Alex happy with Hiddink appointment

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Chelsea's Brazilian central defender Alex says he is delighted to be working with Guus Hiddink again following the Dutchman's arrival at Stamford Bridge. The former PSV Eindhoven stopper spent two year's working with Hiddink in Holland, winning the Dutch Eredivisie title twice and reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, with Alex's header at the Emirates Stadium eliminating Arsenal in the last eight. And he is confident the Blues's new coach, appointed on a temporary basis until the end of the season, can replicate his success in Holland with Chelsea. "He is a good coach and a fantastic man," he told the club's official website. "I think he will play a similar system here to what we have seen, and when I was at PSV we played a 4-3-3 system, we had some very exciting times there. "In my three years in Holland, two of them were with Guus Hiddink and we won the title both times, and the double once, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in my first year."

The Brazilian had found himself drifting in and out of the Blues's starting XI under previous boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, often losing out to fellow centre-backs John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Branislav Ivanovic, but he now hopes his former mentor Hiddink will play him on a more regular basis.

"Obviously as a player, you always want to be playing, and I was on the bench," he said. "I mentioned that I wasn't very happy because I was on the bench, but I never said that I wanted to leave.

"People perceived that because I wasn't happy that I wanted to leave, but that was not the case. Now, I am playing quite well, I am getting back into the team, and that's it really.

"Of course you never know what will happen in the future, because in football everything changes. But I am very happy to be playing at the moment and I hope it can continue.

"When you are not playing you can feel a bit down but at the moment I am playing well and will continue to do so. The most important thing is to keep working hard, because if you find yourself on the bench and the coach needs you, you have to be ready."

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Gregg Davies
Gregg Davies

Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.