chelsea news

Mikel backs Eto'o to
recover
15 Sep 2013 14:58:35
Chelsea midfielder Jon Obi
Mikel insists Cameroon
striker Samuel Eto'o will
bounce back quickly after
his disappointing debut.
Eto'o endured a frustrating
first taste of the Premier
League as he missed
several chances in
Chelsea's 1-0 defeat at
Everton on Saturday.
After two seasons with
Russian side Anzhi
Makhachkala, the 32-year-
old looked well short of
the sharpness required to
thrive in the English top-
flight, but Nigeria
midfielder Mikel predicts it
will not be long before
Eto'o is striking fear into
defences again.
"Samuel is a great player,
a fantastic player. You
could see the way he
played, he created some
fantastic chances," Mikel
said.
"That is why the manager
brought him in.
Obviously he has a lot of
trust and belief in him.
"Let's wait and see, the
English league is very
difficult to adapt to and
this was the first game for
him and he has done
pretty well.
"Chelsea was my first real
professional club and it
took me six months to a
year to adapt, but I think
someone like Eto'o, who
is well experienced and
has played in so many
leagues, won't take very
long.
"I think he looked a bit
sharp so it won't take him
long to get back into his
fitness.
"He is a world-class
player, a fantastic guy.
We just have to keep
playing with him and
helping him to adapt to
the Premier League.
"He tries to give his
experience so we have to
keep working with him,
keep playing with him and
trying to help him to fit
in."
Eto'o's debut could have
got off to the perfect start
after only five minutes but
he directed a close-range
header from Ramires's
cross wastefully wide.
More embarrassingly for
the former Barcelona and
Inter Milan star, he then
ballooned one shot into
the upper tier of the stand
behind the goal.
He would have scored
into an open net had
Everton's own debutant
Gareth Barry not slid in to
rescue goalkeeper Tim
Howard's blushes when,
in trying to pass sideways
out of his six-yard area,
he picked out Andre
Schurrle.
Those misses were key
moments as Chelsea lost
for the first time in the
league since Jose
Mourinho's return to
Stamford Bridge, but Mikel
believes the team will hit
back in Wednesday's
Champions League
opener against Basle.
"It is about how we
bounce back. Sometimes
when you know what
you've done wrong it is
easy to bounce back,"
Mikel said.
"We need to go back to
training and try to find out
what we didn't do –
although everyone knows
what we didn't do, we
didn't score goals."