Trust me, the malaria thing has been hugely, and conveniently, overblown. For most people in malaria-prevalent countries such as those in West Africa, it generally takes mere days to recover (with proper medication), most certainly not weeks or months! Gotta agree with your last two sentences. All too often, great athletes simply don't know, or refuse to see, when the time is right to either call it a day or move on to other challenges. The result? Mediocre, lacklustre performances and lots of stick from the fans. There's fresh blood knocking on the door of the first team. Maybe it's time for a change of guard. I too doubt Torres and Drogba can work together. The Anelka/Torres partnership looks promising already, I wouldn''t blame Ancelotti for exploring that much further in the coming games. But the team musn't unload a bunch of regulars in one fell swoop; there needs to be a sense of continuiting and stability even as fresh blood is drafted in. I can see Drogba leaving in the summer and Anelka following summer of 2012. Not before then though.
