i'll be the first to admit -- I wanted to criticize Avram when I saw Anelka and Belletti lined up to come on, and if i were at the Bridge, I would have joined in the chorus of "you don't know what you're doing" and the "Mourinho" chant, probably mostly out of frustration, which I'd wager was the prime feeling in the crowd at the point in the match.

but his substitutions made sense. we needed another attacking player on, and Anelka fit the bill. to fill Ballack's spot (who really has taken a turn downhill the last 3 or 4 matches), we add Essien, and Belletti slides in well. really, if Jose had made that move, it would have been hailed as inspired, and after Belletti and Anelka combined to connect with Drogba for that second goal, Jose would have been praised as genius.

and as most will attest, I am an avowed Avram critic. but today I give him his due.

yeah, i was thinking the same thing when Grant made those changes. But he showed me wrong....Grant gets a "you can stay for one mroe game" card with this win

he did make the right subs to be fair...ballack was laboured and essien was needed in midfield...we needed to win and anelka helpd didier...but is he working with the players on set pieces? plus we didn't really go for it until we went 1-0 down...didier saved his bacon most of all...if we'd have lost that.....don't blame the fans for losing their rag at that point...let's face it, we all were

The fans chanting that were a bunch of morons, and the 'Jose Mourinho!' follow up chant was just cringe-worthy, no doubt every other club's fans up and down the country were laughing at us at that moment.

Brilliant performance after the changes; I'm not saying they were the key to us winning the game, and I'm not saying that Avram Grant is the best man for the job (not by a long shot) but we're still doing well, second place in the league and in the quarter finals of the Champion's League, so f**king get behind the manager! ::Thumbs up::

As you said though, the substitutions made perfect sense to me at least, Essien slotting into Makelele's role and bringing on Anelka for Ballack (who of all our midfielders today probably looked the most ineffective) and we were right back in it. :D

Yup kudo deserved and kudos given. i dont like grant and even after that im still not convinced but he deserves his moment of glory today. the fans who sung what they did are fools, there is only one winer in that type of situation and that is the opposition. taking maka of was right (he was giving too many balls away) but i was surprised about ballack but it was a good move.

We started smacking long ball after long ball it was like watching Wimbledon in 1988 or Palace in that FA Cup semi final against liverpool. but it worked a treat - arsenal were defensively all over the shop after those injuries in quick succession and it was a well thought out move. gallas and toure couldnt handle drogba from the first minute and this just made it worse. great header form anelka to set up the goal.

and so close to a hatrick!

and so close to a hatrick!

Bloody hell yeah; I fell out of my chair thinking it was a goal!

Has to be said, lose today forget the title........he had no choice today........the result at the time made up his mind for him.........had it been in September or October it wouldnt have happened ..........guaranteed

A great victory, what what is going on on set pieces.

NO-ONE on the goal line at the near post......?

A great victory, what what is going on on set pieces.

NO-ONE on the goal line at the near post......?

Frank's always had the near post, but whether he is meant to stay there, or come out (he always comes out, so I'd guess he isn't instructed to stay there) once the ball has been struck... I wouldn't completely blame him for the goal, but he should have done better, as should Carlo and whoever was marking Lasagna.

A great victory, what what is going on on set pieces.

NO-ONE on the goal line at the near post......?

Frank's always had the near post, but whether he is meant to stay there, or come out (he always comes out, so I'd guess he isn't instructed to stay there) once the ball has been struck... I wouldn't completely blame him for the goal, but he should have done better, as should Carlo and whoever was marking Lasagna.

Frank seemed to me to bit a no man's land.....I don't recall, did he stay on the line more when JM was in charge?

looked to me like sagna lost kalou far far too easily.

but that's not what this thread is about- well done avram.

looked to me like sagna lost kalou far far too easily.

looked like frank to me .

still, that just general nitpicking at this point

...whoever was marking Lasagna.

Garfield?

A great victory, what what is going on on set pieces.

NO-ONE on the goal line at the near post......?

Frank's always had the near post, but whether he is meant to stay there, or come out (he always comes out, so I'd guess he isn't instructed to stay there) once the ball has been struck... I wouldn't completely blame him for the goal, but he should have done better, as should Carlo and whoever was marking Lasagna.

Cannot blame Carlo for the excellently taken header at an extreme angle. Kalou was man-marking Sagna, so he gets the most blame, but even then it was such a perfectly taken header that I cannot fault Kalou too much. Lamps was zone marking, and given that Kalou was "on" Sagna, Lamps was correct to not bollox things up by getting in the way.

And of course it was Sagna's first goal in the Premiership. It never ceases to amaze me how often this kind of thing happens against us -- a player's first goal for their new club, the end of a goal drought, first for a year or 10 (Nigel Winterburn anyone?), first and last hattrick (Kanu) and so on. It happens far too regularly to be coincidence. You'll have to excuse me, I feel a Twilight Zone moment coming on.

A great victory, what what is going on on set pieces.

NO-ONE on the goal line at the near post......?

Frank's always had the near post, but whether he is meant to stay there, or come out (he always comes out, so I'd guess he isn't instructed to stay there) once the ball has been struck... I wouldn't completely blame him for the goal, but he should have done better, as should Carlo and whoever was marking Lasagna.

Cannot blame Carlo for the excellently taken header at an extreme angle. Kalou was man-marking Sagna, so he gets the most blame, but even then it was such a perfectly taken header that I cannot fault Kalou too much. Lamps was zone marking, and given that Kalou was "on" Sagna, Lamps was correct to not bollox things up by getting in the way.

Unfortunately we can blame Carlo for leaving all that space at his near post. It was definitely Kalou who lost Sagna.

The people who started chanting and singing Mourinho's name are complete morons. Doesn't matter whether the substitutions worked or not, we were one down, playing well and the team needed supporting. It was embarrassing.

The people who started chanting and singing Mourinho's name are complete morons. Doesn't matter whether the substitutions worked or not, we were one down, playing well and the team needed supporting. It was embarrassing.

I have to agree with that. Jose's gone and he ain't coming back. End of story. Apart from pointless it does show up the fans and makes a bad impression of Chelsea fans in general - it's this kind of garbage that's always pounced upon. One of the "Jose Mourinho" chanters called 5Live, claiming that it was this chanting that was responsible for spurring the team on, and that Grant had to go ... because of his lack of charisma.

Which I think says everything about the mentality behind the Jose chants.

they say football supporters are fickle, but at FT those same fans chanting for jose were enjoying clapping along to kalinka...

...whoever was marking Lasagna.

Garfield?

Now that is funny !

"I"ve never met a lasagna I didn't like"

"I"ve never met a lasagna I didn't like"

'I love it when you wear garlic in your meat substance'

I just want to clarify I didn't agree with the chants, but i understood why it happened...there has been growing frustration with avram for months, drawing at spurs was the final straw before the arse game and as we stared down the barrel of the end of the title race and our unbeaten home record, some people lashed out...at the end of the day, they're the ones looking silly now, not avram...but avram is still not the man for me...but good luck to him for finally winning a big game

The "you don't know what you're doing" chant, I think, was more forgivable than "Jose Mourinho". As a said earlier in this thread, Jose's gone and he ain't coming back. And yes of course it was wonderful to pull this one out of the bag, but if I was to be extremely cynical, I could say he had to get it right eventually. Going by recent history, how much was luck and how much judgement is anybody's guess. So no, of course it doesn't help, and may not be fair (I'm keeping an open mind) but at least "you don't know what you're doing" is expressing some kind of opinion, whereas chanting "Jose Mourinho" is daft, not to mention embarrassing.

P.S. Before anyone starts saying I'm still having a go at Grant even after beating the Arse - no I'm not. The above post simply compares the "you don't know" and "Jose" chants, and makes the point that one is more accepatable than the other.

I guess the crowd wanted to see JT up front when we went a goal down.

The commentators were really having a go at the fans for singing those two chants....anyway, back to the mian point of the thread. I think the substitutions made sense. Ballack was on a yellow, looking slightly tired, and was so very close to scoring that I think it was getting him frustrated. Almunia had a great game in goal for Arsenal.

Anyway, Essien moved into the mid with Frank, and kalou and joe outwide with Drogba and Anelka up front....hang on! Isn't that 4-4-2? ANd then what happened? Drogba started to play better with some support, Anelka got a shot away (albeit a poor one, but if he had a few games under him, he would have at least tested Almunia), and the game really opened up.

I have been a huge critic of Grant, but today, I doff my cap good sir. I really thought today was the day we lost our home record. And, as proven by the rat-munchers....it's all in our hands now, I don't expect many favours from other teams. Mancs at the Bridge could be really, really important

Scott