Liverpool FC Forum

Essien, 23 last Saturday, can seldom have encountered such negative publicity. Before his £24.4m move to Stamford Bridge from Lyon last summer he enjoyed adulation and admiration in almost equal measure. Regarded by fans as the beating heart of the side that scooped successive titles in 2004 and 2005, he also landed the player-of-the-year award in France's Championnat. But if he is to follow that up with this season's Premiership laurels he will probably have to do without the votes of Hamann and Ben Haim.

"Essien is a great player and a fair player," the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said after the Ben Haim incident. "He has an incredible record on disciplinary issues. He is a very clean player."

Indeed, Essien did not come to England with a reputation for thuggishness. "At Lyon he sometimes had this game that was hard and he could do big fouls," said L'Equipe's editor-in-chief Jean-Michel Rouet. "He was always aggressive and had a hard-man image but I am sure that in absolutely no case he would set out to hurt an opponent. He takes risks on the pitch but he is not the nasty type."

None the less, Essien's disciplinary record last season stuck out like Hamann's sore shin. Lyon won France's fair play league despite, not because of him. In total the French champions picked up one red card and 54 yellow cards. Fourteen of those cautions belonged to Essien and his was the sole dismissal. He picked up another red card, ironically, in the pre-season Peace Cup.

"He has a double personality. He's very timid, very reserved and very nice; sometimes he just doesn't know his own strength," said Rouet. None the less, Essien often acted as his team's lightning conductor. In 37 matches, 25 yellow cards were distributed for fouls against him. "He was the most fouled against, more than the attackers. But he knows he's got a physical game himself and he takes what he dishes out," Rouet added.

Something he will have found harder to swallow is the media criticism. At his first press conference in England he mumbled his words so softly that even the microphones could not pick them up. Though disguised on the pitch, timidity is his most recognisable trait; indeed he is a self-confessed mummy's boy.

"She is the person I listen to the most," Essien has said. "She keeps advising me to remain modest, to respect everyone and not to do anything silly. I do not like being at the centre of things; I prefer listening to being heard. I would rather look than be seen. I am a real shy one; everyone says so and I can't do a thing about it."

Essien's cards

At Lyon

2004-05 (Championnat only)

Matches 37; Red cards 1; Yellow cards 14

Lyon team total: Matches 38; Red card 1; Yellow cards 54

At Chelsea

2005-06 (Premiership only)

Matches 14; Red cards 0; Yellow cards 2

Chelsea team total: Matches 15; Red cards 0; Yellow cards 25