BlueChampions - The backyard of Chelsea FC!

Man Utd 2-2 Chelsea. After Man Utd went 2-0 up at half time thanks to O ‘Shea and Ronaldo, Chelsea comes back in the second half with two superb goals from Didier Drogba. That’s what happened in my Pro Evo match on XBOX 360. But my Pro Evo Chelsea players did not know that Jose has left and it hardly matters to them.

Today, it’s reported that all players got together before the training and pledged their commitment to the job on hand, not on the one on Sunday, the one for the season. Carvalho says that Jose is the best coach in the world, that’s a couple of years after Jose publicly advised Carvalho to get his IQ checked. Makelele says he’s completely shocked and sad, that’s after he completely sidelined Maka since last season and brought up Essien and Mikel in his role. Drogba is reported to be furious and rebellious which has started the rumours of him leaving et al.

Avram Grant has one big problem. Everything thing that he does, his interviews, his formation, his results, his substitutions, his selections whatever he does, he cannot avoid himself being compared to Jose Mourinho. He has to adapt to this fact and live with it. Ian Holloway asks if Jose can be sacked what would happen to the rest? Avram really has a tough job of bettering Jose.

Here in what probably is his first interview since he became the Chelsea manager, Avram Grant talks about his appointment. This is not in the league of ‘I’m European Champion and I think I’m a special one’ but much to my suprise, he has a smart tongue and he is not afraid to speak.

I think if you knew me, you would know that I am my own person. I take all the decisions on football on my own and I take the blame if we lose. If we win, I am part of the team of people who succeed. So I will take the decisions on my own. I remember when Arsene Wenger came to Arsenal. It was ‘Arsene Who?’ He has done a great job. I don’t want to compare myself to him – I am only talking about beginnings. When Fabio Capello started at AC Milan he was youth coach. Nobody knew what he was going to do. I understand all the doubts about me but, if I may say, I am not at day one in football. I am more than 50 years old – I want to be younger but I can’t be. I have experience in football.

That’s quite bold and brave. Comparing himself to Wenger and Capello. Though he tones it down with his ‘beginnings’ logic, those beginnings have no meaning if they don’t result in the subsequent progress and achievement. And he wouldn’t be talking about if they had not become ‘Wenger’ and ‘Capello’.

I know that, unfortunately, I don’t have experience in the English league as a coach. But I know the English league. I have seen more than 100 games here. I have visited the training grounds of all the big coaches, some of whom are my friends. I know everything from the inside and the outside. Nothing can surprise me and I will try to do my best.

Again, brave and bold and bordering on arrogance. With no league titles or champions leagues titles, to say he knows everything from the inside and outside, is quite interesting.

I am not the Special One. I’m the Normal One. But my wife says I am special. What am I like? I am 180cm. What do you want me to say? You will judge me not on what I say, but on what I do. Jose has his own personality. I have my own personality. I do it my way. But I like that the players had a good relationship with Jose. He was manager here three and a half years, and won many titles, so it was good. We will try to build a good relationship. The more important thing is we need to play football and win, do it in the proper way.

See, he’s got sense of humour too, calling himself the ‘normal one’. He surely takes a dig at Jose here by saying ‘proper way’ instead of something like ‘different way’. It’s all fine this talk and everything as long as he can walk as much as he talks. Because, for all his talks, Jose did the walk too. What Avram has done here is, created a lot of expectations for all.

Finally, this is where he screws it up, when he talks about this match at Old Trafford:

Manchester United at Old Trafford is always a difficult game whoever is coach. We will try to win even if it’s not possible.

Not possible? When was the last time we heard from the coach about winning being not possible? We know that he lacks the hollywood appeals of Jose, but anyway the James Bondish statements of Jose would not really fit nice for Avram.

My one-liner on Avram Grant as of today is, ‘Sounds confident and interesting, I’d give him a chance’. If you want to know about Avram Grant, see ESPN Soccernet’s profile of our new coach.

Let’s get back to the match. Some quick stats. The last time Man Utd lost by more than a goal was our title winning 3-0 at the Bridge. BBC states that Manchester United and Chelsea met 10 times in all competitions when Jose Mourinho was in charge at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea won five; Manchester United won one in normal time. Hope our domination on Man Utd continues. In fact, Jose had a better head to head record against all top premiership managers – Sir Alex, Arsene Wenger, Rafa Benitez and many others. The points scored in those top 4 match-ups were always very crucial in the deciding the title (Arsenal excluded, they do a double to Man Utd and allow a double to West Ham).

For this match, we’ll be missing Lampard, Carvalho, Drogba and Pizarro. No idea about Avram’s preference with respect to the formations or whether he prefers wing attacks to centre attacks, whether he’d like skillful butter feet or strong engines. Whatever his preferences are, I don’t think there would be too much of a difference tomorrow in the way we play. Avram cannot simply change the mindset of the players so easily or make a different formation click very soon. And then there is thing called motivating the players.

By what I’ve heard of Avram so far, he should start with a 4-3-3 dropping Kalou deep in the bench. While 4-3-3 can be as attacking as he likes, he would not want to start with a defeat. So, I guess he could be cautious as well. Still I think he would go with 4-3-3 with Joe Cole and Malouda on either sides of Shevchenko. The midfield would have Essien, Mikel and may be, may be, SWP. Finally, there would be some Jose Mourinho left in Steve Clarke. Interesting to see how well Steve gets along with Avram, or may be there is an assistant manager waiting on the wings, from Mongolia.

Man Utd would play at near-full strength at Old Trafford. Given the current back drop of shock exit of the coach and players unrest at Chelsea, it could be a very difficult match for us. But I hope the crowd sings ‘Stand up for the Special One’ in the honour and memory of the Jose. BBC’s Lawro predicts a goalless draw, but think there will be goals and there will be a winner. And also, there are only two ways for the Chelsea team tomorrow. Either they will get battered badly or play Man Utd all around the park. It could be 2-1 but not sure for whom!