[lfc-news] Hyypia: Drogba made me sick

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Hyypia: Drogba made me sick
Monday October 03 2005
http://www.football365.com/news/story_164666.shtml
Facing Didier Drogba at his best can be enough to make any defender feel
sick - and that is literally how Liverpool's Sami Hyypia felt after his
showdown with the man from Ivory Coast.

Hyypia had spent 24 hours in his sickbed and had not eaten all weekend
before having to step out against Drogba and his unbeaten Chelsea
team-mates at Anfield yesterday.

The outcome was not one Liverpool fans will care to remember. Drogba
produced his best display in a Chelsea shirt and was named man of the match
after helping set up all the Londoners' goals in a ruthless 4-1 Barclays
Premiership win.

Hyypia lasted until the 71st minute before being spared more pain, and
revealed: "When I came off the pitch I went straight to the toilet to throw
up, I had been unwell for a couple of days. My whole family had been sick.

"It wasn't the best preparation for a game like this, it made it more
difficult for me. I was low on energy because I had not eaten anything for
a couple of days.

"But I do not make excuses, if I go onto the pitch I try 100% and this day
wasn't up to my standards.''

There were plenty more glum faces around Anfield as Chelsea sent Liverpool
spinning to their worst home league defeat since Manchester United produced
an identical scoreline in 1969.

And Drogba's awesome display for a club who are not yet convinced about his
quality, ensured an eighth successive league win for the champions, putting
them 17 points clear of Liverpool already.

And Hyypia was left wondering why there are such contrasts in Drogba's play.

He said: "Drogba is a good player. I remember facing him when he was at
Marseille in the UEFA Cup a couple of years ago and he was a good player
then but in England he has not really shown what he can do, but against us
this time he was in good form.

"I don't know about Drogba, it is up to him. If he wants to play like this
every week he will be fine but sometimes you see him playing and he is not
doing the things that are his strengths.

"It is up to him, if he wants to be that good every week then he can be. I
don't know the guy at all so I can't answer why there is a difference,
maybe it depends on what mood he is in.

"He is a strong man and it is difficult to to play against him like that.''

Hyypia, who admitted he "had to get his stomach sorted out before the
international break'' still insisted that Liverpool's overall display was
not as bad as the scoreline suggests.

He said: "You might have seen the next champions. They played well and won
but there are still a few other good teams around. But they will be top or
near, no doubt.

"But nobody here is slicing their wrists open because of this result, if
you make mistakes against a good team like Chelsea, this can happen.

"This has been a missed opportunity, everyone else in the country wanted us
to win so we have let them all down a little bit.

"But we must not forget how well we started the game, it was just a pity
that we let them score too easily. Their second goal didn't help when it
came just before the break.''

He added: "If you go a goal down against Chelsea it is always difficult,
but when it happens twice and after you have equalised it is even harder.
We came out after the break and gave it everything and they had to fight
but once they got their third it was all over.

"Of course we are disappointed with the result, but we can bounce back. If
we didn't do that we might as well stop playing football. We will look
ahead, regain our confidence and start playing well again.

"Chelsea are always difficult opponents but they scored their goals from
our mistakes.

"They are ruthless and a good team, and this time we made too many mistakes
and they punished us for that.

"We produced too many mistakes but we have to be positive now and look
forward now to the next one.''

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