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.

{democracy:83}