Chelsea vs Villa Game Thread

[Englishman]

Just one of those great games of football that will be remembered for a long long time. At 0-2 most of us would gladly have accepted a draw but it was a roller coaster of emotions and we're all obviously gutted to have throw it away at the end with the game seemingly won.And I really cannot understand the comments of the pro Jose camp who come out with the "Give me 1-0 wins any day".

I guess it all comes down to what we want and what we get out of watching football? Sure the trophies are great but if they are achived by grinding out 1-0 after 1-0 who can really be happy with that? The games that stand out will tend to be the games packed with incidents and yesterdays game had all that and some.

I'm not convinced Grant is the man to take us forward long term but he has done okay up to now (including a number of 1-0's that so many of you love so much

) but I'm certainly not gonna slate the guy for a 4-4 draw when we are missing our skipper and leader and are without possibly the best striker in the world at the moment.

It probably will be remembered for a long time because of the unusual scoreline and all the goings on, but it doesn't go down as a great game for me. We didn't play particularly well, the game was littered with individual errors and I was either a bag of nerves when they were winning or annoyed that we'd let the back into the match. And by the end I was disappointed. I'd have settled for a draw at 0-2, but when we take the lead twice in the last 30 mins at home you'd expect us to be able close out the match. Yes we had a weakened side out, but if a Jose side had a goal lead going into stoppage time, I just cannot imagine them looking that disorganised at the back and they wouldn't still be sending men forward.

 

[callista]

I have noticed another important thing. Why the F*** does Joey keep on trying to do tricks when he ends up losing possession? Its far more effective if he passes the ball.

May be because he is now being told he has a much more free and attacking role under Grant and now released from his "shackles" under pragmatic Mourinho who wanted him to pass the ball first and dream about the step overs he could do later and he feels it's his duty to lay on the party tricks more?

Yes he did similar things under Mourinho but not so often because he would have got a yelling from the touch line, I'm not sure Grant has figured out yet the down side to Joe Cole when given his head - great goals one minute and wasteful party tricks that slow down or disrupt our game the next.

As for Lampard, that was not an exhibition of managerial nous at work but simply an enforced change and he got lucky that Ballack was excellent. Lampard up until then was having a poor game but was the obvious starter.

Makes you wonder what is going to happen now as Lampard seems to be going through a bad patch, but as for dropping him, well he has proved so many times how vital he is to us, so no calls from me to drop him but it will be interesting to see what Grant does.

As for JT, I feel he has been very up and down recently, it seems as if he is believing his own hype about himself, possibly a bad side effect of being given so much self belief by Mourinho. He seems to decide when he's fit rather than listening to the medical department and his lack of fitness has actually hampered his play I feel, his constant mouthing off at refs and other players during a game is now brought up more by the media and fans. I just think that there has been a gradual decline in his play and attitude yes under Mourinho during his final days here and I think it will get no better under Grant. I just no longer tremble thinking JT is not out there as much as I used to, at times I would suggest he has almost become a liability at key moments due to his lack of fitness and general behaviour. He needs to get fully fit and hold back on the attitude.

As for Cech, I think Grant was wrong with hindsight (a great thing

) for playing him against Villa when clearly he is unfit or not in form. Okay the medical dept may say "he's fine" but where you earn your corn as a great manager is making decisions to say drop an apparently "fit" player because your gut tells you he's not right. I think Hilario should have started, yes he can be a risk but Cech has not looked good for a number of games now, something should be telling him there is a problem there whatever his back room staff tell him. As a manager you have to take risks sometimes and Grant seems too worried about taking any at all so he sticks with what appears to be the "sure thing" (Cech) when in fact he is anything but right now.

If Grant is not to blame for that decision then who is the medical department? Clarke? Cate? No, Grant told us he was in charge and making all the final decisions so the choice of Cech is fully down to him and I think that was the wrong decision.

 

[Brian M]

But you're dissin' the great man in every other line you write.

Actually no, only in the lines you choose to read or absorb. I have written very recently on what I consider Jose's strengths and weaknesses to be, on why I consider him a superb medium term manager but maybe not a superb long term manager - clearly posts you either haven't read or chosen to ignore which is entirely fair enough as it isn't possible to read every post made on here however if you don't then comments like 'in every other line you write' are clearly factually incorrect as you haven't read them all.

The points I am making are not to 'diss Jose' - they are simply responses to the fact that as soon as things aren't 100% right (i.e. we drop two points) then the cries of 'Jose wouldn't have done that' all come out rather than actually discussing the game. All I am doing is pointing out thihngs that Jose did wrong as well because it would appear some people's history gets rewritten whenever they want to have a pop at Grant.

Fair call, Loz. I haven't been able to find the time to catch up on all the threads. But, while JM had his faults (some dodgy transfers, hubris, etc) I believe they are merely the rough edges of a very valuable diamond. And as such would get smoothed out as time passed. (He's still young remember) You could see some of the changes starting to happen already (much less arrogant this season for example, than in his first season with us).

But, the bottom line is, JM is a winner. And comparing Grant with him puts Grant on a hiding to nothing, in EVERY department save maybe, 'Industry Contacts'. Though to be fair to JM, he and his agent probably have the 'ear' of everyone Grant has access to. But in every practical, 'Skills needed to be a successful manager' way, JM comes out tops over Grant*. Or to put it in pugilistic parlance, JM is Ali ("I am the greatest!" / "I am the special one!") and Grant is Bruce "the mouse" Strauss. A man who who fought 145 official fights under various aliases, was knocked out on seven continents, and was once KO'd twice on the same card, the second time fighting as his fictional twin brother!

But comparing Grant to JM is exactly what we are forced to do now, because Grant is our new manager. Alas.

My one hope in Grant is that he can turn his powerful contact list, into a couple of really, REALLY, good transfers. Transfers that will gel with our team and change our season for the better. Because if he can do that, he may yet manage to pull a rabbit out of his yamaka.

Though either way, I fully expect Roman to replace him with Rijkaard at the end of the season (when he's dumped from Barca), with Grant being pushed back up-stairs to his previous, 'Director of Football' role.

And I for one would be more than happy with Rijkaard as manager. Because if we can't have JM, at least Rijkaard's a real manager with some serious street cred.

PS: on a different topic, I think Lamps out for several games and Ballack and Mik in, will be a Godsend for us. You mark my words.

*Hell, even Graham Souness comes out on top over Grant!

 

[The Moos]

Don't know if anyone has posted this yet but Chelsea has appealed against Coles ban.

Since it's pretty clear that it wasn't a hand ball he really should get off. On the other hand we're Chelsea so it might stand.

Cole ban stands:

+ Bridge might get more time on the pitch.

- We've got enough players out cause of injuries and red cards.

 

[Tim W]

Strange if anyone complains about Grant this is associated immediately to Mourinho, however, I've not seen anything to convince me Grant has the credentials to take us onwards and upwards; the team, in my opinion has been running on the steam left by JM and his backroom staff and that now seems to be running out. I'm sure RA will "flash the cash" in the January Window to back his man so I reserve my complete condemnation of AG for a while to see how he fairs as a wheeler-dealer. But to make my position clear: I don't want JM back; I didn't shed a single tear the day he left and I don't believe AG is capable of taking us to any level other than down.

 

[Brian M]

Who do you want as manager, Tim? As in, who do you think is the right guy to take us forward?

 

[callista]

Strange if anyone complains about Grant this is associated immediately to Mourinho, however, I've not seen anything to convince me Grant has the credentials to take us onwards and upwards; the team, in my opinion has been running on the steam left by JM and his backroom staff and that now seems to be running out. I'm sure RA will "flash the cash" in the January Window to back his man so I reserve my complete condemnation of AG for a while to see how he fairs as a wheeler-dealer. But to make my position clear: I don't want JM back; I didn't shed a single tear the day he left and I don't believe AG is capable of taking us to any level other than down.

Well I was upset when Mourinho left but I don't think I want him back upon reflection months later because the conditions he has to work in obviously don't suit either side so it would be a disaster for everyone.

Mourinho was not a perfect coach by any means he made some well publicised mistakes along the way but I don't see why Grant cannot be criticised for what he says and does from day to day. Everyone nit picked when Jose was in charge about every game so why can't we do the same with Grant, why does he need any overt protection?

Alan Green this week in an article I read said much the same thing as you in that he doesn't think Grant is up to the job despite the good run of results he has obtained and the the team is just running on Mourinho steam and little else and that this impetus without a fresh injection will simply run out eventually.

We can only see as the season progresses whether this assessment proves accurate.

Grant will be given cash to spend his way out of any trouble, no struggling too long for him this January I'll wager. Like you, I'll reserve my final judgement until I've seen how he does in the transfer market, what players he brings in (with Roman's agreement of course and Arnesen and just about everyone else sticking their fingers in

) and how he blends them into the existing team he was left by Mourinho.

If he can develop a new "Grant" team spirit and incorporate these players pretty seamlessly whilst keeping those retained reasonably happy then there may be more to him as a manager than I thought.

Rijkaard seems to be on perilous ground at Barca whatever their President says, sources there think that his time at Barca is reaching its natural end (same with Ronny) so it will be interesting to see if Roman would be tempted if he suddenly comes on the market as coach. Appointing him makes far more sense than the Grant appointment they tried to sell us at least. What odds would a betting man give on Grant's four year contract going up suddenly in smoke and his arse is booted back upstairs to the still vacant DOF post which we so desparately needed to fill this summer and has now been conveniently forgotten about?

 

[Tim W]

Who do you want as manager, Tim? As in, who do you think is the right guy to take us forward?

The Chelsea in me says promote Brendan Rodgers and Steve Clarke as joint managers, make Chelsea a real club again, but that will never happen all the time PK and RA are around. Otherwise I reckon we could do a lot worse than Ernesto Valverde.

(I bet that's put a smile on a few faces)

 

[Englishman]

Don't know if anyone has posted this yet but Chelsea has appealed against Coles ban. Since it's pretty clear that it wasn't a hand ball he really should get off. On the other hand we're Chelsea so it might stand.

Cole ban stands:

+ Bridge might get more time on the pitch.

- We've got enough players out cause of injuries and red cards.

I don't know why we even bother appealing these red cards. It's like the inmates of Shawshank applying for parole.

 

[The Moos]

Don't know if anyone has posted this yet but Chelsea has appealed against Coles ban. Since it's pretty clear that it wasn't a hand ball he really should get off. On the other hand we're Chelsea so it might stand.

Cole ban stands:

+ Bridge might get more time on the pitch.

- We've got enough players out cause of injuries and red cards.

I don't know why we even bother appealing these red cards. It's like the inmates of Shawshank applying for parole.

Atleast it keeps us entertained