Under Avram Grant we started playing ‘positive football’ and proceeded to ‘attacking football’ and now are playing ‘great football’. Yes, he said so himself. If you haven’t heard him say that, wait for the next post match conference. I’ll give my verdict right away: I don’t think we are playing any different than how we have played over the three seasons under JM.
I need to clarify certain things up front to keep the discussion on Avram Grant rather than on myself. He’s got the results but has he been as good as what JM wrto results? Well, mostly yes. Job very well done. Whether Grant wants to admit this or not, the important reason why we have been able to get good results in the last three months is because Grant has tampered as little as possible. He has restricted his ego and allowed the team to play the same way they used to, using almost the same tactics as such. With the quality squad at his disposal, Chelsea was never going to go bust whoever the manager. Of course, we fans did over-react with knee-jerk panic, discounting the quality of player and their experience.
If Chelsea is to play without a manager all season, what do you think would happen? If there is no manager, I’d expect Steve Clarke and captain John Terry to draw up the formation, tactics and such stuff. With the Clarke-Terry combination, we would still be in the top 8 or better. To get us on the top four, we need a decent manager and to make us champions, we need a very good manager. All this unbeaten run and wins and points will not mean much if we still end up at No.3 or No.4. Not good enough, so much money spent and no.3 is not going go down well with anyone. Therefore, when it comes to results, I think we can judge Avram only in May 2008.
While we can judge his results by the end of this season, what we can certainly judge on, is the style of play where Grant claims to have brought about a change. Has he been given enough time to bring about a change in playing style? I’m not sure but the fact that he claims a style of ‘not-like-before’ after every match, means that he believes he has had enough time to transform things. It’s hard to keep away from comparisons to Chelsea of recent years. I don’t intend to compare the management styles of JM and AG, but certainly how their outfits play.
Couple of cornerstones of my arguments
Cornerstone#1: We played our best football in 04-05 and 05-06. It might be distant memory but the fact is we announced our arrival in a thundering fashion. Though we had followed these seasons live, I would still very strongly suggest that you get those season review DVDs. It captures the goals and moments from all (I mean ALL) Chelsea matches of the season. It’s a great collector’s item (only 2 in the last 50 years!) and it’s worth every penny you pay. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched them so far. I would take those title winning seasons’ football as the benchmark. Any improvement over the football we played in the title winning seasons, I’d take it with both hands, of course, with the title 
Cornerstone#2: We have the team to play any type of football. These are very talented internationals who can be moulded into any football philosophy, the only factor being time. Arsenal are playing one-touch football and Chelsea are not. Does that mean Arsenal players are more skilled than Chelsea players? No way. It’s the way they have been practising and playing, for the length of time they have managed to do it together. I don’t think we need to have a different set of players to produce different kind of football. That’s like undermining the capabilities of the coach.
Why am I discussing Chelsea’s playing style now?
Why am I now discussing on Chelsea’s playing style while I never did such an analysis in the last few seasons? That’s because Avram claims that we are playing ‘positive, attacking, great’ football, unlike ‘before’. That’s the only reason I’m discussing this. Every time, he says something about this, I get pissed off and annoyed. Today I’m just trying to find out why I’m getting annoyed and what’s the logical reasoning behind getting pissed off at such comments.
Do I have a preference over a certain playing style?
Not particularly. Success is more beautiful that anything else. As long as we win, personally, I’d take any style of football. I just love watching the men in blue. I want Chelsea to play a complete game, sharp in attacks, command in midfield and robust in defence.
The Parameters
You can have your own methods of analysing a team’s playing style. You might even say you have no parameters and you just love or hate a certain style. I’d like to analyse by certain parameters – (i) how are our goals being scored (ii) how much do we use the pitch (iii) how well do we break defences down (iv) how many and which players are involved in attacks (v) how attack-minded our players are, on the pitch (vi) are we dominating teams or are we feared.
(i) How are our goals being scored
As much as I’ve seen this season, we seem to score lot of goals in counter attacks, long balls and throughballs when the opposition gives us the space and time. The maximum number of touches before a goal has been generally maximum 3 or 4. It’s not that we outpass the opposition and bang in goals without even allowing a touch by the opposition. As regards the nature of goals scored, there is not a great difference as such. I have absolutely no problem with this method. As I’ve mentioned before, as much as people hate to see long balls, I’ve always considered scoring with long balls require a good amount of aerial skill, first touch and ball control. Arsenal fans would ridicule long balls as their team is not good at it. I certainly don’t consider aerial attacks to be in any way inferior to the ground passing attacks. Finally, with regards to how our goals are being scored, I don’t see too much of a difference.
(ii) How much do we use the pitch
In our title winning seasons, we attacked from everywhere. The attacks were very varied and random. In the last season, most of our attacks were coming from the flanks. Even if the ball is passed around in the centre, it’s all for finally delivering it to the flanks for crossing them in. As such the assists for the goals would not so much be from the D-area or thereabouts. Major productive activity in the centre would be the rebounds for Lampard to lump it in or the long balls to Drogba’s chest. To operate through the middle, you need time and that’s what you don’t get in the English league. After Grant took over, we do see some activity in the centre of the pitch too, but mostly against weak opponents and the ones that come and try to take the game to us (read Man City). As we go on, I’m curious to see which part of the pitch we use the most against bigger opponents.
(iii) How well do we break defences down
Fact is, we now find it difficult to break the defences. If Grant wants the Barca or Milan model, we should have seen clever chips above the defensive line or army of players patiently building up in the attacking third. I have seen neither. Most of our build up has been in our own half or in the midfield, not so much in the attacking third. When teams meet Chelsea with an objective of not playing football and hoping for a lucky break or something, we are unable to really break them down with swift movements and a pass under the nose of the defender. To break down defences, we do not always need umpteen passes. For some time it appeared that Avram has prohibited long balls and there were more of ground passing than in the air. But when nothing else worked what has been helping us is the aerial attacks.
(iv) How many and which players are involved in attacks
Here too, sporadic. Sometimes we attack in numbers but mostly just two or three players are involved. Of course the wing backs are playing their role but that’s been the case always. We had defenders such as Gallas, Ferreira, Bridge, Diarra, Essien (mostly a defender last season) always taking part in attacks and scoring once in a while. Even now, the goals mostly come Drogba and Lampard, and the odd ones from anyone else.
(v) How attack-minded our players are, on the pitch
I see a difference here. We certainly look for more goals even after going ahead. We don’t seem to ‘shut shop’. While personally I liked the way the whole team had the tactical awareness and completely negated the opposition attacks, but it was not liked by many. People, in general, want to see goals in a football match. For me, it’s more than just a goal. As a Chess player who could have nearly become a professional, I love tactical battles. The fun is not just in check mates, it’s more in rendering your opponent choiceless and giving him that slow poison of defeat. Under Grant, we seem to go for more goals, which is fine by me. Once in a while, it can boomerang but that’s the trade-off.
(vi) Are we dominating teams or are we feared
No is the answer. This would have been the answer in the last season as well. Teams do not fear us anymore, well, Barca excluded . Even mid table teams do think that they have a chance against Chelsea. During our best part of the home league record, teams visiting Stamford Bridge would start with a defeatist mentality knowing very clearly that they’re gonna go out. It’s not like that anymore. By domination, I do not mean just goals and shots. Are we able to hold the game/opponent by the scruff of the neck?
(vii) Are we scoring enough goals?
The proof is in the pudding, isn’t it? In 04-05 we scored 1.89 goals per game (second only to Arsenal’s 2.29), in 05-06 it was 1.89 again (we were the best), in 06-07 it was 1.68 (second only to Man Utd’s 2.18) and now so far in 07-08 it is only 1.50 (7th in the list) with another 22 games to go. If we are positive, attacking and great, surely it should show up in the score card.
Conclusion
I’m very clear in my mind that we are not playing any differently than we have played in the last three seasons. But I’m absolutely fine and happy with the results we are achieving under him. Does Grant (and Ten Cate) need more time on the team, to bring about a change in playing style? May be yes, but it is Avram Grant who is showing us the emperor’s new clothes.
Now, it’s your turn.
62 Responses - Add your comment!
no se lo que dice.
Pero soy el anmber uan.
jajj
BC
by the pic you put of AV for this post you are saying what you feel about him.
i bet there is a better one ,
so there is no point to read this post when i know for sure what your about to say
NIce posting
there is nothing wrong w/ that pix.
i like avram…but he needs more time.
amen
It takes time….for players to change their way of playing…a faster way is to buy creative lpayers like van dervaat, modric and ronaldinho….
I share the same opinion and feelings about AV too. Nice post BC
@ BC
great post.good analysis
the main aspect i liked in this post is the lack of a topic titled (TSO vs AG).
at least u took up the cue and put the issue on the back burner and discussed the playing style.
i would like to mention a few more points here:
1. the style under grant is damn predictable. the teams in the middle of the table know this and try to jam te midfield with a 4-5-1 formation making it difficult for us. if AG tries out the 4-4-2 or the 4-1-3-2 formation then we can offset that.
2.If AG gets innovative players like vandervaart ,huntlaar or mordic etc then we can see if his methods work.remember we have a tried and tested person in Henk Tenk Cate to rework his barca magic.
3.i think we need to give time to AG . barca were given 2 years and arsenal 3 years. imagine if we played one touch next season with another great finisher alongside drogba…..i shrudder to think
4. even teams like arsenal and barca cant play their game when they have a stout team which doesnt come at them. ……look at the game vs middlesboro and barca’s average form in the la liga….we played well at teams who tried to attack or weaker teams …. if AG can win against aresenal then maybe the fans at the bridge will start chanting his name…
once again great post BC. this time try to post a debate on issues like how to make Chelsea be popular in Asia or what should AG be doing to break even the losses(monetary wise) at Chelsea or what should be the tactics to be used by AG in different situations etc. this would keep us addicted to this blog….great job mate.
I dont really see any change.games are won but no grant hasnt changed nothing.although he is trying to make you chelsea fans believe he has, but no he hasnt.it is difficult without robben,duff…because those were skillful players.i always think of what would have happened if we had ronaldo on the right and robben on the left.another fact is drogba.you cant not afford to use him.long ball football was created with drogba in mind.he has never lost a header.
nice post BC. Quite a holistic view of things going around.
i would give credit to grant for the work done till now. If its not great its not bad too. Its quite good.
Defence:
He is almost behind all the attacks and defends good too.
Positives:
we were conceding a lot of goals to set pieces early this season. We are much better now. Belletti has been terrific signing. His crosses are much better compared to SWP
Grant has also realised thats its utter waste to play ben haim which he did in first few matches. Alex is terrific and among crowds fav too. carvalio is better than most of the CB is the world and once he is back with cech in goal to score against us will be like me eating sushi using chopsticks without spilling
Negetives:
John terry .. John terry .. John terry!!! where is his reading of the game ? why is he so slow these days reacting to situations. Why isnt he able to score of his headers… there is definitely something wrong with him and needs rectification. He is not the same.
Ashley is not what he was in arsenal… ill prefer bridge to him if grant promises more attack.
Mid field:
No change apart from the free and more responsible role to Joe Cole. now apart from lampard others also spoil corners and free kicks. SWP is pathetic and does not belong to chelsea. send him back to city.
Strikers
kalou finds different ways to miss. sheva is still missing italy. pizzarro hic!! hic!!
if grant can improve our finishing we will definitely top the charts soon. we are creating enough chances but cant finish. arsenal is improved upon this this season .
conclusion:
nothing has changed much but still good. still to see how we do against the big guns(pompey and man city away included). i have no hopes this season of anything. i see us finishing 4th this season.
You have a point there BC. Tactically not much has changed but i have realised something different about this team. They like to attack. be it counter-attack or just passing and creating spaces on the flanks. Previously the team was too defensive especially in the last season. players like mikel, diarra and to some extent essien were restricted in their movements.
mikel almost always kept passing the ball backwards which was very frustrating even for a chelsea fan.
however this season they attack more whilst mindful of their defensive duties. What i think the team needs is a skillful schemer, one who can handle the ball and give defence splitting passes. i think modric would have done the trick but i don’t think he’ll come soon.(with all these PSV detour). that is why i think Ronaldinho would have been great for us. He is the type of player this team needs.
perhaps AG should reconsider a player like sean wright-phillijps. this guy just can’t seem to find the right cross, no matter how many times he tries. sometimes it’s plain embarassing. i wonder what quaresma would have done in a team like chelsea in that area.
Enough said, i think on the whole u r right BC, but i also think AG needs time. unfortunately we don’t have that luxury.
carefree forever . Go Blues. Go Chels
AG is good manager, i’m like him but JM is still the best one
well i think its good that he hasnt change the game. i love the way chealse plays why change it. i dont want to se them play like barca or real. but the thing thats makes me worried about grant is that he really thinks that he changes chelseas game allot. he keeps talking about changes after JM and know they are playing good fotball and stuff. on sunday against arsenal we can se if avram really is a good coach. untill know we played against not so good teams. we lost against man utd. so this week will be a fun fotball week. an after this week i can say if avram really is a good coach..
Yup im hoping chelsea will beat arsenal this sunday.they are weak!why couldnt drogbas operation wait till monday?he is vital!
I jus got off the phone with David Villa’s agent………..
He is desperate for a move to the premiership……
Plz Chelsea snap him up b4 losefools capture him!
One a ma fav strikers………
Jus let him leave one a ma teams to another!!
Jus get hi, b4 Loserfools make the greatest signing in club footbal!!
Jump on this one ABRomovitch!!!!!!!!!
This is your chance to prove you have a brain!!!!!
Only one man sees the change in chelsea’s play- grant. what does that say of the man? when everybody can clearly see that it is Mour Of the same (my original name on this blog by the way,) grant persists on seeing illusions- for me that sums up the capacity of the man. He is not astute enough to be the manager of a team like chelsea. Thats why it irks me to no end when i read comments like Grant needs time. Its not time he needs- what he needs is a sack.
the most flowing attacking football played by us this season was against a competitive and fighting B’ham- our first match of the season. and of course you all know who was in charge when we played that match- pls do not mention man city- cos that was a joke- i have seen a team give chlesea so much space over the last four seasons and i know erickson would not allow such sloppiniess in the return leg.
Good advice to grant- if you want to see greater fluidity in the attack, play pizarro more and play in the role of Bergkamp (credit to TBF.) That would bring remarkable change to our attacking play- the player needed to resolve the problem must have good vision, one touch passing, fine skills and know how to optimize link up play- paceless Piz satisfies all that.
Agent blue, are you serious or just pulling our legs?
Van persie claims that Man Utd are their main rivals tho Chelsea are good. The only reason they can afford to say this is because they man they fear most is gone- something else that has changed in Chelsea, BC? We vare no more awesome- the awe is gone. The only that has replaced that is the grim visage of Grant
you know what, i am really tempted to post right now, and shower lavish praises, but unfortunately due to lack of time these days i just pass thru this site, but dont worry, scatching, action packed contradiction cmn soon………….lol
Chelsea Football Club can confirm that Avram Grant has signed a four year contract as manager/first team coach.
damn…
Israeli @ 2
Avram Grant and I share something. Both of us are not photogenic. I’m going to spend an awful lot of time to find the pic where he looks best. Anyway, I thought this was a good picture. I still do. We are not discussing about models or movie stars, do we? Why bother about how he looks in that picture?
spot on BC. completely agree. grant’s going well enough to get the points but all the talk about ‘attacking football unlike before’ is all bullshet.
joeblue . . i’m waiting for your contradictions. i’m all set to counter you word to word (i’m sure we will have very little to agree).
hahahaha BC come on, he looks like a proper mafia in that pic, i am sure, if u look a bit u can find a pic him smiling lol,
well after reading everyones comment, i have to agree with few and disagree with few others, but thats the way it goes, we cant all agree with everything.
with reagrds to our play in 04-05 and 05-06 seasons, we had PC at goal, terry, RC at centre back, Paulo/ geremi/ gallas/ bridge/delhorno/ all playing at LB and RB positions, lampard as the main attacking midfield player and essien/tiago playing as centre midfield and drogba and crespo for the latter part along with gudjohnson upfront. joe cole playing a major part as well. but what i think the most important part of that team was 3 players, duff, robben and makalele. makalele was exceptional, he intrecepted each and every opposition attack and he played as a deep defensive play maker role, he was the engine room for the team, and with2 left footed wingers on either side which causes a hell of a trouble for the opposition. the defenders cant read if they are going to go inside or turn them ouside and both duff and roben were on blistering form, and lampard was inspirational with 20 odd goals, in both the season. PC was unbeatable for over 11 hrs or so, if i remember right. and goals were coming from all over the pitch, esp with JT and RC coming forward for corners and we used to be a serious threat with set pieces.
If you look last season, what happened was Roman brought in sheva and ballack(whoever signed him??) and the whole set up has to be changed to accomadate them, we went for a 4-4-2 with PC, RC, JT, AC/bridge, paulo/diarra and even essien covering as right backs with a 4 men midfield of mikel/maka, essien/lampard and ballack and upfront sheva and drogba. there is no surpise that drogba netted in 33 goals, last season becos if u play 2 strikers upfront, the defenders get drawn to either one which opens the space for the other striker, if you check the stats sheva had 13 assists last season, as grant said in one of his interviews, sheva didnt do that bad last season, with around 13 goals and assists, but his name is shevachenko and everyone expects him to be sublime. last year we hardly used the wingers, even though we had the likes of robbenand cole injured most of the season, kalou as a new comer and ever wasteful SWP. still we were competing in all front for 4 trophies. so it wasnt a bad season afterall.
With this season, we went back to a flat 4-4-2 in the bigning and it was entertaining but, disappointment to most, jose was out and we got Avaram Grant, with clark and ten cate along side him, no surprise to me that Avaram started a 4-3-3 allowing 2 wingers and 2 midfiled players along with a attacking midfielder. if u see the barca team of 05-06 when they won the CL, they had pritty much the same system 4-3-3 with etto upfront along side ronaldhinio and messi supporting him, deco xavi and iniesta in midfield. when u play a flat 4-4-2 the way man utd plays u should have players in the wing who can take on defenders with skills, which leaves u with 2 midfield players to defend and go forward while u attack. so when u defend you have 6 players if u leave the wingers and forwards out, and when u attack u have 6 players as well. when u play a 4-3-3 the only trouble is you wont have 6 palyers attacking infact u will have 5 , leaving the holding midfielder every one else can attack forward, the only trouble is for this to work 100 percent you need wingers who got pace and skills, which most of our wingers lack. apart from joe cole, but i still dont think he got the pace to knock the ball a yard forward and run past the defender, he can do those doggy step overs, even though hes not a brazilian. Other thing we lack so much this season is the ariel threat from corners , setpeices, we seems to have forgotton how to score from corners, either its a wayward corner or a header tooo far wide pritty much most of the time.
Our playing style is too much around drogba, in a way it is good becos defenders try to mark him and other players can run into spaces, but if you play against teams who comes to defend they would give him no space to get the ball down and controll and pass to some one.
Some one mentioned about ashley cole in one fo those comments, he did look like the best LB around when he was at arsenal, but i personnaly think that was more of a combination on that left flank arsenal had at that time, with Ashley, pires and henry all playing with some sort of understanding. his attacking ability seems to dry down a bit, i dont know if that was upto Jose who cud hav restricted him to more sort of defensive duties rather than going forward, i dont knoww,, but hes still good at defending and got terrific pace to cover up.
What we need is a wide players who got plenty of pace, lota skills and who is young, who can play every game not some one who needs a rest after every other game. we need another striker, who can consistantly score goals, who can play as a second striker or a centre forward in a lone role. every other dept seems alright.
@ BC i did watch the chelsea vs valencia game and it was good for some players to get a run for an hour and some to rest, but anyone could see what was lacking was a goal scorrer, somone who can poach and nick in a goal. we created enough chances to score, 4 or 5 goals, but a lack of that final touch or that finishing ability was not there and it could be very costlyy in the coming months as we loose key players to AFC. if we dont put away our chances, it can always come back and haunt us.
The big match on sunday, cant wait, if man utd loose at liverpool and if we can beat arsenal by clear 4 goals we go on top of the table, well thats asking too much now, am being greedy hahaha, but if we can beat them we can go on top along with arsenal on points, it could be very interesting if man utd get a draw against liverpool all 3 teams will be on same point as long as we win. i dont have a clue who avaram grant is going to play. it could be a flat 4-4-2 with usual back four PC in goal, and midfield 4 of JCole, Lamps, mikel, and SWP and kalou along side with sheva. i would prefer a 4-3-3 with maka, mikel and lamps in the midfield, with kalou, sheva and Jcole upfront, if things are not working, can always chop and change. it will be very interesting to see how grant decides to go for this game and try and beat the mighty gunners.
@ 8 – Nihongo Blue,,, i have to agree with u on JT , there is somthing seriously wrong with JT this season, may be hes havin a injury or some personal trouble, hes not the captain we had for past 3 yrs. the only thing i can say in support of him is his commitment to the team, he would put his head anywer to block the shot but, his heading, his overall reading of the game is becoming so poor, i have said it before aswell, he did look too good at time before, just becos he had some one like RICARDO along side him, every time JT does some mistake ricardo cover it up with his extra pace and reading of the game. when both plays together its beautiful but i gues this season we didnt have any luck with injuries, when one is in other one is out and vice versa.
If Grant is not doing anything at training,
if he is sticking to old formations,
if he knew that Drog’s leg was gonna give,
if he’s not in the know about new signings,
if he spouts ” beauty queen ” footy all the time while giving us the same stuff…… what the hell is he doing then ?
BTW who is making the sub decisions during games then ?
Also now that he’s got a new 4 year contract , I guess its old Roman getting revenge at us fans for blasting him for letting JM go !
Hi guys,
AG singed a new 4 year contract t around 3 million a year..so hes in it for the long run..
I have absolutely nothing against AG..He is delivering the goods in terms of results…i just hate his post match comments..He wants people to believe that we are playing fantastic football, when we arent..maybe we have just changed 2 or 3%..thats it..hes talking as if hes brought in a 100% change already
I would suggest that he keeps concentrating on winning games n titles..we the fans will say whether the style of football has improved..Thank You
Jan is around the corner..i hope AG has identified the players that he wants to bring in
BC…do u seriously believe out present squad is capable of playing 1 touch fancy stuff??..I believe our present squad is more efficient than beautiful..anyway it would be wonderful if AG can produce beauty with the present Guys
I hope we win ar Arsenal..worst case..a draw..but please dont LOSE
Go BLUES
i like grant but i believe he has done nothing to changing the chelsea style(maybe he has made it 5% more attacking but thats it)
He isnt very good tactically and i think it was the players who got themselves back on track not avram.
I would rather win than play attracttive football and lose. I think Avram should have a variety of different tactics and formations against different teams.
Finally someone notices JT’s problems. Hope we win trhe game on Sunday but in think it would be a draw.
CFC@22, Aresenal is four goals ahead of us now. if we win by two goal margin, it brings us at par with them- they come down by two while we go up by two.
Roman gives grant a four year contract huh??? surprise, surprise!!!!!! Roman is more deranged than I initially thought. Thats all I will say for now.
next few days will be a stiff test for him.
16th – Arsenal Vs Chelsea
19th – Liverpool Vs chelsea(carling cup)
may be thats why the 4 yr contract came at the right time
@29 oh yeah ur right, so a 3-0 win shud take us top of the group, well thats asking too much anyways hahahahaha.. i wud be more than happy for a 1-0 win for the blues. especially after robin van persie’s comments that we are not a great threat, i wish we produce some goods on sunday and keep his stupid mouth shut for a while.
Has Grant changed something/anything? Not really. Does he want to change something? Definitely. In his first game against manu, they put the ball on the turf- till the red card- and passed it round. Man U is a big team.
The thing is, entertaining football isn’t just passing, there’s also the flicks, the runs and the flair of each player. In EARLY JM days there wasn’t much passing but games were sweet, then there wasn’t much passing and games sucked. What happened
Can the players entertain ? maybe, but the whole team wouldn’t do good football with Lampard still in there. I know it’s not just me, many know that Lampard isn’t so creative, yet those many can’t see a Chelsea without Lamps.
It’s the same story with the National team Lamps and Gerry are Fantastic, but they can’t play together. Put one on the Bench and the National team problem is solved. Something about chemistry and immiscibility of the two.
I read some other chelsea blog, that tried to guess those that appeared discontented, and the likely replacements. The guy put Pirlo for Lamps. I like that. Let someone like that come, with a couple other edittings and you have ur fancy football
NOTE ALL U BLUECHAMPS, ACTIVELY RESIST any attempt to sign RONALDINHO.
Bad, bad, bad for the club. it will be Shevy all over again.
what team has the most fans in london?? does anyone know that.
i think its arsenal, @33
The only change avram grant has made is the 2 central midfielders now look to go forward and join in attacks instead of staying back exept for lampard, mikel last season alwys looked to come back and was restriceted, same with essien. Under AG essien has moved forward this season and has created chances and has had many shots annd nealy scored many goals. I think We need winngers that have got pace and skill, someone like a Quaresma or a Robinho would be everything that chelsea needs to become more attacking, maybe another finisher like huntelaar or villa and that would be great. This is my dream chelsea team anf formation fgor next season.
————————-Cech————————————
———-Alves———-Terry———–Carvalho———Cole
———————-Lampard——-Essien——————-
—–Quaresma———————————-Robinho
————–Villa/Huntelaar———Drogba————–
hard to argue with that.
DEN you should watch spanish primera instead of the premiers. i wouldnt like that team for chelsea. i rather se a player like fabregas or gerrard or someone that keeps the game of chelsea as it is but make it more effectfull. robinho and villa can stay at spain. if chelsea wants to buy a player that dribbles and stuff they should buy a young one like lulinha so he can addapt to chesleas game. robinho isnt that old but i dont think he fits in chelsea. if someone from la liga should come i want it to be drenthe. we need a good leftfooted that can play defense and attack.
Den @ 35
of course essien joins the attack more often nowadays. but that has nothing to do with avram’s tactics. last season, essien was playing mostly in defence (still scored some crucial goals!). this season, when he is playing in the midfield (holding or not) he has to get involved in the attacks and i see that as natural.
this is what cech says in his interview.. some thing similar to what BC is trying to say…
A lot of the credit, he says, should go to Avram Grant.
Quoting Nihongo Blue
then why does grant see a change every match?
the biggest diffrent with avram and JM is that Jose was alot better when it came to changing the game during the match. avram makes weard subs most of the time. jose knew what needed to change. avram just want to change something but he doesnt know what it looks like.
avram grant is a good manager..
!
Well , I can see a change in your attidude towrds AG,but still you are trying to hold on to JM as if he is a magician.
What you see now is the truth about JM. The team he build reflects his mentality which is defence rather that offence.It is no wonder that AG finds it hard to change,though you can see some signs which suggest he is trying.
No matter how great manager one is you can’t change things overnight with players which were selected to fit a defence oriented manager.
It is JM who brought Ben Haim ,who else ,and look at this guy contribution.Every time he is on the field I satrt to pray.This is not a player for a team of Chelsea caliber.Do AG have much of a choice here.
all im saying is that we need 2 quality wingers and a quality striker to o win the prem league. Villa is looking to move so why not try to steal him from totenhams reach. We also badly need a playmaker someone like a van der vaart or samir nasri or maybe even luka modric. Samir nasri will soon be the next best thing.
Avram Grant should change his formation from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2.
sasha is the striker for chelsea,
Excellent post BC and I salute your calm analysis of the situation and I heartily concur!
My analysis?
No we have changed little in style under Grant.
Yes it drives me crazy every post match interview where he continues droning on about how much better we are playing and how our style of football has changed and improved from what went BEFORE and continues to aims digs at Mourinho in that manner.
The reasons for Grant’s apparent “shock” success since taking over from Jose?
1. He has kept on Steve Clarke, brought in Ten Cate and meddled as little as possible with the team and let it play as it has always known. Apparently he does little in training but observe and Cate and Clarke do the work. Form and players returning from injury have done the rest.
2. The series of weak teams which have presented itself since his arrival, even teams once strong have been at their weakest when we played them or were in crisis having sacked their coach or were just about to. Man City were a joke that day with the space they gave us. Hull, Derby, Wigan, Leicester, off season Rosenborg, Sunderland, Bolton, Boro, Valencia – the list goes on.
3. When he has come up against tougher opposition such as Arsenal, Man Utd and Everton he has struggled and there has been no sign of overt attacking football in those games, the only times we have scored lots of goals is against Hull, Rosenborg, Leicester and a pathetic City which is hardly impressive!
So no change Mr Grant and stop trying to convince us there has been, if we were playing that kind of football then you would not have to keep telling us about it.
Also if you add up our goal tally from last season to date and compare it with this, we actually scored more goals last year too if you look across all competitions – so much for Mourinho being more defensive.
And if you doubt me, Peter Cech agrees with you BC!
This was what he said last week: “Sure, he is modifying a few things but, essentially, everything is the same as before because he knew we already had a successful structure.”
That says it all for me, Grant already knew what Mourinho left behind was good and it worked and he has done little to tinker with it whilst pretending that he has.
Glad to see that it annoys you just as much as it does me.
If I hear him talking about the “good, positive, attractive football” we are now playing one more time, I’m going to put my foot through the TV in fury.
am sure you made a point. JM is such an oustanding manager that used all at his diposal to make history for chelsea. but dont you think that is too early to start judging Grant? coaches like JM can immediatelly change things around because he is magical tactician. others need time to do it right, who knows may be better than JM just like it took Rijkaat a season or two to get his axe right.
I agree with kelvin. but to me there is little or no change
villa match is another proof that grant has little idea about tactics in a big league. his attacking football stinks big time.
you guys have to undertsnad it will take time to play attacking like united or barca
BC good analysis, however the reason JM did so badly in the beginning was because the best players were injured, hence the comment of “the quality of eggs”comment from JM, then AG did well in results because the best players came into the squad. Besides players are a proud lot, they do not like to lose matches, and I should know I mix with a few when they go to Movida,and AG, or any other manager in the world knows that. I also agree, better the results than playing the so “called” attacking football that AV tries to convince us that Chelsea is playing, but again he has to convinve his friend RA otherwise he will become another casualty, in fact he will sooner or later but then again another millionaire is made with RA money. LOL, who cares. The poor guy (AG) can not do any better, is not the lack of charisma or tactics it is the LACK OF TALENT, period, and he knows that, lets see how Chelsea will do in January, to start with the invencibality against Arsenal is gone, the home record almost went against Villa and lets see and give him time to hang himself, besides AG is in a very difficult position he will always be compared with JM, and thtas very unfair because one has the talent and the FIFA qualifications (JM) and the other is still trying to get them (AG).
Lets be honest can you see AG try motivate players like Frank L, JT, DD, Essien etc etc,??? or for that matter a Ronaldinho, David Villa, Quaresma etc, c’mon once those players measure him it will happen the same as now, JT, FL, PC, not the players used to be under JM, the only 2 players that want him to do well is Shev, and ballack, and I agree with Bella the guy (AG) has not got a clue. Some claim he needs time to change, if I recall JM came in and the first 2 seasons bingo, chelsea were champions,and in the first season he immediately changed and gell the players, that the sign of a exceptional manager and motivator, lets face what was JT, FL before he arrived?, just goog players and he made them world class players, how did JT paid him ? helping to get the sack LOL.
Anyway lets see in the CL against the weakest team in the comptetion .
Bye 4 now
Avram Grant is probably one of the best managers around yes but he lacks that little bit of quality mourinhio had, i miss mourinhios solid style of football!! Grant has to now be the best
carefree cfc – is he one of the best managers around??? we are not talking about a manager of a supermarket! this is a top football club!!!
hey dude BRIAN GARDNER>>>.
u got a change the picture of this gentleman..
it is scary as hell.
man
plEASE… change that pixture…
it is scary
Okay, Grant has not caused the team to drop 3 points behind Derby. In fact, Chelsea is still very much in the hunt for the Prem. The possible addition of Anelka or Berbatov (or both) increases the chances that one if not two good pieces of silverware will be at the Bridge.
But, I do miss the swagger and personality cult of Mourinho. Indeed, the man was a walking superiority complex and had a record to back him up. People wanted to play for him. Fans of other teams hated him. He said and did crap to tick people off. In the words of a former US President, he was “our S.O.B.”
I have faith that the squad can pull together and finish the season well. But, years from now, no matter how many trophies are earned; we will be nostalgic for 2004-2007.
Johnarejr, I couldn’t agree more with how I think we’ll look back on the JM years. And with him set to take another giant club on (Milan, hopefully) I can’t wait till I can cheer for a team with him at the helm.
But Grant’s truly becoming a manager I like, especially with cutting all the ‘beautiful football’ crap and the yelling in the locker-room against Fulham. He’s gaining, bit by bit, my admiration, and perhaps soon, my love.
AG will be there for the foresseable future so RA can play his Fantasy Football.
Avram is a good coach but Jose Mourinho is the BEST COACH.
Jewish tend to protect a lot their own people but in this case some of you don’t know what you are talking about. Although you won’t say it you try to protect him. This is not about races but about achievements.
MOURINHO is just the best on that.
Numbers, statistics have proven that he was right. He was just the most successefull coach in history on a short period of time.
The future will dictates if he will be considered the greatest or not and only numbers will give him the status. But again, numbers will dictate what Avram is and so far is a “0″ for me.
And I can not forget the way he mined Jose to get his job. He was a coward then and still is because is lying about his achievements.
Although everybody deserves a chance, Avram shouldn’t because he did not play a fair game with Jose.
Sooner or later his luck will end and I hope sooner because sooner we will start a new chapter at Chelsea FC.
I have no religion or I do have is Chelsea FC.
Just one more thing.
I’ve seen people calling Jose Mourinho arrogant wich is acceptable, but what would be Avram Grant then?
Mourinho won trophys and Grant no.
I don’t know… maybe I’m worng…
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