some routine, but I know he’s a player I can trust.”