Cracker

But anyway.. they might have lost the game last night.. But still what a great great very special & so funny sometimes culture & customs they have these really great guys.. :thumbsup: ...

Well what can I say...It was probably much more to do with luck than an actual real professional prediction or so like.. but its sure still nice to get it right bang on the Jackpot once in while anyway.. ... athough I must admit it could have been maybe even that much slightly nicer if it was a real jackpot & not only a virtual one .. But I still do stand by what I wrote there about playing in Greece.. Iv'e seen quite a few international games played there before & it is always a difficult place to come out of with points in the bag for any team.. & personaly I really think that the 0-0 resault we got there wasn't that bad at all...although maybe some could argue & say that we could of played more attractive there & they might even have a point...BUT at the end of the day it was only the first leg of a 180 minutes-"fixture" & should be treated exactly like any other regular "half time" in an ordinary 90-minutes game..& maybe even less harshly in this case, because the "seconed half"-(leg) was to be played here at the Bridge, what makes things even that much easier usually.

A more recent article from the 28 Oct, 2007 about anti-Semitism wave in Football.. the original link- http://www.kickitout.org/index.php?id=9&StoryID=3484 UK] ALIVE AND UNCHECKED - A WAVE OF ANTI-JEWISH HATE Sunday 28 Oct, 2007 'Spurs are on their way to Belsen, Hitler's gonna gas 'em again...' It's not a song you would expect to hear on a family day out at a Premier League game, but it is one of several anti-Semitic chants still heard at some top-flight grounds. While the message about anti-black abuse is in the public consciousness, campaigners say that anti-Semitism is alive - and unchecked. Incidents The past few months have featured several high-profile recorded incidents of anti-Semitic abuse, alongside growing evidence from lower levels of the game. The problem centres around clubs in London - where there are large Jewish communities - where songs about concentration camps and gas chamber hissing noises are a regular feature at certain games. The government recently reported a rise in anti-Semitic attacks in wider society and, with the appointment of Avram Grant as Chelsea manager, the issue in football has been brought into focus after the club received anti-Semitic hate mail. Britain's Jewish sports group says action is overdue. Martin Berliner, chief executive of Maccabi GB, says: 'I'm a Chelsea fan and I can't listen to songs about concentration camps any more. My father's parents died in the Holocaust. When Avram Grant was appointed, fans came on Chelsea TV and asked why they had appointed a Jew who would not work on Yom Kippur. There's a lot of Jewish conspiracy-theory talk kicking about, like Ben Haim only being picked because he's Jewish. The other week Haim made a mistake and someone behind me stood up and shouted, "You stupid Yid!" Nobody complained.' Weekly abuse Comedian and author David Baddiel agrees. 'Literally every week there issome anti-Semitic chanting at Stamford Bridge. It often takes place regardless of whether Tottenham are playing or not. It's even happened to me. I went to get a hotdog in an area where I don't usually sit and they started chanting "Yiddo" at me.' Baddiel says he can understand the humour in some of it, but feels that a serious side of the issue is too often overlooked. 'Can you imagine if the Chelsea crowd was shouting "Nigger" or "Paki"? People would actually be talking about taking legal action.' Abuse has been heard at Premier League grounds from Arsenal to Wigan. A complicating factor is Tottenham's close association with the problem - whether they are playing or not, many of the chants are directed at the club or their former players. Their fans' self-identification as 'Yids' - a derogatory word for a Jew - is problematic. Last week fans and representatives of the Tottenham Supporters Trust, Maccabi GB and Kick It Out debated the issue. Supporters say the term is used as a 'badge of honour', which aligns Jews and non-Jews in a proud allegiance to the club, but campaigners say it provokes and legitimises abuse from rival fans. Yids As both sets of fans often interchange 'Yid' for 'Jew', or words depicting a relationship to Israel or Palestine, the demarcation lines separating football from religion, race, politics and anti-Semitism are decidedly blurred. Chelsea want the term 'Yid' eradicated from their ground. 'We make it clear that we have a policy of zero tolerance,' says Simon Greenberg, director of communications. 'There is no justification in our eyes. We're not going to get into a philosophical debate about it.' But Tottenham insist the FA should be taking the lead and are wary of being made a scapegoat. 'It is a complex issue and there are strong feelings on both sides. But the fans themselves have not raised it,' says their spokesperson. And that may be a key part of the problem: a scarcity of high-profile voices from within the Jewish football community. Many of those approached by Observer Sport declined to be interviewed for fear of alienating themselves in the football world. Others did not want to draw attention to their Jewish identity and in some cases clubs felt it too controversial for their staff to discuss. The reticence reminds some of the days when black players were too frightened to speak about racism. Lone voice One man who is happy to be the lone voice is lawyer and Kick It Out board advisory member Jonathan Metliss. A lifelong football fan, Metliss has been campaigning against anti-Semitism since the early 1980s.'My father fought the Mosleyites. When I started campaigning nobody would take it seriously, but I've since put this issue on the map.' Metliss says 'Yid' is unquestionably offensive. 'It's like calling a Pakistani a Paki. A lot of guys I know won't take their kids to football because of it.' Simon Johnson, the FA's director of corporate affairs, concedes that there is a problem. 'We have not yet made it as taboo to abuse somebody who is Jewish,' says Johnson. 'People do not understand that it's offensive to call someone an 'effing Yid', or to hiss: they think it's funny. Our challenge is to make it a taboo - and I accept we've got some catching up to do.'

Yeah..that also seems like a very good option.. again I might be wrong but I think that we will have to play them both together quite allot if we want to keep someone as good as Sheva as a Sub. But actually even that might not be enough to keep Sheva in the team next season,..well just have to wait & see how things will evolve in the end between this "Trio"

I think it would be just great to see them play together 4-4-2, but that also depends what will be our situation with Sub-strikers on the bench.. I really don't see Sheva agreeing to stay in the team as a third Sub-striker if we continue to play with only one striker as we have until now..

Sorry made a mistake!.. I just saw that I got the year wrong & that the article was from Feb-2007 and not from this month as I wrote in the title(I tried to edit & change the title but the system here wont let you), but still it's relatively new & probably not less if not even more relevant today. The original link-http://www.kickitout.org/index.php?id=9&StoryID=3019 ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS HIT RECORD HIGH Friday 2 Feb, 2007 Attacks on British Jews soared to record levels last year in the wake of Israel's war against Hizbullah in Lebanon, according to a report published yesterday. There were 594 anti-semitic incidents in 2006, and more than a fifth took place during the war in July and August. More than 100 incidents made direct reference to Israel and the Middle East, and 54 referred directly to Lebanon. The attacks ranged from the stabbing of a Jewish man in London to malicious phone calls to synagogues. In one case teenager Jasmine Kranat was robbed and beaten after passengers on a bus asked her if she was Jewish. Community Security Trust report The report by the Community Security Trust, which has been collating anti-semitic incidents since 1984, said: "Trigger events such as the war in Lebanon do not create anti-semitic incidents out of a vacuum. They act as a spark for people whose capacity for perpetrating incidents already exists." The type of attack prompted by the war was different from those that took place in the rest of the year, the report said. The war in Lebanon, which cost the lives of up to 1,000 civilians and pulverised the country's infrastructure, triggered attacks against symbols of the Jewish community such as synagogues and national bodies rather than individuals in the street. Other less powerful trigger events were the suspension of the London mayor, Ken Livingstone, for comments made to a Jewish reporter, which was mentioned by perpetrators in 11 incidents, and the jailing of historian David Irving for Holocaust denial, which was mentioned on five occasions. The use of far-right references is no longer the preserve of neo-Nazis, the report said. In one case a Jewish man walking to a synagogue in London was abused by a group of Asian men who shouted: "Jewish scumbag, go back to the camps," and gave Nazi salutes. Four of last year's incidents were classified as extreme violence, including one in which a Jewish man in Manchester was struck over the head with a metal bar. Targets Jewish schools or children were targeted in 59 incidents, and Jewish cemeteries were desecrated nine times. A poster saying: "The Nazis are here again, get your tanks out of Palestine," was stuck on a synagogue door in Gloucestershire. The CST also recorded 20 cases of mass produced anti-semitic literature. One mass mailing bearing the name of the far right group Combat 18 and containing a razor blade included the warning: "We fully intend to complete the final solution. Slit the throats of your kinder [children] now. Save us the effort." A CST spokesman, Mark Gardner, said: "Anti-semitic hate crime levels have doubled in the last 10 years. This is unacceptable racism that many Jews had hoped and believed was a thing of the past." Jeevan Vasagar, The Guardian

Playing in Greece is always difficult, their not to bad football+the ecstatic atmosphere that their quite fanatic fans create never makes it an easy place to play for any team.. If we can get a win there it would be great.. but I think probably a draw would do to & another 3-0 at the Bridge will put the sweet seal on this stage of the CL.

Its a shame that if your already writing only about Israeli football troubles(for your own private bios reasons), you cant be credible & honest enough to show & talk about racist chants & Hooliganism also from the mostly Arab teams side to.. http://www.kickitout.org/index.php?id=9&StoryID=140-& by chance I actually DID see that game myself at the time, & it was very clear who started the violence in this incident, & it wasn't the Jerusalem fans..(& the Beitar's goal keeper was almost injured very severely when some firecracker or something similar was thrown straight at him from the "Sakhnin" fans stands area & he fell to the ground for quite a long time after the impact). or another case- http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-105047216.html & another punishment in this case given to mainly "Jewish" teams for various different incidents & verbal abuse of players ext'... http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-5283221.html I'm not sure if any of them are connected to hooliganism in this case, but similar punishments have been given many times after misbehavior of fans no matter what their religion is or what language they speak.. they are all stupid ignorant hooligans & it really doesn't matter where they came from what they look like or which language they speak.. But actually! there was no real logical reason to expect from you to show both sides of the coin was there?..

Very funny that all this Moral lecturing & such deep concern for the Arab community & rights in Palestine pre-1947, Is actually coming from a British subject like you.., Have you forgotten the conquest & colonization of America & Australia & the wiping out of huge ancient civilizations off the map like the native Americans & the Aborigines in Australia?, and they have never recovered their land & culture back since then.. Why don't you despise the Australian or American occupiers that the British themselves created? you doubled faced hypocrite.. almost the whole of the western World is sitting on land that they stole from other weaker & demeaned cultures at the time, & with much lesser(actually with non at all) religious, historical or cultural rights & connections whatsoever like Jews had for thousands of years with the land of Israel.. & besides that I don't think that the British people ever suffered in history even one percent of what the Jews suffered only the last century..but still you went and concerned half of the world & destroyed endless cultures that will never be able to recover.. Go & campaign first for the liberation of countries like Australia & America & to pay compensation to countries like South Africa & Zimbabwe-(& the list is still very long...) for all the atrocities & injustices that the British have done during the last few hundreds of years, & maybe then you will have some right to come & lecture other much smaller cultures & nations that have been fighting for their actual survival for the last who knows time.. & p.s If you really want to go back even further in history.. go & check what the English did to the Jews of their country in-1290, that were thrown out like dogs without their property & most of their belongings for hundreds of years until they were allowed to return to the country, & then go & have the nerve to start lecturing anyone else & their treatment (that isn't even closely as bad as that) of other nations.. from Wikipedia.. "Between the expulsion of the Jews in 1290 and their formal return in 1655 there is no official trace of Jews as such on English soil except in connection with the Domus Conversorum, which kept a number of them within its precincts up to 1551 and even later. and this- "They were allowed to carry their portable property; but their houses escheated to the king, except in the case of a few favoured persons who were allowed to sell theirs before they left. Between 4,000 and 16,000 Jews were expelled."

How interesting but really hardly surprising when coming from you.. Just unbelievable!.. a whole thread here only about Israeli fans Chanting & hooliganism.. & what about all of these(in the link)? has your incredible bios tendencies made you forget about all of these countries that have/had Football related Hooliganism problems?-(& yes also in a few Arab countries to..now who would believe that it is possible to?)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_hooliganism & all that also in a country that has been in a state of war for decaides,..so you wouldn't expect that relations between the two communities would always be a bed of roses would you? Hooliganism is bad EVERYWHERE it happens & should be tried as much as possible to be rooted out ANYWHERE it exists.. But still just imagine that the situation-(G-forbid) was the other way around, I'm quite sure that if the Arabs actually would have left any of the Jews still alive( and that really is a big "if"..) they surely wouldn't have even let them to carry on & play football, not talking at all about precipitating in any National team they would have had, Yes there are still many unsolved problems in Israel between the two communities, but still with all the problems, teams from both sectors play in the same league & countries national team for years together now with success & lots of mutual respect, Just read what the "Hamas" writes about the Jews & decide by yourselves what you think would have happened to the Jews(Israelis) if the whole thing were the opposite way around? here from Wikipedia-"On 30 March 2007, Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan ended his "prayers to Allah" in a sermon broadcast on the Palestinian Authority’s TV quoting the hadith "The Hour [of Resurrection] will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, and the rock and the tree will say: 'Oh, Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, kill him!'" Al Aqsa mosque would be "liberated" "through the rifle", since the Israeli occupation knew no other language. He asked "Jihad-fighting worshippers" in "Palestine and everywhere" and Allah to take away the oppressor Jews and Americans and their supporters!" or this-"Like other Islamists, the Hamas uses antisemitic language, full of hatred towards Jews, ever since its foundation in 1987. In its Sacred Covenant [18 August 1988], there are frequent references to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which would have gladdened the hearts of Hitler and Goebbels. It is difficult to see what any of this has to do with spirituality, works of charity, dialogue or the search for peace." Think & decide for yourselves..who here sound more violent & vicious the Hamas sayings & actions? or some stupid ignorant football hooligans saying & actions? & who should be feared more?

or maybe what happened here.. straight after the British Mandate ended?? & the Arabs attacks that came immediately from every corner possible just to finish the Jews off.. "Expiration of the Mandate and 1948 WarThe British mandate over Palestine was due to expire on 15 May 1948, but Jewish Leadership led by future Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, declared independence on 14 May. The State of Israel declared itself as an independent nation, and was quickly recognized by the Soviet Union, the United States, and many other countries, but not by the surrounding Arab states. Over the next few days, approximately 1,000 Lebanese, 5,000 Syrian, 5,000 Iraqi, 10,000 Egyptian troops invaded Israel. Four thousand Transjordanian troops, commanded by 38 British officers who had resigned their commissions in the British army only weeks earlier (commanded by General Glubb), invaded the Corpus separatum region encompassing Jerusalem and its environs, as well as areas designated as part of the Arab state by the UN partition plan. They were aided by corps of volunteers from Saudi Arabia, Libya and Yemen."from Wikipedia.

mmmm.. I guess you mean this right??? a -"United-nations" resolution "despicable"...yeah interesting & very logical remark.. no doubt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_UN_Partition_Plan

Its not what I think!.., its as clear as it gets fact.. his views about Israel have been made clear numerous times, just like in his last saying that- - " As far as Israel is concerned it is a despicable state." So all those as-if attempts of his to try & hide & cover it with a seemingly nicer deceiving type of wrapping..,like its them..the-"Arabs" that are saying such extreme things & not him "of course".. ..are really ridiculous & so easily seen through to.. that he really can't deceive anyone on who is really standing behind those supposedly "quotations" from the "Arabs" words,.. and as I already wrote before, he can carry on speaking on his own behalf, & not on the behalf of all Arabs because there are Arabs that think & try to take action very opposite of his own views to, like these here for example-http://www.arabsforisrael.com/ & about taking the matter & discussing it with him in more detail somewhere else.. really NO THANKS ill have to pass this time on the immense Pleasure opportunity sorry..but thanks anyway mate..Cheers..

It would always have been a difficult game in any circumstances & your right they would of had their tails up anyhow against us...but still I think that the combination of their already frustration, Mancity's win over Utd(that surly gave them another boost seeing that no team is invincible..) & the fact that our squad was so dented, made them smell the blood & even go for it harder than usial...& put all that together with the fact that most of their best players were fit & on the pitch just means even extra trouble, I still don't think that the team played for a draw(at least for sure not at the begging of the match)but after the minutes started to go by & Liverpool had some decent dangerous attempts on goal, & our self realization that we are inevitably the weaker side on the day started to sink in, indeed it probably set us back a bit & we started to play more defensively.. was it deliberate decision to play more defensively or just an instinctive reaction to the situation?..its really hard to tell.. but still even if Grant understood the difficult situation the team was in on the day & decided to play more defensively I don't think it was to play for a draw, but maybe just to play more defensively & wait & hope for situations in the game that Liverpool might lose possession or make some other defensive error & then go on the "fast-break" & hopefully score from it. anyway lets agree on thing for sure, it was a bad game & the team didn't play well enough for sure.. & lets just hope that it was just one of those offshoots that happen inevitably to every team now & again, & that now as many of our players are on the way back to the team we'll start to see the real Chelsea back live & KICKING....

& I Just want to make one thing clear here, the last thing that I want' is to turn this forum into some kind of political/religious/race discussion(argument) type of forum.. as I have proved in the past when I ignored this guy & others remarks & was ready to put everything that was said behind us & just move on.. & that also after an official compliant I sent to Admin's here, that totally understood & agreed that there have been some serious unacceptable problems here in the forum lately, & promised & insured me that they will do anything in their power to try an deal & stop them, Anyway I have patients & I know that things can not always change over night,.. but saying that, I'm quite sure that sooner or later may Patience here will start running out, and if that happens I'm not going to continue standing & eating this crap here almost on my own..{execpt with a few other members & staff-(no names) but I have no doubt that they no who they are..} here that have been very nice & helpful, & I'm going to make sure that many other people that are connected in someway to the this issue will know exactly what has & is going on here in the forum & I'm sure that they will have lots to say & write about here to.. I'm sure that that many of the Israeli Chelsea-fc fans club-http://Chelsea.co.il/ (that by the way exists many years before Grant or even Abramovich had anything to do with the club) would love to know what has been said here by some people about their country culture & religion & I'm sure they will have allot to write about it here to... If this carries on I Will not hesitate to contact them & other Jewish, Israeli & other anti-racist football fans & organizations to have a say & write here exactly what they think about what has & is continuing to go on here in this forum.. personally as I have wrote a few times here in the past, I have no interest what so ever to turn this forum into a political "boxing" arena, but if this guy and others similar to him don't stop trying to provoke problems & start to shut up..they will be very clearly the ones that inevitably are going to push this forum into it. But still as I said already I have quite a bit of patients left & I'm going to wait on as long as possible, & hopefully these problems will be dealt in the appropriate way by whoever can & should deal with them, at last once & for all. http://Chelsea.co.il/

Well because your not ready to put a lid on it & shut up already Mr "Moderator".. & it seems that some of the others here & even your own staff (that do have the best intentions & I say that as a very positive fact..) although they would very wish to, for some reason aren't able to influence you even to moderate your own tongue, not of Course speaking about the forum at whole properely.., here are a few links that can explain in a "slightly" more serious & for a change with actual historic facts, some of the main roots of racism & antisemitism in the middle east, 1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabs_and_antisemitism 2) http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-21.htm 3) http://europenews.dk/en/node/3488 and another site that shows that in spite of these type of racist literature & behavior's there are still a hopefully substantial amount of Arabs that have chosen a totally different path , & hopefully in time they will be heard much more & louder & will really help to path the way to a to long needed peace in the area.. here- http://www.arabsforisrael.com/ In no way am I saying that this much too long conflict hasn't taken its toll also on some relatively very few Israeli youths, that have made on certain occasions idiotic & disgraceful anti-Arab related remarks & chants at football games ext..that need to be condemned & dealt with in the the most strongest terms & actions, but I think that a much better & closer look at Israeli "main stream" normal public, media & national sports associations ext'.. will show that they are not in anyway racist or anti-Arab & totally despise such behavior & try to do anything they can possibly to outroot the small minorities that act in such ways.. you would never find in Israeli main newspapers, literature & other formal media such racism like is found in at least some parts of the Arab world, thats a fact.

& Just one more thing...that for some reason seems to have raised quite a bit of interest & controversy here in the forum lately,.. I don't know or remember who it was here that "decided" for some obscure reason that I'm a Spurs fan & started also to spread the ridiculous rumor around.. But the truth is that it didn't really bother me what he or others said at the time..so I couldn't be bothered to respond & deny their stupid claims either.. & the truth of the matter & the funny thing about the whole thing is..that I don't think I know the name of even one of spurs players, except that Berbatov or something..(& I know him only because there were talks of him moving to Chelsea last month..) & I know also that they had for a few seasons an Egyptian player named Mido that was very good at the time, but I think they got rid of him after some time for some reason to,.. Anyway I thought it was clear enough there when I wrote that I cant wait for Chelsea to beat spurs at least 6-0 in the CC final, but maybe still saying that, wasn't explicit & clear enough & still was a bit to "witty" for some.., ..

First of all I agree with you entirely-"I really don't care who manages as long as we win the League or the Champions League." but I don't think he played for a draw, I really don't think he has reached any kind of stable position yet in the team or as a top premiership club coach, that he could start allowing himself to play such doggy ugly "games" such as losing crucial title points on purpose ext..& think he would still manage to get away with it somehow, He played to win, he needs to win!..no one is going to forgive him yet like at other teams, as for example they have forgiven Wenger & Ferguson several times for not performing well in previous seasons & not earning any silverware.. he's still very far from being in such a comfortable position like those two & others.. from what I saw yesterday Liverpool were one of the best sides we've played for some time they had their strongest players on the pitch & with a good bench available to.. & as I have said previously. they are a frustrated hungry team that need positive results at any cost.. & now lets see who we had.. Lampard wasn't really there, Malouda went lost to & Swp wasn't at his best either..so who's left to "throw" forward when nor Drogba or Sheva are around ?what other options did Grant have?..personaly I cant think of many more in this case,.. can you?.. what?..

& if we were already talking about Israeli & dutch football here's an interesting result from the 2004 Champions leauge..Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1 Ajax while it was not more nor less..Ronald Koeman himself that was the manager of Ajax at the time.. I think if I'm not mistaken that on the 2-leg Ajax beat maccabi 3-0, anyway as I said before there is still NO place for serious comparison between Dutch & Israeli football..but they are not hardly as far from each other as in the far past or as some people would maybe imagine..

Grant was the manager of Israel in the 2006 Israel campaign (see results above..) hmmmm...well yes it wasn't yesterday... but still I think that going back to 400bc is maybe just a little bit over stretched..

Just a few things.. First of all I think that everyone-(pro-grant as a manager or not) would agree that it would have been much better & also would have gone down better with the fans if he had at least a bit more experience in managerial positions at a few other European clubs prior to becoming the Chelsea manager, But saying that I want to make a few points.. 1) first of all Israeli football has made quite a few noticeable steps forward in the last few years, as everyone have seen in the last EURO-2008 campaign & they got quite good results against very tough oppositions & situations (Just like in the game against Russia when the Russians thought they needed a win at all cost to qualify....great Shame it didn't prove to be true in the end ...). & these last campaigns came after two relatively very successful campaigns that Grant was in charge of the national team.. & lets not forget that at the time he took over the job from the Danish manager Richard Møller Nielsen(winner of the EURO-1992) that didn't manage to succeed very well with the Israeli side at his time there & they looked most of the time quite poor on the pitch to..) 2) maybe many here understandably would much prefer to forget this fact but, it was the Israeli side-Hapoel Tel-aviv that knocked Chelsea-fc out of the Uefa Cup only a few years ago, just to carry on to reach the 1/4 finals of the competition (if I remember right..), + a few other teams that have performed in at least quite a respectable way in the various European competitions, like for example(a win of Macabbi-Haifa on Manutd 3-0 at one stage in the Champions league after beating Olympiakos ,Parma & Milan once to (hopefully I remembered those ones to right sorry if not...), 3) Just another point.. Its true of course that Ten Cate Has had more experience in various European Clubs ext'.. But still many of those positions were as an assistant-(& probably a very successful one) & the biggest club he actually manged himself was Ajax, that is of course I nice respectable European club, but has not been able to perform very well (to say the least) together with other Dutch teams on the International stage now for years.. I'm not saying of course that the Israeli football is near the level of the Dutch Football but on the other hand Dutch football aint at the same level as English/Spanish/Italian ext.. Football either.. Just posting here the table & results of the 2006 World cup qualifying results-group4 while Grant was the Israel manager, It doesn't seem to me like a record of someone that does not have any International football experience & that cant be at least considered with same (if not more) experience than many of the other(not Chelsea) premiership teams managers.. 1) France-20 2) Switzerland-18 3) Israel-18 4) Republic of Ireland-17 5) Cyprus-4 6) Faroe Islands-1 France 0 – 0 Israel , Israel 2 – 1 Cyprus , Israel 2 – 2 Switzerland , Cyprus 1 – 2 Israel , Israel 1 – 1 Republic of Ireland , Israel 1 – 1 France , Republic of Ireland 2 – 2 Israel , Switzerland 1 – 1 Israel , Faroe Islands 0 – 2 Israel , Israel 2 – 1 Faroe Islands .

First of all its a fact that we are not in the position we all wanted to be in & that Arsenal have began to break away from the pack..& of course a win yesterday against the Liver's was very important to try & keep our campaign still live & kicking.. But! the simple fact is that Arsenal & also man-unt & even Liverpool yesterday have/had the last few weeks & months much better teams & squads than ours, with all the injuries we've had + the African cup, we have had a team that cannot realistically fight for the title!, but still I think that Grant managed to squeeze as much out from the team almost as humanly possible, at these extremely difficult & challenging times. Are any of you so sure that Mourinho would have got any better results if not worse in such circumstances that 2/3 of his first team are absent? How many coaches around the world could not pride themselves with the fact of not losing a single game if they we're in a similar scenario as Grant has been in the last few weeks & months? yes of course were all disappointed,.. but its also really not realistic nor fair to compare Chelsea's situation to any of the other top teams this season.. we can & should compare ourselves only to ourselves..& the only question I think we should be asking at this stage is.. are we so sure that any other coach in the world right now would have produced better results in this very irregular & difficult period the teams been through? and lets also not forget that at the beginning of the season much before Grants era, when almost all our first team was intact, we still didn't look good if not worse than our last couple of games, & the results were average to poor then to.

Well atleast!... at last its all out there in the open for here all to seewho have really been the Idoits that have been provoking all the recent infantile problems here in the forum.. http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o139/bl...silly/moran.jpg

of course you are 100% right in normal circumstances...but when you've got so many key players missing already & your about to face a frustrated very hungry Liverpool side that need a positive result by any means they can get, I don't think I know of many coaches in the world if any, that would give up one of their most important & experienced players like Lampard, I really don't think it was a case of Grant not grasping that players that have been injured need to come back to the game gradually..(I think he's still got enough experience in football & as a manager, to understand something so basic.) It was just a case of choosing the least worst option out of all the rest of the bad options that were at his disposal before the game.

No just found out it was some other guy/referee thats called Mike Dean & he was even worse than this one today & thats really a tough record to break by all means..