Some dangerous words from Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou today. The match winner at Benfica has revealed that Roberto di Matteo pulled him out of the doghouse following Andre Villas-Boas's dismissal. The previous manager, apparently, had banned the Ivorian from first team football following his refusal to sign a new contract. That's a shocking reveal, and Kalou has gone on to criticise the club for not giving him a chance to show off his stuff:

I had been told that because I didn't sign the contract I was not allowed to play. It has been a hard season not playing. As a player, you want to get involved more, you want to help the team to win and also for yourself. You want to score more goals and show you're a better player than people think. If you don't get on the pitch, it is very hard to show that every weekend. I feel like maybe sometimes the club never gave me the opportunity to show what I can do. That is a really big frustration. -Source: Sky Sports.

If the attributed quotes are true, I'm a little bit disappointed in Kalou for voicing the last part. It's one thing to criticise a former coach for unfairly punishing you (this is another example of Andre Villas-Boas being too stubborn for his own good - by banning Kalou he was forcing himself into playing Florent Malouda whenever he wanted to go to a 4-2-3-1), but another thing entirely to complain about your treatment from the club as a whole. If he feels as though he has any chance of a future with the Blues, that wasn't a very wise thing to say.

Kalou's deal expires in the summer. I guess you can draw your own conclusions from there.