Last season, the one thing that was eluding us all along was luck. Same time last period, we saw own goals by Essien and Ashley Cole giving away crucial points, also got us the fame as the team that hit the woodwork most number of times etc. No worries this time as we got our good luck charm that is Avram Grant. In just about a week, we have won two cup matches both with the help of own goals!
I didn’t see this match as well. So, it’s gonna be second hand garbage than the regular first hand one (I hope to see the highlights tonight). I see that SWP has had a great match. I’m happy for him, he is a nice lad. Still I’m not convinced about him. The problem with SWP has been two-fold: his decision making and his consistency. Last night the former came good, probably. I would wait for the latter. May be he was motivated because Fabio Capello was watching from the stands. If that’s the case, let’s give a season ticket to Capello.
I was hoping for a 2-0 but 2-1 is fine enough. I also understand that we played well enough to deserve the win. Avram did the mistake of not taking the three points quietly against Everton in the premier league match. Now this time, he brought on Ferreira late on, to shut shop and go to Goodison park with a draw and that’s when Lescott thought of gifting us. In the premier league match, we went on without shifting tactics and lost 2 points. In the domestic cup match, in the first leg at home of a two-legged semi-final, we shut shop to go with a draw. I would do exactly the opposite.
Avram hopes to have Anelka play for us this Saturday against Tottenham. Hopefully we would settle for a price of £12 million. It would be nice to see Anelka vs Berbatov this weekend. Before that, the Spurs will have to take on Arsenal tonight the other League Cup semifinals at the Emigrants. I just hope that it stays 0-0 and then Diaby scores an own goal right at the death. I’m not joking, I’m serious!
67 Responses - Add your comment!
responding to nubskeh’s comments in the previous post
nubskeh – stop preaching, will ya? last season there were so many who hated jose and wanted to see him die. those buggers who did not support the manager last season are not supporters of the club, is it?
let them come out and admit that. just because avram is the manager why should i support him? did the real madrid fans support capello, they fecking spat at him.
you can replace avram with my grandma, she will do as well as we have done with this great team, brilliant assistants, co-operative owner etc. Only thing is my grandma does not know football but that’s ok, she then makes a nice one to one replacement for grant.
finally, stop this double standards. avram will be treated the same way the legendary jose mourinho was treated by his haters.
i wish i had befriended roman, i would have become the manager lol!!!
@BC
No bad feelings mate between us…………as a gift[u will consider at as gift]i m posting the link of lol thread
“Luis Figo Has Accepted The Contract From Queens Park Rangers and Has Rejcted The One Off Of Fulham.
He Said “Queens Park Rangers Are On The Up. And I Want To Help Them. “”
one of those shocking transfer news from:www.football-rumours.com
i have been laughing since last 30 min………..it’s a discovery by mistake………….whenever feelin low go to this site
Guys i was looking at the fixtures and i came up with the fixtures during the ACN where we will be without drogs, essien, kalou and mikel(anyways out for 4 matches)
premier league
12.01 tottenham Home
19.01 birmingham city Away
30.01 reading Home
02.02 portsmouth Away
10.02 liverpool Home
carling cup
23.01 Everton Away
FA cup
26.01 Wigan Away
So what we have is on stake is our existence in 3 of the competions we play. We can be out of carling cup and FA cup and may loose further ground in title race.
League – I dont see too much of a threat from the teams we play and may be we can have a few players back by liverpool game.
carling cup – we have conceeded 1 away goal but i dont see us not scoring against everton. 1 goal lead is quite good to hang out.
FA cup – wigan is manageable with the quality we have.
So do we really need to put in a lot of money for this period of time. we might be able to get better players in summer. anelka is ok as he is not CL bound. Do you think its a tough time for us????
THIS IS A JOKE – WHAT A JOKE – A bad one I must add!
You are right ,you and many of the others HATE AG just because he is AG!
No reason – nothing (how can you have a reason , anyway he does nothing-your Grandma can do the same) -right?!
One need only to read ” Own Goal winner again” to understand the state of mind of some of you.Yes ,poor JM he didn’t have the same luck as AG.
You create luck ,you don’t just seat there and wait for it to come- got it ?
This is what I expected – Right BELLA ?
He maybe a friend of RA,I don’t know where you got this knowledge from .
But since when friendship is a substitute for knowledge and ability?
Since when an owner who spend fortune on establishing a new Chelsea will
take a risk in appointing a friend to this demanding job?
Or are you trying to tell me that RA wants to show that he can win without
a manager?
That he can buy any player and have your Grandma manage them and they can win?
You are ridiculous!!
JM was on the way out before AG arrived ! He was in the way out for the same reason Cappelo was out.
No supporter of Chelsea ever hated JM- !!
If anything they hated the style of play he preached and made his team play.
If anything they were upset to see how the attacking minded team Reniery build was downgraded to a boring ,defensive team with no game spirit.
The same is true with Cappelo in Madrid.That is why he was sacked after winning the La liga in his first year.
Swallow it – If Chelsea will continue to play as last night -AG is here to stay.
And with him a new Chelsea will be build ! A team that will dominate the EPL for years to come .A team that will attract more and more new supporters for its style of play as well as winning trophies.
The legacy of Chelsea started with RA ,not with JM , and will continue with RA!
Both JM and AG are only the tools to get there.And tools has to fit the aim ,not
vise a versa !!
I know I am talking to the deaf – But you can read and maybe reflect back into yourself-May be you will wake up one day.
i cant belive that stupid took of joe and put in sidwell. sidwell is good but not when u are one man down. and for those who still thinks pizarro is good. i dont know, i give upp. he is the worst striker in the world. i wanna break his neck. haha. well we won and im happy but ive never been this scared watching a game in my life. avram my friend if you really like cheslea then leave the club. do what you did before when we diddnt se you that much. u belong behind the camera. swp cole beletti carvalho great job. love to se carvalho back.
If you won’t support him, then at least give him a chance. To come in when he did, he has done a good (if not very good) job with Chelsea. We are in the Carling Cup Semi-Final, leading 2 goals to 1 going into the second leg. We are in the FA Cup 4th Round. We are in the Champions League 1st knockout round after finishing first in a tough group. And perhaps more importantly we are still alive in the premier league. Both Arsenal and Man Utd have had little hiccups this year in an uninterrupted season for them yet we are still there in January. We still have a great chance of winning the Premier League, as well as every other trophy. What more can you ask? You want success on the pitch and he has delivered that. Sure, some games haven’t been performed in the greatest style but he has been in the job for just over 3 months. That is not a long time to influence the players to his definite style. We are seeing glimpses of his preaching, for instance Man City (Man City weren’t great but it was because we played at a level they couldn’t compete with) and tonight (attacking domination for much more than an hour of play, even with 10 men!) and he has managed to scrape out good results against tough teams, for instance Valencia and Schalke in Champions League and Liverpool in the Carling. He is not the most charismatic manager alive but as Bella said in a previous post, every person makes their mistakes, nobody is perfect.
Double standards? What on earth do you mean? I treated Jose Mourinho with utmost respect! It was a shame that there were “fans” that treated Jose poorly, just like it is a shame that there are “fans” that treat Avram poorly. Double standards that.
BC – I watched the game and I can tell you that Chelsea dominated proceedings from the get go, and there was only a limited time after Mikel was sent off that we allowed Everton to attack. It was a poor decision by the ref and it nearly cost us. For their goal, Hilario failed to deal with the cross correctly, he tried to run out and punch it away but missed by a fair margin and left the goal unprotected. That is his real weakness, Hilario. His inability to deal with high balls and crosses. He is a superb shotstopper and he has shown that skill a number of times, it’s just he fails to deal with crosses that Cech flourishes in doing. However, it was a great display from Chelsea and it finally showed a brand of attacking, positive football that Avram wants. Chelsea didn’t sit back and defend, they attacked throughout the whole game (except after our winner of course). It is a shame that the winner was credited as a Lescott own goal, because it was the work of SWP that got the goal. I doubt he has ever leapt so high in his life, because to get higher than Lescott was some feat. Lescott was caught sleeping and felt the pressure of SWP before mistakingly nodding into his own net. SWP’s first goal though was no doubt his, a beautiful curling shot. Let’s hope he continues this form as if he plays like this we will hopefully see more attacking football. I know he is so very inconsistent, which is so disappointing as he could be a potentially world class player if he kept playing game after game like this.
Hopefully Spurs get a win tonight against Arsenal, that’d be magnificent
chelsea is a good team. do u think avram grant is the one that made chelsea win the games?
What a game!!! I dont know who the blues play for !!! probably for the fans like us!!
Chelsea is winning because of the players and the attitude which was built all through the last three seasons.
I bet If we would have had given the same team to Avram three years back…. we wouldn’t have been a ‘Force in European Football’, for sure….. and I guess everybody accepts that. So, we should give due credit to Jose who was brilliant in tactics and highly influential… media handling comes in as the Icing on the cake.
As I mentioned, Chelsea is only winning because of the players and to some extent even Luck this season. For the so called manager of our dear club, he has mostly been wrong with his tactics than being even correct…… I am leaving out exceptional or brillianlt here….
Finally, good for us that Chelsea is winning, Ballack and Carvalho are back in good form… and finally we don’t have any major clashes during AFC. Hope the players continue this same flow and we end up at-least No-2 in the league. Don’t forget this spot will be an achievement for us being around with Avram. Whereas Jose got us the League in his very first Season.
Yesterday was another game that proves the point of many people that do not like AG, there is no doubt that it was at times end to end match, but AG is riding a lot on luck, yes luck, 2 games through with own goals.
A better team would crucify chelsea after the sending off and after 10 minutes the equalizer. For those that metioned that JM would shut shop and would be happy for the draw, may have a short memory, if I recall last year chelsea was in a similar situation and chelsea went the whole match in attack, ( i dont rtemember but i think it was against WestHam), last year we were called the kings of the woodwork, but unfortunetely there was no own goals, just like this year.
Anyway a good match, SWP played weel, so did Malouda, but for me is Carvalho the guy must be the best central defender in the world, already he was the best player in the euro 2004, no doubt he is impressive, but the italians and the spaniards are after him. Maloud was ok and played better than lately, this guy is a player that needs ;lots of attention and need really to be motivated, needs a good man to man management to get him to the level that he showed in France. Pizzarro is having a tormented time, I can not believe that all of a sudden he forgot how to play, maybe he is not playing in his usuall place, remember Ballack?? i still would keep him he cant have lost it all with his transfer to chelsea. For me though is DD, he is deffinetly 1 of the tops strikers in the world right now, Anelka is good i always liked him but is a very temperamental and also needs constant attention and motivation,
Anyway its due where it shoud go if AV can motivate his wife to drink piss, i am hoping he can motivate the players to play 100% attack, rather than the shit he has been giving us lately. Last night was better, but 1 swallow doesnt kame the summer.
Hey guys have you noticed that AV in his last 2 interviews he no longer mentions the past or does any comparions with the “before”? have a feeling he reads this blog lol, but i am still not convinced that he is the manager for chelsea.
Ok now i am going to meet AG for a coffee he loves me to bits.
It is so clear that avram is not a good tactician and manager. his substitutions and formations have been absurd. If i ever get the chance to watch a game at the bridge, i’ll shoot him dead.
It usually annoys me when he compares himself to mourinho, talking about his formations and all that as if he could ever achieve what mourinho did at chelsea. For instance, last season against everton, when we won 4-3. if you recall, everton was beating us and we kept coming back. that superb ballack free kick and drogba’s long volley gave us the points. People knew us for comebacks and almost teams were even scared to take the lead. During Mourinho’s first two seasons, we didn’t concede in most of our matches.
Now with avram, it’s always 2-1. Most of my friends over here (denver, colorado,usa) don’t watch chelsea matches again because we all know what the score will eventually be 2-1. we’ll first score a goal followed with a few squandered chances, then the opposition will then equalize. in the end, an own goal, a penalty or linesman’s mistake will give us the point. For God’s sake, we conceded 4 goals at “slaughter house”( that’s what my friends call stamford bridge) Aston villa beat us at villa park and still wanted to beat us at the slaughter house. it’s so painful.
if i ever go to england, i’ll head for the slaughter house to shoot avram DEAD.
what if we were facing AC milan in the champions league with this our current performance. That will be the end. A coach that i’m so sure no other premiership club ( except maybe the bottom three) can hire because he’s a big risk. i even heard he was sacked by portsmouth. If you give him the chance, he’ll turn chelsea’s team to the israeli national team. for some time, ben haim became a first team player. After the liverpool game, he was talking with benayoun and i saw on a site that chelsea is interested in benayoun. there’s also another rumor that he’ll be bringing in six israeli players to train with the chelsea reserve team.
is that the kind of manager we want? why didn’t ranieri turn chelsea to an italian team? why didn’t mourinho turn chelsea into a porugese team?
Guys Pizarro has never made any claims of being an out and out striker- he has always been a very good supporting striker because his strength lies more in creating great striking opportunities that can be taken advantage of by all players around the last third. Why are we on his case? Grant had it coming. If you keep an intellingent player all along on the bench even though you know very soon you will be depending solely on him, then the problem is yours.
What Piz needs is real support from another striker. He is basically not a bad player but he has never claimed to be a Drogba who can hang in there alone amidst defenders who are swarming all over you.
By the way, dont i like Belleti. SWP should be made to play more inside than out there. he does a better job that way.
This is my short 2 cents
i’m not unhappy with AvG’s performances so far. i think he has done a decent job.
i also think there are managers out there who are better qualified for the job.
and i am still massively unhappy that mourinho left as he was awesome.
but… i think AvG has done a decent job so far. Things could be better but i’m happy to sit on the fence and wait and see.
i feel beletti, swp, carvalho, alex, bridge, jcole all had a brilliant game!! beletti and swp were linking up terrifically, bridge was causing problems on the left and carvalho and alex were pretty much solid in defence and jcole was just his usual awesome self. malouda and pizarro are some of the weaknesses in our team…malouda does not do much on the left and cannot dribble past a player, hes useless. while pizarro cannot play as a lone striker, he needs someone to support him…hes more of a creative player who assists the main striker. mikels red card was was not a bad call, high studs tackle explains itself. hilario is a great shotstopper but needs to work on his decision making and need to learn when to come out and punch the ball. the sub for jcole off for sidwell was absurd!!! and also the sub pizarro off for ferreira!!! wat is avram thinking? were stuck on a 1-1 draw and he decides to play defensive? we dominated the match…AVRAM HAS GOT TO BE SACKED QUICKLY BEFORE OUR LUCK RUNS AWAY!!!
@blueboy
Don’t forget who brought us that luck ?
when Jose was sacked, most of fans including me said we are out of title race , but Avram brought us the hope again.
I do not thi nk Avram is a bad coach however I am sure (I am a big fan of Jose) if Jose had been on the bench , we would have already been out of title race this season.
just take a look as last jose results . we always had problem when Terry and Lampard was injured when Jose was our coach , but now we do not even feel their absence.
@ Maysam
Oh Yes if JM was our present manager we would be out of the title race.
Just like since he joined chelsea we were always out of the title race, even last season we were chasing MU all the way , albeit with 6 ppoints adrift, and if it weren’t for RA , cox he never gave any money in January to buy players, like he is doing now to his PAL AG, I am not sure if the title wouldn’t go to the last game.
But then RA by then wanted JM out, not because chelsea was not an attacking team, only because JM does not want anyone to intefere with the team selection, unlike AG that does as he told.
Look at the 2 russian players RA bought when he went to Russia? Never heard of them, and what i have seen in the net they r really crap, but they r russians.
The same applies to AG, as I always said in previous blogs the man is there because of his friendship with RA and his faith not because of achievement.
So I am not at all convinved that AG is the manager for chelsea, but it doesnt matter as long as RA wants him he is there, and I do not think that AG has the personality of refusing any RA wishes.
Every game post JM has been a”heart attack” apart from the match against ManCity, you never know when we suffer a goal, besides lately our goals are always from corners, free kicks, not from fluid counter attack, or constant attack using the flanks etc.
AVRAM MUST BE SACKED. He is an accident waiting to happen. We are only winning because we’ve got fantastic players. He has no experience and was even sacked at portsmouth. Have you ever heard him talking during a press conference. he’s always dragging his speech like a baby, like an idiot.
Do you think our players will take instructions from that kind of person? i’m sure they usually make jest of him.
He looks too old for coaching and i canbet my bank account that he can’t run round the pitch once. (that’s if he can even kick a football) This “bomb” will soon go off. SACK AVRAM. SACK SACK SACK
I have said before I am indifferent about the appointment of AG. After last nite all I can say well it is Roman’s money after all – but I am paying to watch some real stupid like diabolical decisions just like I was doing in the 80s at least this time though we are winning.
AG hasn’t got the bottle of JM, Vialli, Gullit. Why take off your second most influential player on the pitch in Joe Cole (after Mikel got sent off) and replace him with the third most ineffective player on the pitch – Steve Sidwell to protect a 1-0. Pizarro and Malouda being the first two on the list. At this point I really thought we was going to lose 2-1 and we could have done, if anybody saw the game.
Pizarro should have gone after ten mins and Sahar should have come on. Jose would have done it, any manager would have done it. And then what did AG then do. Take Pizarro off and replace him with Ferreira (with 10 mins to go) and push SWP up as centre-forward and protect what you got a 1-1.
AG got lucky as we all know now. A high overhead kick/cross from Ballack saw the nut of Lescott head into his own goal – then seconds later HIlario saved the day with a brave save from Lescott trying to redeem his earlier error.
One more thing we still havent signed Anelka. Grant said he wanted him for last night’s game, so why did Chelsea wait till Monday to put in an official offer? Surely they must have known they were going to get knocked back. I can’t see Anelka joining us in time for Saturday – Surely Pizarro can’t start again!!!!
Bring on the kids FFS
KTBFFH
Moyo & BlueBlood58
You guys make absolute sense. AG is simply riding his luck. And the fact is the team is winning despite AG’s comedic tactical disasters.
i can fancy my chances to be the chelsea manager . . poooh . . if only i’m a friend of roman!
Hey Moyo! Are you a new comer on this blog? Warm welcome mate. Even I joined recently and i’m loving it.
Cheers ‘This is a Joke.’
BTW Tottingham are leading 1-0 at ArseNIL
KTBFFH
Half-time
ArseNIL 0-1 Tottingham
KTBFFH
Guys, guys, guys. Mr. Grant…
Yesterday’s was a good game. Almost everybody had a good game, except pizarro (seriously, I’m beginning to get worried about the guy. One can see he has the moves , but… Maybe it’s another sheva). Okay Sidwell and maybe Malouda too- untill the last say 20mins.
About the substitutions, I think I see the problem Mr. Grant had: 1 man down there was the fear of conceeding the goal, but the pressure was on EVERTON yet the goal wasn’t coming. So to strengthen the defence and sharpen tthe attack. I think that was the logic, but may also have been where sense ended. I think Sahar shld have come in for Piz. and the person in the midfield that was dispensable was Malouda really. It didn’t make sense leaving swp- adrenalin rush or no- in the No 9 role.
All in all it was a great game.
IT WONT LET ME POST
I would like to counter comment each and and everyones comment, but then it might take me a whole day sitting here, like many of u i am also a Jose fan but hes past and i dont hang on to the past glory, i would rather support the present and get on with it.
Jose was sacked not becos of the results first and formost, its for the style of play, and anyone who watched yesterdays game can say we were playing with a lot of fluidity and confidence even missing several players. many of u mentioned here about Grants luck, well Jose was lucky as well in many many occasions, he wasnt given money to buy a defender during last year, well he was given enough money thorugh out and its his own fault that he didnt strengthen the defence. His famous, “untouchables” well how does every other player in the squad feels, when manager goes on about few players who are untouchables ? do any one remember how much money he was given to bring in paulo feriera ? ?? an average right back ??? how much for ricardo ? how much for SWP, essien, drogba ?? and you are going on about not paying him money during december ?? with the money he spent of players he should be able to keep quite and win every single games. instead he goes on about eggs in supermarket.
grant is lucky ok., hes lucky, everyone needs some luck. some one was saying his grandma cud manage chelsea, y isnt she then ?? If you dont follow football please dont come up with comments like these, pleasee. give credit wer its due. I support chelsea so i support Avaram grant
@16, mate u dont have a clue wat ur talking about please, cud u name me the 2 players roman bot from russia ? what are u on about ?
@17 mate, y dont u try and apply for the post of chelsea manager ?
CFC (or whatever you call yourself)
in your post, you were like jose spent a lot on some players like ferreira, drogba, carvalho, essien, etc
Drogba: was bought 24 million and he will be worth that amount forever. if not for him, we wouldn’t have won anything last season. he sored all the goals in both finals. He’s moving to AC in july to join mourinho for 25 million so i think we gained an extra million on him.
carvalho: he’s one of the best defenders in the world. infact, i prefer him to terry. mourinho brought him along with ferreira from porto.
Essien: CFC, i don’t know if you watch football at all. Essien has been one of our best midfielders in years and it’s very stupid for anyone to just write anything on the blog saying we overspent on essien.
Mikel: If you truly watch chelsea games, you’ll notice that mikel is always the heart of the midfield. No one moves forward without passing to mikel and he is the only chelsea player that doesn’t have uncompleted passes ( check his stats) I also noticed that whenever he is attacked, the whistle is always blown (however little the assault on him might be) I know he gets red cards, but he’s a central defensive midfielder….. c’mon.
To CFC: I read you saying mourinho belongs to the past. To me, mourinho is the best thing that ever happened to chelsea. Before he came, there was nothing like “the big four” Now we are a force to reckon with. And about his untouchables, i think all managers have got untouchables in their team. He was the only one who could list out his own to the media. Every team has untouchables and Avram also has his untouchables so i think it’s no big deal.
Plus you said jose was lucky… um.. oh i see… he was lucky for three straight seasons of trophies.. huh? Hey people, let’s think b4 we post comments.
@ This is a Joke – What a joke – a bad one I would say.
You find it hard to swallow that things are changing in Chelsea, isn’t it?
And yes there is a mickymouse by the name of AG who is responsible for this
and you hate him.
I will definitely not try to anaylyze the psychology of this phenomena,but will
show you how rediculous you are ,by using your own arguments.
If your grandma can do the same ,do you hate your grandma for that ?
And if AG does nothing as your grandma does ,why do you hate him?
I don’t expect you to answer that. You probably unable to, like many of the other JM supporters here.
You claim that JM made these players so good.
I guess this suggest that they were not good when he bought them.
Than why did his spend so much money buying them?
“Chelsea always played attacking football “- what a joke !
You can sell it to the Israelies who you calimed joined in after AG.
You can not sell it to me!
“Chelsea always was playing attacking football” – Is your addmission of guilt !
Since by definition you addmit that they do play now attacking football !
Was that the case in previouse years ,under JM ? This is the big question here. You claim yes ,but all the JM supporters refute it!
Simple: The debate here on the style of play started long ago and the argument of the JM supprters was that it does not matter how he plays as long as he is winning the trophies!
Well ,they call it Tactical game not anything else.
So if JM supporters can’t define his style as an attacking football but rather as tactical football ,how can you claim suddenly that it was attacking football?
Or maybe tactical is synonym to attacking?
The only time JM played attacking football was in his first year – He was playing with Reniery team with some added strength to the defence and midfield.
From the 2nd year onward it was – JM TEAM – and it was going in one direction -from attacking to tactical.
From exciting game into an holding boring game !
So did JM played attacking football ?- You and the JM supporters answered:
clearly not !
Do we play now attacking football – You answered it -yes!
Has something have changed ? It must be – you and the JM supporters are saying that.
You addmit it ,other addmit it ,but you people just refuse to come to terms with it – why ?
Very simple – RA took a mickymouse manager by the name of AG who is exploring the weakness of your hero.
Hard to swallow – I know !
Go ahead and hate AG ,but at list you know now the real reason .
Yopu can sell this garbage to the Israelies here ,You can’t sell it to me.
@ moyo, i am not saying drogba, essien or ricardo or even paulo was bot in for huge amount and are waste, u didnt get my point, what i am saying is he was given enough money for players he wants to bring in, and ofcourse its not one way traffic, when ur the owner and u spent half a billion pound on a team, the owner of the club hav something to say, dont u think so ?? if u spent half a billion would u completely let ur manager do wateevr he wants to do ? i wouldnt,,,and when the money was stopped he had trouble in dealing with the defence, y is that ? injuries ofcourse happens in football, and its the managers job to deal with it, he should have thot about it, incase his untouchable JT gets injured whoses gonna fill in, he didnt and he paid for it, simple as that, one thing i wanna say is i am not a jose hater or i dont dislike him, and i have been watching football for more than 20 years now, so i know exactly what i am talkin about, all i want is people to appreciate and give credit wer its due, I am not blind, i know Grant came in under what ever circumstances, he has done a pritty good job. luck, players commintment, watever u wanna call, hes keeping it all together and i hate when poeple jus slate him for no reason, and by the way, hes not my uncle or F in law, i support him and justify him becos i support the manager of the club i follow, i criticise him when its required and i dont go looking for every word he says and try and give my own interpretation to it and comment on it.
Big sam sacked!!!!!
now its time for rafa !!!!
THE GRANT SECRET from vital football
Writer: Lindy
Date: Wednesday January 9 2008
Time: 4:31PM
I have suspected it quite a while now. At the end of the Everton game I was convinced. I have finally figured out the secret of Avram Grant as person and as manager.
It is luck.
He is simply one of those rare persons that brings with him luck. The charm of the Irish or what the saying is, though he is hardly Irish. Pure simple luck. A most needed quality.
Don`t knock this. I am really serious. (Mostly). I do happen to seriously think that luck might be the most important weapon in a manager`s arsenal. Of course the great managers don`t need it. But I can give several examples of managers that have built a career where the main quality is luck. I will take one close to heart, the national manager of Sweden. I happen to think he is a nincompoop. He has very ordinary skills as manager, can`t coach a team during games, he has a very set mind on tactics and dare not take risks. He awards players for long time service instead of playing the best at the time. Picking the Swedish national team is the easiest thing in the world, just use carbon paper of the last team he fielded.
He does however have the greatest luck in the world when it comes to draws before and in tournaments. The only time it looked on paper that he had bad luck we drew England and Argentina in the World Cup 2002, it was the death group of that tournament, before it started. Both countries were arrogant or totally underestimated Sweden, and paid the price for it. Thanks to good draws Sweden has qualified for all national tournaments in the last 10 years and we do usually move on from group play. (Probably not in Euro08 as I think we have a weaker team this time).
Grant has luck. Like no other Chelsea manager I can remember.
Some might make an argument that he can not be lucky considering the number of injuries we had. Wrong. Totally wrong. Other managers have had half the number of injuries and it cost them many valuable points. Grant doesn`t lose even with half his team in the rehab facility.
If that is not luck what is? Grant`s management skills? Even when he subs a target player for a right back we go on and win the game thanks to a 166cm tall player outjumping one of the better headers in England! In overtime and with only ten men on the pitch. That will not ever happen again. Hence it is pure dumb luck, and I love it.
Grant, an obscure, totally unknown manager without any real merits and qualifications, gets to play with one of the best teams in the world. If that is not luck, I don`t know what luck is. Wish I had a tiny, tiny bit of it sometime.
He gets all kind of support no other manager ever gotten in our club for showing not much of anything, except not losing. A four year contract and the people he wants around him. I would call that luck. He lies openly about our play and nobody cares. Other managers have been fired for the same behaviour. Or at least risk a media storm.
He also showed his luck in the Champion`s League draw. The former manager drew Barcelona and Liverpool with predictable frequency. Grant draws Olympiakos. There is a difference, at least on paper, in opponents there. Again I calll it luck.
Our results during the holidays are excellent. With several late goals that very easily could be called lucky. The Villa game an exception, but after the first half when they outplayed us who did even believe in a draw?
We went through in the FA Cup with a weird goal. Some might even call that lucky,
Don`t knock luck. It is a very important part of the game. And our manager with the sad eyes has it in abundance. Keep it up.
(Do you think he will buy me a lottery ticket if I send him the money?)
LOL LOL LOL LOL ha aha ajha aha aha aha aha
@ 24 – CFC
Let me tell you something about your 20 years of watching football.
JM has always since he started as a full manager, not as an assitant/translator been an attacking football manager. When he was in Benfica the first 3 months Benfica was running away with the title, and the best team then was Porto, he left benfica for the same reason he left Chelsea, he does not like owners/presidents to interfere with his work and how he sees it. When he left Benfica he was supposed to join Sporting of Lisbon, but has he was presented to the fans of Sporting of Lisbon, he was booed so badly, that he did not join, the reason Sporting fans booed him, it is very simple, everyone in Portugal knows that he is a benfica fan and because he managed Benfica the sporting Ffans didnt want him, hence the reason that JM still hates and always rubbishes Sporting of L. He then left and went to managed a provincial team that had just been promoted from the 2nd portuguese division and he took them to 3rd place in that league. Then he joined Porto, Porto was struggling that season and he told the press, with 3 more players I will win the championship and he did. Porto did very well in the CL but did not qualified for the knock out games went to the UEFA and won. The Porto president gave him some more money and he bought 4 more players, and he won the CL title, now watch the games of Porto v Manu, Porto v Liver, Porto v Milan and tell me if they were defensive play. We can not have winning teams with oinly a defence, the forwards and midfielders also score goals. Now he is an impressive tactician, the same school as the brasilians and italians, and he believes that matches are won with a solid defence and midfield, if the midfield players are good than the forwards score. Regarding last year compared to this year, there is not much difference, last year even with more injuries than this year he kept MU on sight and managed to finish 2nd in the league, what I believe is that he lost some passion when RA refused him money to buy new players.
Now the players he bought:
Ricardo carvalho and Paulo ferreira since the european cup of 2004 where always in the team selected by the french newspaper L’Equipe, and all the spanish and italian newspapers, Paulo Ferreira and R Carvalho when they came to chelsea where considered the best defenders on at RB the other CD together with Jorge andrade 9now in juventus). Regarding DD, Essein ans SWP, that RA paid lots of money, well DD, Essein no point to comment, you only have to watch them, about SWP he was the most talented right forward in the UK THEN, it is not his fault that RA paid about £21MM to ManCity, we all know that when chelsea wants a players the price inflates, just like anelka now, though I think he is a damn good player.
So use your analysis without bias; unlike me that I am complete bias against AG, he maybe a nice guy but the way he was promoted makes me sick, thats all.
Yes chelsea maybe was practicing a bit DULL football style in the last months of JM rein, but never defensive because they were still winning the games, and no OWN goals, no luck involved, and had JM stayed you can be sure that Chelsea would win the CL, I have no doubt at all.
About the money that RA spent, well it is his money,it is his toy/hobby but he maybe a very successful business man but he showed some naivity (stupidity?). Because he has so much money has he got the right to interfere with the work of an expert? would RA allow JM to interfere in his oil business?? c’mon he got rid of JM only because JM wouldnt allow his interference in the selecting the team,i.e. Sheva brought against the will of JM, but if you read the teams JM field him for many many games, even when everybody could see he was past.
Regarding AG people slate him because of his comments, the man brought into himself the criticism, he tried to convince people that he knew better and just after a few games i recall him saying that NOW chelsea was playing a much better football, the guy is a talentless idiot, has no experience, he a lucky guy, not to mention his substitutions and tactics, again he very lucky to have Steve Clark and ten Cate maybe he can learn something specially from Steve Clark.
So CFC I hope that your 20 years of football can give you a better understanding/ analysis of his skills.
Just to finish, to be a good tactician in football, sometimes it may look that a team is playing defensivelly, but in fact is studying the opposition in order to score when they attack. I rather have 5/6 chances of goal and score 3 than have 20 and score the same goals. A good tactician and manager studies the opposition and make sure the probabilities of scoring are higher when they attack, like going forward like headless chickens.
I go furthher there is no merit at all in the gamse that Chelsea are winning under AG, luck, own goals and fantastic, intelligent substitutions.
Buy the DVDs of his managerial time with the Israel team and tell me if he is lucky or if he is lucky, and look at his defensive team.
C’mon.
@29 – JoseHoliday
LOLOLOLOLOL
Very good article, and i thought it was only me that called him lucky.
Another thing do you guys think AG reads this blog?
Lately he is not selling the idea of attacking. sexy, intelligent football that chelsea is playing.
Also he is not having any digs at JM or the “BEFORE”, and NOW.
Hmmmmmmmmmm have someone told him about this blog or does he read it?
Having so much luck and winning cos of that makes us a laughing stock
cos
the qualities of great teams are : skill , tactics ,attitude and a steady manager to take the team thru thick and thin …… plus a good dose of luck
but how miuch of this stuff do we have now ?
but I have to say AG’s great luck is better than none at all.
He is only unlucky in one area : that JM was his predeceesor and lots of people admired JM
@ 26 – What a Joke
About the players JM bought, yes they were good, he saw the potential in them, but he made them better and best in the europe i.e. Dd, essien, and malouda would go the same way.
When he arrived at Chelsea , chelsea was a good team, he made it better, champions.
When he arrived JT. FL ere good players he made them best in world when in form.
You mentioned Paulo Ferreira an average right back, tell me when he is inform a better one, or read the above.
LUCK:
CL when did he get an olympiakos or a valencia in complete dissaray between players and manager?
Yes he was very lucky against liverpool with a goal that was not a goal.
@ used2gonwatchcfc :
as i mentioned before I do not care about attacking football . I like to win . I have seen chelsea with Gullit , Vialli and Ranieri too we were not fantastic at that time either. but I supported them.
Even If Roman selects the line up , as long as chelsea wins , that’s fine to me.
Russian players were not bad . Alexi Smertin and Jarosik , to be honest with you I liked Jarosik very much . but He was not proper for the Jose system.
by the way, I said this one before, Jose was not good at choosing players. Jose is a good manager, one of the best in the world , but He really owes Ranierr. the first year , the most important players who brough us the championship lonely was Peter Cech adn Robben whom was bought by Raneiri.
just take alook at players who came to chelsea by Ranieri you will find out what I mean ,
Lampard , Joe Cole , Makelele , Bridge , Gronjear (I am still sad about his departure) , Gudjohnson , Cech , Robben , and Duff , how many of them had key roles in Jose’s successes in chelsea ?
I hope Avram does well too .
but trust me right now Avram is the best choice for chelsea.
Mr. What a Joke @ 26
Thanks for making your post mostly unreadable. That way I avoided a lot of garbage. There is too much air and less substance in your post (in all your posts)
Few things:
1. I don’t hate Avram Grant
2. You have no clue about what ‘attacking football’ means
3. There were no world class players in Chelsea when JM took over
4. JM is not my hero, he is a Chelsea FC legend
@maysam
i do not understand what people mean when they say jose inheritted renieris players. You might be knowing jose got rid of a lot of players in the squad when he came.. he retained these people because they had quality.. he didnt wanted to change them but improve upon them to get results.
whats wrong in this? why will anyone change good players may them be brought into the club by anyone… we were lacking one specific area thats defence and champions mentality which he imparted to perfection
Of course Hernan Crespo excluded!!
Maysam @ 36
You’re such a relief man. I agree with you. Very good point. JM eliminated a few and retained a few and added a few and won us two titles. even 11 great players won’t make a great team. but 11 average to good players (in 2004, mind you) together became a great team, thanks to JM.
Maysam @ 34
When Ranieri brought Cech, it left the whole goalkeeper situation in a complete mess. Cudicini was the one of the best in England then and Cech comes in and both Cech and Carlo didn’t know what their future roles and the roles each other were. It was JM to cleared the mess with his man management. And that’s why Carlo was ready give his place to Cech, despite him being regarded as the best in England and that’s why JM managed to retain him for so long as the second choice keeper.
Please do go to the details. Don’t just see who bought who etc.
#39 – absolutely right. same applies to A.Cole and Bridge. JM was the reason why Bridge signed 4 yrs contract.
When’s the next CL match ? and you know Olympiakos are not pushovers at their own place …..
its after the ACN .. feb 20 th i guess
The proof of the pudding is in eating it.
JM inherited players from Ranieri, a much better manager than this “clown” we have now, what he did was to make them believe that they were the best and to prove it in the field hence 2 titles, regarding the players that left if a club is prepared to pay the price and the player wants to leave nothing you can do, i.e. Roben, but was not a bad transfer for chelsea Roben hardly played in Real Madrid, and is constantly injured, though a damn good player when he is ok.
The difference from JM and AG is very simple, JM is a leader and AG is a follower
JM makes stars, ie, DD, Esseiin , JT, FL, and yes, yes Pet cech like Alex ferguson, i.e. Anderson Nani, Ronaldo, like A Wenger, Tierry Henry, Fabregas, etc etc.
It is just the difference.
The only element missing in JM armour is LUCK, but then he needs not as he he is a brilliant tactician,and manager.
The day AG leaves chelsea I want to see how many clubs will go for his services.
Was a good thing the FA didnt have him has a candidate, LMAO
and yes Olympiakos is a push over, on paper and on the field.
@ 30
thanks for the reply and the elobarate explanation of great Jose, i think u still dont understand my point, i am not here to take away anything from Jose, hes great and i agree,
“Look at the 2 russian players RA bought when he went to Russia? Never heard of them, and what i have seen in the net they r really cräp, but they r russians.
The same applies to AG, as I always said in previous blogs the man is there because of his friendship with RA and his faith not because of achievement.”
what i want to know is who are the 2 russian players RA bought from russia ? and ur point about AG being the manager just becos hes frends with RA and his faith, not becos of his achievement, i have to disagree wid u, not necessary that every good manager has to achieve great things, there are plenty of good managers who hasnt achievd anything when it comes to trophies, if you are calculating achievement on the number of trophies the manager gets. and wat r u on about faith ? if you cud please explain.
@This is a Joke — 39
yes , Cech was bought by Ranieri . and Ranieri was a wise guy he knew that Carlo is getting old , and we will need a GK sooner or later. and Cech was a good choice Ranieri did not wait becasue other clubs wanted Cech too.
Jose eliminated some players from the squad , and some of them were very very good. and some of them were very common players.
the olny good players who were bought by Jose and are very good are Drogba and Carvaliho , that’s it . show me another example .
trust me , next mourinho job will be tough for him unless he goes to Real Madrid or Barcelona becasue thses teams have good players so he does not need to construct a team but if he goes to Milan ,he won’t be successful
Source : Wikipedia
Chelsea (2004–present)
?ech and teammate Arjen Robben celebrate their second Premiership title.It was Claudio Ranieri, then manager of Chelsea, who decided that the young Czech goalkeeper was his choice as understudy to Carlo Cudicini (though that was not exactly the way things turned out). In January 2004, he agreed a summer move to Chelsea for £7m (€10.3m), signing a five-year contract, to commence in July 2004.
We have the three BEST goalkeepers in the Premiership – Cech, Carlo and Hilario – Hilario has never let us down – he saved us against Barca in the CL, he saved us against Sheff Utd when he saved a penalty and despite his flapping at the cross which Yakubu eventually scored from, his shot saving is top notch aka Lescott last second effort.
Chelsea are blessed with quality goalkeepers.
Ranieri knew his keeper when he pre-signed Cech and JM knew his keeper when he signed Hilario and credit where credit is due. Hilario moved his wife and children almost immediately to Cobham and his children settled in straight away.
We Got Hilario, We Got Hilario, We Got Hilario
Hilario is a legend
KTBFFH
Hilario is the only keeper with a CL medal
How hilarious, lol
Maysam – sorry mate. I’ve to disagree. Carlo getting old? Generally goal keepers get better with age and most goalies reach their peak when they are 30 – 35.
You wanted more examples of very good JM purchases – Essien, Hilario, Belletti, Malouda, Alex etc
JM made brilliant signings in one forward (Drogba), one midfielder (Essien) and one defender (Carvalho) – all pure GOLD.
To my list of #50, also add John Obi Mikel
ok guys. what’s the point in discussing JM vs AG now. lets talk about the spurs match.
the russians players are at Lokomotiv of Moscow
well i believe one is serbian, Ivaconovitch something like that
go there
http://www.goal.com/en/default.aspx
you guys did not get me ,
) it is funny , i do not agree with that .
first of all , who said old GK are better ? so teams should not spend thier money on young GKs ? they should keep them in storage let them rag .
I like Hilario , actually when chelsea came to the U.S.A , nobody knew him , and then I called him to take a photo with him , he thought i am potugese and he respected me a lot , and I had a short chat with him . he is a pure world class player. but I cannot say he was a good signing . Jose chose him becasue he knew him from Porto. that’s it . and even Hilario did not think he has chance to play. but he is a good GK.
Malouda, dude , not so fat, it is too soon to judge him, right now my first wingers are 1 – Joe COle , 2 – SWP , 3-Kaloud and 444- Malouda. Malouda has a long way to go. it is too soon.
Drogba : I agree with you.
Carvaliho : I agree with you.
Alex : it is too soon to judge him, when I have Terry and Carvaliho , I do not even think aobut him .
but give me your thought about these purchases :
1 – Cech — brought us two championships
2 – Lampard – 100 goal
3 – Joe Cole – the only player who show some triks on the pitch.
4 – Maka – brought us two championships
5 – Robben – brought us two championships
6 – Duff – before Roben’s arrival , the best winger.
I totaly agree with “ARTHOR” , but the point is that I am not compering Grant with Mourinho , they are not comperable. Grant is not a manager he will be changed at the end of the season ( BUT RIGHT NOW HE IS THE BEST CHOICE , THERE IS NO WORLD CLASS MAANGER TO COME TO CHELSEA ) . what i am
trying to say is that Mourinho has some negative points such as
- Finding good players .
- Handling Media .
you will see these negative points in his next team , unless he changes himself.
by the way, right now , you cannot peck at Avram becasue there is no reason to do so.
by the way you forgot to mention some of good mourinho purchases such as
Tiago and Maniche.
excellent match preview chelsea vs spurs on chelsea website.
Maysam
JM was here for only three seasons. So, you’re going to say “too soon to judge” for most of the players he bought. Compare the effectiveness of the purchases of top managers in the first few seasons – who did wenger buy from 96 – 99 and how they looked in 99 (don’t say henry, at hindsight we know he’s great, but we’re saying that 10 years later). who did fergie buy in his first three seasons? who did rafa buy? he had nothing to do with gerrard or carragher!
don’t have double standards when you’re judging JM alone.
robben brought us two championships – sorry you’re wrong. How conveniently you’ve not talked about Essien and Mikel. I can tell you one thing. If RA gives 20 years of management (like Fergie) to JM or 10 years (like Wenger), he would be a bigger legend than them.
Sorry mate but Essien has won one EPL title with us not two. Mikel has not won an EPL title. check ur facts.
Man U going for Huntelaar????
Avram is a lucky guy to get the chelsea Guy,
Avram is a lucky guy to win games by own goals..
Avram is a lucky Guy because we might win more than one trophy this season
Avram is Lucky Guy because we have a good squad
Avram Is A Lucky Guy because he is Lucky Guy…
haha haha
KTBFFH
SWP..!! LOL.
i was watching eurosport today and was angry when i saw drogba talking about leaving chelsea….wwould someone please tell this dude to shut his trap and get ready to bounce at the end of the season because we dont really need him again….maybe he’s scared of fighting for a place when we buy out new strikers….hehehe
Hey guys, we have just signed Anelka, it’s on football365
[...] last few seasons, I guess only half them could be reasonable. In the first leg, we were helped by a Lescott own goal and I don’t think we expect any such favours in this leg, purely going by the law of [...]
i want to watch your previous match now, because i like to watch your match obviously.
i love how chesea play they are so great that i was so happy when i was watching your match you are great i love chelsea and every thing about chelsea.