Matches, Premier League - Written by BlueChampion on Saturday, December 29, 2007 22:22 | 2,410 Views | 94 Comments | Add Comment
Chelsea 2-1 Newcastle | Goal from the heavens!
Three crucial points! Thanks to the linesman and Kalou, in that order. In a remarkable day of favourable results, West Ham complete the double over Man Utd but Arsenal top the table which leaves us trailing them by 6 points.
We started with 4-3-3 once again but Cech and Shevchenko were missing due to injuries. We completely dominated the first half but I don’t mean we played brilliantly. Newcastle were way too horrible and gave no challenge at all. It was just a question of Chelsea taking advantage of a poor opposition and killing the game off. Ideally we should have finished off the game in the first half because the second was going to belong to Newcastle.
In the first half we were really helped by our poor opponents. Sam’s boys were so bad that on a different day they might have got conceded about 3 goals in the first half. Martins was the one and only danger from their side. It was clear that if the supply to Martins is cut, there would not be any threat from Newcastle at all. While we were attacking relentlessly, we could come up with clear cut chances. I was quite happy with the individual performances our players in the first half but the when we got closer to the goal, each of them were having different ideas of finishing the attack. We got a thoroughly deserved lead in the first half. Though the ball brushed Kalou’s arm, that was not a punishable hand ball.
Get ready guys! I’m gonna talk about Grant’s post match comments. I know you’re getting sick of it but you know what, same here. I’m getting sick of his digs. If you think his remarks have no malice and he talks like any other noble gentleman, that’s your view.
I didn’t see it (on Kalou’s offside goal) but we created so many chances that we deserved to win anyway. I think we are in the picture with the race to be champions, I never give up. The situation sometimes is not easy, and if Man Utd didn’t lose today we would continue to fight. You saw the spirit of the team today, they showed great spirit. The supporters are behind us, and know that we are not in easy times with all the problems we have. It’s not easy, I think everybody remembers what happens last year with two or three injured, but today with ten injuries this is the time to speak about the players that played. They showed good football, especially in the first half, a lot of chances, and a lot of character at the end of the game. I made substitutions because after the goal we didn’t play well, Joe Cole had some problems, and Ballack hasn’t played so much so he cannot do 90 minutes in our programme. Because of the problem I preferred to change the system, and changed to 4-2-4 and I think it changed the game, so it was a good sub. You need to think about tactics more carefully than before.
This year better than last year . . blah blah blah . . yawn . . blah blah. Look at him talking about his own tactical brilliance - his substitutions, his change of formation, his tactics - man, he needs appreciation. I’m sure he wants people to say ‘Avram is a master tactician’ or something. No Avram, your tactics did not change the game. Did you thank the linesman after the match? That’s it. My boring, annoying, stinking remarks about Avram’s boring, annoying, stinking post match comments is over.
Today at the Stamford Bridge, Avram Grant was heavily boooooed and he had to listen to the Chelsea fans singing “you don’t know what you’re doing”. That was really bad but I’m very serious when I say Avram needs assistance in building up his image because left to himself, he’s gonna ruin it badly.
Sam Allardyce was furious over the Kalou goal which is quite natural as it costs not only points but also his bloody job! But he should that it is part and parcel of professional football.
It hurts deeply - not just for me but the players in particular. A result has been taken away from us by no fault of our own, by an assistant referee that has got a horrible decision wrong. You have to complain when a decision like this is made and it has cost us a crucial result.
Now coming over to our second half performance. Newcastle was the team that played the second half. When they equalised, that was may be to some extent, against the run of play. From that moment on, they were a completely different team. They pushed us on the back foot and started playing as if they were in St. James Park. We were just spectators for long periods of time and I even thought we’re going to concede sooner or later. The Chelsea I knew was much different than the one I saw today. One thing is opponents like Newcastle would never get to score at the Stamford Bridge. Even if they get to net one, they’d preserve it so well and play for a draw, because one point from Stamford Bridge was quite an achievement. But today, Newcastle equalised at the 56th minute and from then on they played to win and get the three points and in the process, dare to break Chelsea’s home league record.
If Newcastle had won the match, I would not have had anything to complain about them. They deserved something for their show of spirit and perseverance in the second half. By statistics we were clearly the better team but from the 56th minute the away team had real fire in their belly to win the match. For about 25 minutes or so, they outplayed us in fortress Stamford Bridge. And it was so pathetic to see that we were in such terrible panic when Newcastle came at us.
Just when this was all set to become another disappointing draw, Kalou found the net. Kalou could slot it home peacefully because he had lots of time and space. He had lots of time and space because he was offside. Atleast by a couple of metres. As he was celebrating, Kalou kept looking at the linesman as he could not believe his luck. If you want to explain your girlfriend about the offside rule, you can show this goal video. Anyway, I don’t care if it was a good call or bad call. Any goal that stands is a goal. But that does not hide the fact that we allowed Newcastle to outplay us for quite some time while we could muster only few quality chances.
I could not appreciate the two second half substitutions. Pizarro came in for Joe Cole at the 65th minute. Under the situations where we’re looking for a winning goal, I’d not bring in Pizarro. Sinclair early on would have done better than Pizarro. If someone had to be subbed at that time, it must have been Mikel. Mikel is not the ideal guy to keep on the pitch when you’re chasing your winning goal with some urgency (which wasn’t there).
From our side, SWP was impressive. He did not make even one row Z cross. Such a relief. Alex and Belleti were solid. Particulary Alex played with such ease and composure that he made Ben Haim look ridiculous. Tal is really a disaster waiting to happen. I don’t know what happened to him. When he was in Bolton he was quite decent and I had more respect for him then. Kalou did a decent job as the striker, and of course scored the goal that won us the match.
Essien and Ballack were very good and they also seem to play nicely alongside each other. Mikel was average and inconsistent. Hilario was right on the money. He was not really tested to the maximum but c’mon he got a clean sheet against mighty Barca on his Chelsea debut, he is lot better than how we rate him! I liked Joe Cole’s contribution today. He has certainly started to take things on his own, holding the ball for too long, trying his little tricks and all. But today, he was quite busy and effective. Overall, individually there were good contributions but as a team we seem to be failing in certain areas.
Man Utd and Arsenal taking turns in dropping points is the best thing that can happen for us. Now we are 6 points off Arsenal and Liverpool are 5 points below us with two games in hand. Off track - Fibreglass keeps giving me new reasons to despise him. His ugly dive today had me curse him non-stop for 5 minutes. If there is such thing as football karma, he’s gonna see a long lay off, mark my words. Allright, back to the table. We have got closer to the table leaders which is nice. The manner in which we have been playing gives me butterflies in my stomach. We seem to lack the spirit and gung ho mentality. When teams score against Chelsea, we used to start bombarding them attack after attack to such an extent the opponent would be ruing why they scored he goal. That does not happen now. I don’t see players playing for the collective good. That’s why this 6 points gap looks to me like some 16 points.
I don’t think they look too worried to concede a goal or committing a mistake or to draw or to lose. In the previous seasons, we were a team that hated losing, that hated conceding goals and we felt badly when such things happened and make good if they made a mistake. The current Chelsea outfit reminds me of Real Madrid of 2003-05 - not so much attachment for the club or for the manager, nothing was a matter of worry - conceding goals or losing points or matches. The ’sense of pride’ is now missing. Hope it will all be allright once the core group of Cech, Terry, Drogba, Essien, Mikel and Lampard get together after the ANC.
Just a couple of days to go for the transfer window. About half a dozen names are discussed with Chelsea and I’m sure we’d be getting 3 or 4 new names. For this to happen we must now get rid of 2 or 3 from the current team. We more or less know those names but I just can’t wait for the incoming names. Hope to see some young and hungry players with the right kind of spirit and attitude, which can sometimes make up for other attributes. We’ll keep discussing on the transfers.
94 Comments
1. Maysam
2. Den
man utd lost!! cmon if arsenal lose then we are rioght back in the title race
3. Maysam
woow
West Ham 2-1 Manchester
If Everton beatr Arsenal , we are back again .just pray Everton wins .
If Everton wins , we will have chance,
4. Nihongo Blue
maysam
ronaldo can loose penalty 
we are right back isnt it… but thanks to the linesman.
if feel even if grant hasnt brought anything related to football he has brought luck… luck used to escape mourinho big time.. the game againt fulham we drew because of an legitimate goal being ruled offfside and here we win for an offside goal being not given
jose -2 points
grant +2 points
chelsea neutral
5. Nihongo Blue
arsenal trailing 0-1 … looks like a very very good dsy for us..
6. Wocs
Tired of poor substitutions; would not have started SWP. What happened to Sheva?
7. Wocs
Is Malouda still hurt? Was Sheva scratched at the last minute due to injury?
8. Nihongo Blue
thank god when new castle didnt got a penaly when ben haim blocked martins in the first half.. this went unnoticed.. to me clear penalty… we r just living on luck
9. Nihongo Blue
too much drunk but cant sleep till i see arsenal loosing 
hail chelsea
10. Mikey
Wow. The linesman was really our 12th man out there today.
My Player Ratings:
Hilario - Good stuff from him. Played well and looked confident. No mistakes, which is all you want from a 3rd string shot-stopper: (7.5)
Alex - Calm, powerful, and solid. He definitely has the quality to start at centre-back. He bailed out Ben-Haim multiple times and his headers were fantastic. On top of that, he looked more likely to score than anyone else in our team: (8.5)
Ben-Haim - Awful. Must be sold. Does not have the quality, the athletecism, or the composure to be in our side. Why do we have him ? Sell him and buy another centre-back: (5)
Belleti - Great stuff from him. He is in form now and showing his class, especially running up the flanks and attacking. Linked up well with SWP. Must remain in the side as a starter: (8)
Wayne Bridge - Not too bad. Occasionally looks dangerous as an attacker but his defense sometimes feels shaky. I like Bridge: (7)
Ballack - Sometimes shows his rust but he really is class. A very complete, imperious midfielder and nothing but quality. Has been working his arse off. Good stuff from our interim captain before he came off: (8)
Mikel - Nothing outstanding. A couple of bad shots, not his best performance: (6.5)
Essien - Pretty solid. Not his best but not bad either: (7)
Cole - Didn’t look his best or most dangerous, but that can likely be attributed to starting on the left: (6.5)
SWP - Awesome. Fantastic work-rate. Really did have Newcastle’s defence dancing to his tune: (8.5)
Kalou - Plays so much better at his natural position as a striker. Looked good in the air. Made one bad mistake at the end of the game. He is an instinctive player and when given too much time on the ball he is never convincing: (7.5)
The Linesman - Great stuff from our 12th man today: (9.5)
SUBS
Pizarro - Miserable. The chelsea faithful booing him must have really hurt his confidence even worse. I found myself screaming at him when he got in the way of Essien’s shot. I am convinced that he needs to be sold in the transfer window: (5)
Sinclair - Not confident or established, but you cannot deny that he has the talent and brain to be great. Had one fantastic 50 yard run before he was eventually dispossessed, but I can’t wait for him to grow up a little bit more. We have very few natural wingers in the squad but he is one of them: (7)
Sidwell - Wasn’t on long enough to make an impression: (6)
Final thoughts:
My Man-of-the-Match today goes to The Linesman, with a runner-up vote for Wright-Phillips. I became very worried as soon as Newcastle scored, because we just lost all our composure and confidence. We’re going to have to work on that. Certainly in the second half it felt like Newcastle could score a winner and take the match, but they did not create anywhere near the number of chances we did. Even when we looked bad we were still creating more quality chances than they were.
11. nitesh_chandra
any other decent team could had scored 3-4 goals with the number of clear chances we created today….I am waiting for the day when SWP,Kalou will start scoring legitimate goals….these two players really waste plethora of clear cut chances….am really disappointed with their goal scoring prowess….
big question is what will become of our midfield when Essien will leave for African cup…that would be biggest blow and too difficult to cope with….
12. Nihongo Blue
when a.cole gives a long ball to dragba it is bad football… now when clichy gives a long ball to equdor and he scores is it very good free flowing football????????
13. Wocs
I agree w/ Mikey’s assessment of Pizzaro. I too screamed when he got in the way of Essien.
14. didier drogba the best
modri? will stay in dinamo zagreb until 2009 said president zdravko mami?. he is rejected all offers . he want to se dinamo in europe next season
15. Johnarejr
Missed the match due to work. But, I am glad for Hilario to get a chance and I understand he wasn’t too bad either. Any word or wild guesses on who will be joining Chelsea in January?
16. Blu REHMAN
http://www.lionsandblues.blogspot.com
Some intresting post match analysis!!! Read and do comment just a another opinon for you guys to ponder on
17. Maysam
it is funny becasue Sam said we played very well , god damnd it , N’Castle just f**ked up , they had only one chance and scored they did not do anythnig else.
18. Ringo
No Cech?
No Cudicini?
No Ashley?
No Carvalho?
No Terry?
No Lampard?
No Makelele?
No Malouda?
No Drogba?
No Shevchenko?
No manager?
No problem.
19. Blue Champion
Bella
I’m trying to contact you. Can you please get in touch with me through the contact form, with your email address?
Thanks
20. olu
I’ve been hard on swp b4, but he was beautiful today. Nice one to him.
21. israeli
here some stats for you
after reading all your post i had the feeling something is wrong
so i did this for you guys
thats JM last 19 games stats
w d l
8 8 3
42.11% 42.11% 15.79%
thats JM last 12 EPL games
w d l
4 8 1
33.33% 66.67% 8.33%
thats AG last (the only)19 games
w d l
13 5 1
68.42% 26.32% 5.26%
Out of this 19 games 12 where an EPL games
w d l
8 3 1
66.67% 25.00% 8.33%
As we all see the # talkes for them selfs
AG as way more wins and way less drows then JM
its only 19 game and i know it dosent mean nothing yet
its only means that the ppl of this blog are bit blind
Israeli
22. Blue Champion
Israeli - Thanks for the numbers.
How do you factor the cold war between Roman and Jose? How do you factor the lack of support from management for Jose? How do you factor the fact that Jose had to do his job with spies in various created official positions all around the place? And his job insecurity since Jan 2007? All these things certainly impacts your concentration. That’s why JM was brilliant in the first two seasons and dropped a bit in the third.
If AG can win titles, I’d take them and him with both hands. I have no problem. It’s just that I think he is not the best man to lead Chelsea.
23. TrueBlueInd
Hi guys,
Great result for us..would have been even better if Arsenal had dropped points..
We ve had real bad luck with almost everything for a good part of the last 1 n half years..today was different though..maybe the linesman was dreaming or something..or maybe he thought the deflection came off a newcastle player n not pizzaro..watever the case..good for us
SWP played brilliantly today..he had 2 chances to score..but cmon..he cant score poperly with his feet..i dont expect him to score too many with his head:)..
but as a winger he did his duty..great work rate as well..thats 1 thing i admire about SWP..he was a star at man city..he was benched n used sparingly at chelsea under jose..but he never ever complained, kept trying, gives his all whenever he plays..a great team man..he has the potential to b a great winger..a good manager can definitely work on his strenghts n weaknesses to bring out the best in him
AG’s substitutions still baffle me..makes no sense..timing is wrong..everything about it is wrong..does ten cate n Steve discuss tactics n stuff with AG????..Steve certainly would have learned a lot working with Jose….maybe AG says.”I KNOW BEST”
I want to like AG..but he doesnt give me a good enough reason..He cant talk..n everyone hates it when he talks..so why doesnt he shut up n do his job
transfer window opening..i hope to see atleast 4 to 5 new players come in..n TBH out{ONLY if we buy another CB}
Fulham away next..i hope we win..
good start to the 2nd half of the season..1 win already…41 points now..we just have to win 16 more games n draw the other two..we will win the EPL;)
Cmon BLUES
24. israeli
BC
i cant be more greatfull for your answer
my point in poutting this stats was not to show JM was bad or that AG is so great
the only point was to show you guys miss judge him and not that fair to him.
i did not said along with this stats that AG never had the best players fit
i only think that overall and dew to so many players are missing AG is doind a magic
the 2 games we had in our hands (everton +villa ) and lost the points at the end could have gave us 4 more points.
amaizing
25. israeli
BC
Nothing about cold war ,Nothing about lack of support from management
only facts my firend
No Cech
No Cudicini
No Ashley
No Carvalho
No Terry
No Lampard
No Makelele
No Malouda
No Drogba
No Shevchenko
and we could have finshed the game at the first half is we had better scorring % from our strikers
26. Blue Champion
Israeli
I appreciate your point. I strongly believe that even if there was no manager for the Chelsea team from mid-Sep till date, it would not have been to different. Chelsea machine will keep rolling. Avram has not made me believe that the results that we are getting are because of him. Whereas there were a few matches where he should have made a difference but he didn’t. This Chelsea team is a self-motivated team that can do a good job even without a manager or with an okay manager. Just because there is no manager or a poor manager, will the top class players stop thinking suddenly? No, they play the way they used to. The fact that we are third in the league with Grant as the manager is testimony to this.
And friend, look at the team that played.
40 Hilario - Third choice
35 Juliano Belletti - First choice
33 Alex - First choice (better form over Terry)
22 Tal Ben-Haim - Second choice
18 Wayne Bridge - First choice (better than ashley)
5 Michael Essien - First choice
12 John Mikel Obi - First choice
13 Michael Ballack (c) - First choice
24 Shaun Wright-Phillips - First choice (this season)
21 Salomon Kalou - First choice mostly or can call second choice
10 Joe Cole - First choice
It’s not as weak as it’s made out to be. You can also extract the maximum as you know that the owner has promised a budget of more than 50 million pounds for January, unlike last season where players had to be really preserved.
Also remember, it’s not just the results. The camaraderie that existed, the togetherness that existed in the previous seasons is clearly missing. You may or may not agree but it is certainly missing. That’s where the manager will have to play a role. Going by the post match comments of grant, i can tell you with 100% confidence that he could be a poor man manager with insufficient knowledge of psychology.
27. Niko
Kalouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Salomon -kalou iso el toque finala en el minuto 87:30 estava en ofside pero el aarbitro no lo vio que ciego 
jajjaja.
El bufalo iso un gol que desde ahi era imposble errarlo.
28. Cancorus
I dont think the game was that bad, i actually agree with grant that we played fantastic in the first half atleast goin forward. Some players were below their best, praise be given when due, as difficult as things are they made things work. Special mention for 2; swp had a good game, nice crosses as well as movement. This was a better performance to some earlier ones. The other is mikel, was not at his best to an extent, but i say something different today he has started takin shots and more responsibility in attck which is good as it helps the team, also i dont think he caused newcastle’s goal.
29. Maysam
israeli :
I wonder if you want to prove Avram is better than Mourinho with those numbers or not , but even if Avram won 100 % of all games, Mourinho wouls still be better than him. no doubt about that.
Today Avram screwed up with his changes. His changes were awfull we were lucky and so does he. However, I do not approve of what Chelsea fans did after chaging Joe cole . Pizarro was so unconfident when he came in just becasue of chelsea fans.
just look at our goals, both of them were those kinds of goals, lucky goals.
BUT BUT , I understad that we have many injured players.
next games are :
Chelsea - Fulham , I expect chelsea to win this game. I wanted to say easilly but these days everythnig is possible.
Arsenal - West Ham , I do not think West Ham can stop Arsenal, West Ham was lucky against Manchester. actually West Ham did not win Manchester , Over Confidence of manchester players lead to theri defeat.
I think Chelsea should consider Jan trasnfers more seriously , now we have chance. as i said before I am not worried about Arsenal , they will start losing points sooner or later. Arsenal is very dependent on one or two players and when they were not ready , they will sink . Today they were really lucky against Everton.
Manchester is a big problem , they are very good , but this defeat against West Ham will give other teams courage to believe that they can beat Manchester and that’s good.
I am really hopefull now.
30. king blues
we drew against blackburn becoz of the lines man now we win becoz of him………..its football karma
31. Bella
BC I have emailed you.
Israeli you appear to have conveniently used 19 games which traverse this season and last for Jose where we tailed off exhausted after chasing 4 competitions! That is hardly a fair comparision I would suggest.
Perhaps you should compare similar periods of time when the players are at the same fitness levels and we are playing the same competitions at the same time from last season to this one over 19 games and see where we are?
Doing comparisons across two seasons like that is just misleading in my view and makes Grant look far better than he actually is.
I agree with the poster who said Grant has brought little to the party but one thing he seems to have in spades which Jose didn’t this season - LUCK.
Grant may not be a patch technically on Mourinho but it seems at key moments when he looks to be finally exposed for the just simply averagely competent coach he is - soomething happens to make him look a winner snd a star.
Newcastle deserved a point today, the goal was blatently offside, Grant got out of jail big time. They were far better than us in the second half and we should have wrapped things up by then but didn’t.
The team continues to dig Grant out of the sh*t but how much longer he can carry on without exposing his failings in terms of tactical astuteness I’m not sure.
The great team bonding we had and organisation on the pitch appears to drain away a little bit more after each game, with new players promised due to Roman’s willingness to now give cash which he refused Mourinho that will further add confusion to the mix.
I doubt Grant has the abillities to juggle new and old players and provide a winning spirit to our team.
Considering what Mourinho had to cope with this time last season, with being told no money for anyone new, Grant is again one lucky guy, given a big transfer kitty to buy himself out of trouble.
Whether he has the nous to actually make it work out for us I just don’t know.
Lets hope so.
32. king blues
what injury does sheva have can he play against fulham
33. Bella
Stats can mean as much as you want them to mean if you manipulate them enough, bottom line we are points down on last season and have scored less goals and lost more games. And Grant was responsible for TWO of them.
He has also had the total backing of the board and support from his boss, Mourinho didn’t have any from January onwards and was living in a snake pit of people vying for Roman’s ear - some of the problems were yes of his own making I’ll admit because of his attitude but he’s more sinned against than sinning in my view.
Grant will have money to spend this January with the express blessing of the board, he will not have to make do and mend - like I said a lucky guy to have such a now suddenly understanding and helpful boss.
34. CFC
Well reading all your comments, i dont care how we win, newcastle deserve nothing, if they deserve a point they should hav made it 2-2 thats the way football goes, sometimes, u get offside goals, sometimes u get a fine goal ruled out for offside(against blackburn at home). so theres no mercy, chelsea deserve all 3 points.
i still dont know why everyone jumps behind the poor guy Avaram grant, i dont think he’s trying to prove everyone that he’s a better manager than Jose. Why was Jose sacked ? or else put it this way, why was Roman unhappy with Jose ? as the common people are made to belive its the way chelsea play football, roman wants to see free flowing exciting football at stamford bridge, and Jose’s football is based on defense than attack. i dont care how many of u agree with me on this or not, its a fact, u never seen anyone scoring 4 past chelsea under Jose, as he once said, when arsenal put 7 past everton or middlesborough,” you are not playing football, it shud be rugby”
grant is appointed as the manager in a very strange situation, what ever the reason behind his appointment, let it be, he cant change the way the team plays with the players we have at the moment. managers take probably a season or more to put thier stamp on teams, instead of analysing every word he says and trying to pick some fault which comes out of his mouth, atleast appreciate he’s keeping it all together.
@BC i dont think a team would be same with a manager and with out a manage.r As u said, chelsea would play and be at the same place even with out a manager, do all the 26 or 27 team players fight with each other over who will play in the starting 11 ? especially with such high profile players in the team with egos. it would be a joke.
I dont think for once Avaram is trying to compare himself with jose or anyone, and trying to say hes a superb manager, he appreciate the players, he try his best to support the team, praising the team how well they play even if they play crap. I think hes right, becos a manager should not criticize his team or players in public. we dont know, no one knows what he’s saying to players in dressing room or training ? do any one know ??? well stop crucifying the poor old guy.
35. CFC
@ BC this is what i think about AG’s post match comment
“”"”I didn’t see it (on Kalou’s offside goal) — well do u expect him to say oh yeah i saw it was an offside goal and we r very lukcy, thank you lines man ??
but we created so many chances that we deserved to win anyway. — he is right, we did create few chances, poor finishing and good saves from shay given.
I think we are in the picture with the race to be champions, I never give up– he’s right again, last yeat we were pritty much in the same situation, we drew 3 games during xmas period and we were behind man utd, only diff this season, arsenal are infront as well .
The situation sometimes is not easy, and if Man Utd didn’t lose today we would continue to fight. You saw the spirit of the team today, they showed great spirit– i cant see anything wrong with the statement, if anyone can let me know. hes appreciating the team spirit.
The supporters are behind us, well i wudnt say that after the booin today..
and know that we are not in easy times with all the problems we have. It’s not easy, I think everybody remembers what happens last year with two or three injured,— hes right, last year we had, cech, carlo, terry, roben and joecole injured but we did have drogba, sheva, balalck, lampard, essien, mikel, and the rest of the bunch.
but today with ten injuries this is the time to speak about the players that played. They showed good football, especially in the first half, a lot of chances, and a lot of character at the end of the game.— nothing wrong with it, hes praising the players who played and the whole team for showing some charecter. and we do have around 10 injuries.
I made substitutions because after the goal we didn’t play well, Joe Cole had some problems, and Ballack hasn’t played so much so he cannot do 90 minutes in our programme. Because of the problem I preferred to change the system, and changed to 4-2-4 and I think it changed the game, so it was a good sub.– hes the manager and he made the substitution and end of the day doesnt matter if it was offside or onside, someone scored and we got 3 points, so the substituion worked, he didnt claim the guys he bot on scored so hes a genius ? did he ???
You need to think about tactics more carefully than before.”"”" yeah ofcourse he has to think about tactics more carefully than before becos wen he had all the plyers fit, he probably dont hav to think of any tactics at all, he cud jus field the best 11 and ask them to get on with the job, now he has to think whom he plays and whom to sub, shotage of availability so, wats wrong with that ????
He hasnt done any comaprison to Jose, all he said was last year we had injuries this year we have more and we will cope with it, y on earth is everyone behind the guy, i dont understand ? i know there is a divison here, jose lovers and haters, but i personnaly dont love or hate either jose or Avaram, but its unfair on someone who is jus trying to do his best for the team.
36. Ringo
Is there an echo in here?
37. Bluewinner
I agree on Avram’s post match comments. Hearing the fans sing “you don’t know what you are doing” was nice. He really seems to lack the knowledge to make the substitutions when he needs them and his reliance on Pizarro is absolutely mind-boggling.
On that, Pizarro has been terrible. No matter how much time he gets, he never seems to mesh into the game. His foul (?) on Essien today just demonstrated that. The only person in the world that wanted Claudio over that ball was him. Even his mother was screaming for him to give Essien some space. Can’t wait until Sheva is back out there and Kalou can drop back.
38. Michael
If for no other reason, Avram feels (and is) so wrong for Chelsea because a club of our stature is also a powerful world-wide brand/image. There are many ways to sell this brand and obviously many potential managers to be the face or figurehead of this brand, but Avram Grant does not possess the marketability to represent us.
And don’t think it has only to do with the business aspect of things either. The football itself, the Chelsea players and the opposing players and the potential transfers are also conscious of their club’s image. The players need to have confidence and believe in their own brand to really perform at top levels.
At least that is my take. Obviously the Chelsea faithful aren’t confident in their boss right now, as his substitution was received with chants of “You dont know what youre doing!” by the crowd.
39. nitesh_chandra
for those comparing Jose and Grant also keep in mind that Jose was playing with ‘his’ team assembled by him while Grant is playing with someone else’s team…so once Grant brings few of ‘his’ players only then one can compare judiciously….btw when emotions rule the roost then statistics is the only resort, and correct one too and here statistics seems to be against Jose the entertainer….perhaps thats why they call maths boring….
40. Maysam
I think Chelsea fans affected Pizarro
41. frank
i think chelsea need support from fans !! they hav to support thm hard. .using many instruments
42. JoseHoliday
I think AG’s new outfit was cool ….. other than that a C + for winning last night’s match. When he gets us the Title then he has my respect…. til then I will only comment on his outfit….
43. Bella
I don’t have any problems per se today with Avram’s comments because for once he didn’t harp on about our wonderful football being so much better than what Mourinho was producing before.
The only thing I will take issue with was his comment that his tactics at the end changed the game.
No Avram they didn’t! The ball came off Pizarro’s fat arse or some other part of his anatomy, rebounded to very luckily for us into the path of Kalou who stuck it in the back of the net.
I guess you could say that as he put Pizarro on, so this was the change that made the goal but that’s stretching it as the ball could have come off anyone.
I agree with Michael, Grant doesn’t feel right for Chelsea, yes he is uncontroversial and has healed the rifts with the owner but if you are a huge club trying to sell a “brand” and trust me football is very much a marketing exercise as much as a game with a ball, then who would you prefer to be helping you market the glamour and passion of Chelsea the club and their fans?
Mourinho or Grant?
It’s not a case of hating Grant and loving Mourinho because no one is perfect but I just don’t buy into the PR that Grant is the man to take Chelsea to a whole new more successful dimension. I really try but every time I look at Grant standing slack jawed on the
:)) we were lucky big time.
| Quote This Comment | Add Comment | Go To Top | Back To Home | Gravatar | BC Shout | BBC Radio | Refresh |Avram showed he is not a big manager. However, Celsea fans showed they are not real fan too. booing Pizarro affected hib badly.
As i said before, EPL is over for us.