pluto

We've got quite a rep for doing this but no. Not against us, against a lower ranking team if he loses again, then he will bite the big one.

Didn't even realise Alan Smith was playing. Martins lacks any confidence and there is no real threat there from Newcastle. We should wrap this up 2 or even 3 nil, I can't see them scoring at all - there is a reason why they are 11th in the league.

Any team that can get held at home and almost beat by Derby are in big trouble. They are in a total mess at the moment and we have a good record against them at Stamford Bridge in any case. 3-0 to us.

In a word - NOTHING Grant was appointed simply because he got to know Roman a few years back when he was managing the Israeli team. Apparently in private Grant is meant to be very charming and charismatic (yes I know this takes some believing looking and listening to him). He managed to convince Roman that he is a great attacking coach and he could do wonders if given a club to manage and Roman kept him in mind, moved him to Portsmouth initially and then against Mourinho's wishes moved him to Chelsea as Director of Football. Grant in no way deserves on his current experience to be in charge of Chelsea, but he's Roman's mate and will not cause any waves in the media or amongst all the other hangers on like Arnesen, De Visser, Zahavi etc that hang around the club. Roman wants a manager who is low key, does not hog the limelight and rattles out games with 5-4 scorelines on a regular basis. Grant was ironically renowed in Israel for his dull, pragmatic, safe football, so it's rather funny that Roman has apparently invested his faith for the new attacking style of Chelsea with him. He also had a rep for playing tactically safe, he would rather keep the same players on the pitch until the end rather than make any quick changes during a game - too risky. So Grant is not fit to wipe Mourinho's shoes but the critical thing in his favour was that he speaks Russian and has years of experience of sucking up to whoever he thinks can get him on in the world. And rest assured he will keep in with Roman until the bitter end, he has his chance of glory now, he will not give it up with a fight. Roman in turn truly believes according to gossip that he has found the next Arsene Wenger hiding out in Israel for the last few decades and will give Grant time to prove himself - hence the 4 year contract. Although whether he will ever get to the end of 4 years I doubt it - probably get kicked upstairs to that vitally important DOF position which is currently now vacant. Yes it all seems totally bizarre but remember this club is totally dysfunctional any way staffed to the hilt by Roman's hangers on - no wonder Mourinho felt isolated and alienated as manager - he was the person least liked by Roman and least trusted at the end but the most qualified for his job! As long as you understand why Grant was employed (he's a mate of the boss) then everything else falls into place - you shouldn't be shocked or surprised that our football hasn't changed one iota since Mourinho left. Grant likes winning and he is scared shi*tless of losing his newly found power and after discovering this team under Mourinho when fit and in form is pretty damn good - he's just kept the show on the road, playing exactly as before but mindful of his new mandate by Roman he simply talks up each game as being the best thing you've ever seen in your life entertainmet wise. Guess he figures if you talk about it enough you can fool people into believing it's true. I personally think he has no plan, or nous to implement one without help and lacks the inspirational and leadership qualities on the touchline to inspire the players long term. He also is tactically naive as has been proved during games where we were not dealing with cannon fodder but with quality sides like MU, Arsenal, Everton, Villa who will take the game to you and have class managers in Wenger, Fergie, Moyes, O'Neill. Grant so far has been lucky, the only times we have only played any more open football is against teams such as Hull, Man City, Leicester and away to Rosenborg. Against better quality teams it's been low scorelines and as you were - that tells you all need to know about Grant and his attacking style. In fact up to this point last season we had scored more goals in every competition aside from the Carling Cup! The only way Grant can effect any change is buying a whole host of new players - then you will see the kind of game Roman wants us to play - Grant will not bring us anything different unaided - he needs cash to buy more players and get rid of the ones he doesn't want. So, don't believe the hype, trust your eyes and see what is really put before you and switch off the TV when you hear Mr Grant mumbling along about our new style of football and how much better we are then before. He's talking out of his arse and he knows it deep down.

Technically we are certainly not out of it yet but realistically we are getting into that zone where the chances are getting slim. Liverpool are as good as out I feel in my gut, we still have a chance but have to rely on both MU and Arse to collapse and not recover and for us to maintain consistent form - I just don't see that happening. At best we can do 2nd but my instinct tells me we will end up 3rd.

Another reason why Mourinho finally probably walked away from it all - he couldn't buy the players he wanted for his system to work and to play according to his ideals. Grant has simply confirmed in a roundabout way what I guessed for sometime that there was a battle royal waging before this over player buys and that was causing serious problems for Mourinho. According to some sources, Mourinho during the last season or so found he could not buy the players he wanted unless Roman or his hangers on liked them too. If they did then money could be found, if not then forget it get lost. And to those who say "well what's wrong with Roman having the say on who finally gets bought in? It's his club and his money?". Ask yourself this question, if Sir Alex Ferguson wanted a particular player and the Glazers came along and said "sorry don't want you buying that player look for another one". How do you think Alex Ferguson might respond to that input? Do the Glazers despite owning the club and being very wealthy men have the football acumen to tell Sir Alex which players would be best playing for him? I suggest the answer is no, otherwise Sir Alex might just as well not be manager. I don't see why Mourinho should have had to put up with similar treatment. You either trust your manager or you don't and ultimately player buys should be his final choice not yours. Roman obviously couldn't stop wanting to meddle, money and power does not make you a footballing know it all. Grant is obviously very much in Roman's pocket and will calmly accept any player Roman wants on the squad, although lets hope Grant has some balls and can refuse ones he feels do not help the squad get stronger. There will be no more rows about player buys or transfers now that Grant is on board that's for sure. On the plus side he will get cash (which Mourinho was denied) when he wants but the players he buys will be all authorised by Roman and all wanted by Roman. You sense some players bought by Mourinho early on would not have been purchased if Roman had got his way, it was only when the distrust between them grew that Roman started digging his heels in and started interfering not wanting players that don't fit in with his obsession with the likes of Ronaldinho etc.

So have I, but I've repeated this often enough, his constant prattling on about the great football we are playing since he took over which most can't recognize (he was on again about it today pre match Valencia) and how poor we were under Mourinho just drive me nuts and ruin my enjoyment if I ever see him post match talking.I just need to stop listening to him and pretend he's a mute, then I'll be much happier. Arsenal are really suffering with certain players missing for them, you can't be the same team with key players missing as we have seen when Drogba, Lampard and Riccy/JT are all out at the same time.I think Chelsea could get a good result, we always do well against Arsenal and our players know how to rough them up.If Grant doesn't mess up the team too much and sends them out as they know, I think they can beat Arsenal in their own back yard, because Arsenal were awful against Boro and I think their squad is too thin to cope.Yes Drogba is missing but our midfield is better given the injuries they have.

I agree with your assessment but that doesn't justify is constant ridiculous comments about our new look attacking football after every game, it's actually getting embarrassing.He is coasting on the coat tails of what Mourinho left and just steering the car in the right direction - the team is so well drilled if he doesn't meddle too much it just keeps going.Crushing Rosenborg, Hull, Leicester and a pathetic away Man City has apparently cemented his rep for attacking, swashbuckling football if you believe the hype.It will take performances against better quality opposition than that to convince me he is of sufficient quality to manage the club long term and justify Roman's faith in him.

Well with Arsenal losing today, Grant bizarrely has the chance to take us level with Arsenal if we can beat them.This still doesn't make me in awe of what he has done so far for reasons I've already gone into. I don't even want to think what rubbish Grant will be spouting about how wonderful the new look Chelsea is and how amazingly we have recovered from our "bad" start to the campaign under Jose if we do win. Jose never lost to the apparent genius that is Mr Wenger and depending upon injuries to both sides, if Grant doesn't muck things up with any strange new attacking team tactics we could continue that record.

It would not surprise me in the slightest if Rafa is coaching a different club next season. If he doesn't at least have a strong stab at winning the PL then I think he's finished.

And now losing 2-0 ! I wonder if this is the beginning of Arsenal's wobble.

Had to smile at your love of Chelsea - lucky club!Yes you were right, Grant's appointment as Director of Football (funny we don't need one now apparently) was the beginning of the end for Mourinho and despite his protestations this summer that it would make no difference you knew deep down it would. Another buffer between him and Roman, another useless finger in the pie mucking up his work.And the only reason dear old Harry changed his tune about Grant was because he knew he was moving on soon and his attempts to worm his way more into the first team affairs were firmly rebuffed and it was back to chatting to players about the weather and putting cones out.He even had the nerve to try and share some of the success Portsmouth are having at the moment by saying a few weeks back how wonderful it was their position in the table and you could see this was due to all the hard work "we" had done. What exactly did you do Avram? Aside from spend time on your mobile phone chatting to Roman, putting cones out and trying out your new age psychobabble on bemused players who thought you a nice enough bloke but didn't have a clue what your were meant to be doing there?His latest dig that Mourinho's counter attacking style of football is now outdated as he Grant has done huge amounts of analysis on the subject (not by playing the game but by reading books and watching others of course) simply confirms what I have long suspected that he does an awful lot of chatting about how good he is without having done anything fundamentally astounding to prove it - and no I don't count wins against some of the competition we've had as proof positive we have landed ourselves the Israeli version of Wenger. Mourinho had a big mouth too and thought himself a great coach but he could afford to mouth off as he had actually done something consistently over time to prove that calling himself the big "I am" was acceptable. Grant has won little and done nothing to justify his jibes at Mourinho and the strange idea our style of play has done a 360 degree turn from September. We have thrashed a few championship league teams and City when they were in a coma one afternoon defensively. If we thrash Sunderland tomorrow you just know it will be aided by the poor quality of the opposition rather than our overt attacking brilliance.He has inherited Mourinho's superb team, drilled superbly to defend and attack when the opportunity presents itself, totally professional and eager to win for further glory - I doubt they do it to earn Grant's plaudits.That's not stellar talent in a coach weaving some kind of magic wand and making what is currently happen happen - it is just common sense.

The digs are there, they are repeated after just about every match and they are obviously directed at Mourinho. They don't convince me one bit, in fact I usually groan, then laugh and switch off - he deserves little else but my exasparation.Another classic recently is the idea that when he took over he rescued us from our poor league position and that "no one" gave us a chance of being in with a shout of the title. And now he has personally turned it around and we are back in the chase again.Well now for the facts, when Mourinho departed we were 5th and 2 points off Arsenal and level with MU and Liverpool.And now under Mr Grant? We are 3rd with MU just ahead and 6 points off Arsenal!It's the way he tells em I swear. I have just seen the link to the Daily Mail article - that's what I'm talking about, a lack of respect!When Grant has won a Champions League, UEFA Cup, two league titles in England (not Israel thank you), FA Cup, Carling Cup (and lets not forget the Charity Shield - Jose never did!) then he can tell us all that Mourinho's ideas are outdated. I really have no respect for this man and his continued digs at what the most SUCCESSFUL manager we have ever had at this club did for this team.Grant is playing with Mourinho's team and winning and taking the plaudits accordingly.Grant has surived to the grand old age of what 53? And yet during all that time has never managed to win anything of much merit and strangely Milan and Bara showed no interest when he kicked up on these shores at Portsmouth as Harry Rednapp's unused underling. Harry hadn't a clue what he did either and so he liked him because he had no control over first team affairs and he probably already knew he was Chelsea bound any way.When he left Portsmouth it's strange given how many big ideas Grant has about his more modern approach to football that a host of big European clubs were not knocking on his door begging him to take charge of their teams.Funny that.Grant will earn my respect when he shows respect for our previous manager when he does have to refer to him.His constant digs reek of one thing - INSECURITY IN HIS POSITION.His views are also bullsh*t when he tries to being up facts to prove this dumb ass theories.Stick to playing with Mourinho's team Avram - you are safer in the dugout doing little than opening your mouth off it and proving your views aren't worth taking even remotely seriously. Right now supporting the team is easy, the manager I'll take a pass thanks.

I agree, he has faced no one of any note yet in terms of quality and when he did we lost or we draw,To be honest he has had one long run of very easy games both home and away, two Carling Cup wins to non premier league teams, no Barca in this round of the CL unlike last season. And we have managed to play all the relegation hit sides or those hovering there or there abouts. I would love to hear what the lads have to say in the years to come about Mourinho's departure and what they really thought of Grant rather than the pravda like bollocks we get on the Chelsea official site now.

Read that article and it was funny, master psychologist? Jesus.That ties in with an article I read on a blog by a BBC journo who said he had heard that when Grant was at Portsmouth Harry Redknapp used to ask what the hell Grant did as technical director. Harry would not let him mess with first team affairs which is what he wanted (surprise!) and he spent most of the time apparently walking around with a mobile phone most of the time and staying in contact with Roman and speaking to players asking if they were feeling okay!Malouda also said in an article in some French magazine when he was talking about the removal of Mourinho and he was asked to compare them as trainers and whilst he raved about Mourinho and wished he could have experienced more of his methods he was far more circumspect about Grant other than to say he was very reserved during training and just stood their "observing" the players.For that read "does bugger all".Seems he is more of a figure head to me used to keep Roman happy because he will not annoy the boss and will get in the coaching staff and players Roman wants without any public fights. Seems like Ten Cate and Clarke actually do the training and hard work and Grant takes the credit.

According to some in the know, Grant is very loyal to the players out on the pitch, he will keep them on and not make a sub even when they are doing badly and the fans are screaming for a player to come off. He would rather wait and see if they can get better than make some snap change.No idea if that is true or not but when Belletti had that nightmare game against Schalke and stayed on the pitch I thought under Mourinho he would have been off but Grant left him on.He doesn't strike me as a person who makes quick snap judgements he would rather wait and see what happens.

I never thought we would struggle but why are people giving Grant additional credit over and above what he deserves?The team are the same quality as they were before Jose left, instilled with his winning spirit and drive.Grant takes over.He gets players back from injury that Jose sorely missed.We start winning again as players pick up form and fitness and Grant is some magician?No he's taken over a quality team and has been smart enough not to mess with it too much and upset the players and as professionals they want to keep winning things.Nothing has changed in my view and Grant has done little to change much aside from thrashing the odd hapless team here and there more so than apparently we would have done under Mourinho.

Glad I'm not alone, last night's result was a typical, physically over powering, counterattacking away win against poor opposition. We crushed them just like we always would have done with our power, superior talent and hunger to get the job done. Things coached into the team by Mourinho and now used very gratefully by Mr Grant.He's done the job asked of him no question but don't over egg the pudding, it already tasted great before he became the chef and no amount of Grant telling me how much better he has made the team and how poorly we were doing before is going to convince me otherwise until he gets his own players in and faces some tougher opposition.

Curbishly is right about our style of play, the team has the same players, it plays usually in Jose's formation and Grant has simply got the kind of players we needed back desparately from injury (Lamps, Drogba) and picked on where Jose left off. The team has always played like a cohesive, strong unit this is nothing new. The players often scored great goals, this again is nothing new but every time we see a goal now or a pass that is slick its a case of "you wouldn't see that under Mourinho" - you would but people choose to pretend we never did anything like this, how the hell did we win two back to back titles then? Playing chess on the pitch or quality football?The foundations of the squad have always been strong and the team spirit brilliant, aside from the intial shock when he left and losing against MU a few days later I don't think anything much has changed and I'm baffled as to why Grant is reaping praise for the so called amazing turnaround in results and style of play when all he has done is let the team get on with it. The opposition has been so poor overall that he didn't really have that much hard work to do than pick the players we usually see and tell them to get on with it and do what they have been trained so well to do already - WIN.As for comparing results how can you possibly compare across seasons, that's ridiculous.They are taking Grant's number of games in charge and then just checking back and including the end of last season and the start of this for Jose. How can you compare the end of a long hard season when we were dead on our feet and always tail off our results to a new season in late September, October when the players are fresh and just starting to play some competitions?If they are going to compare, perhaps they should contrast Grant's games against Jose's games for exactly the same period last season covering late September, October and November when weather conditions and players form and fitness would generally be the same. I think they would be surprised to find that Jose scored just as many goals if not more against far better quality opposition in all three competitions over that period than Grant has this.Yet apparently we are playing so much better, attacking football.

Sorry but this is what I mean about trying hard to respect Avram but every time I want to try and make an effort to do so he comes out with like this after the game tonight against Rosenborg: Again after the Rosenborg game the usual guff about our positive attractive football (okay this time it was!) but the dig about that opening game against Rosenborg. Funny he should mention the two dropped points there but he does not mention the lousy game against Schalke which we deserved to lose and came away with a draw after dropping yes 2 points!But of course that was under his regime so is totally ignored but we can have a dig about the Rosenborg game because he was sitting behind the guy in charge at the time.Like I said it's pathetic and so transparent and just reeks of total insecurity that he has to keep on mentioning Mourinho in a bad light and tries to cover over any deficiencies of his since then by simply ignoring them as if the games never happened.At least we are through and he can no longer use the Rosenborg game as a stick to beat Mourinho with, he will now have to rise or fall on his own results in the next round.Sadly in the premiership I guess he will still harp on about our poor start and how we almost should have given up things were so bad. I'll bet that's all we will hear about from him if we narrowly miss winning the league this year, it wasn't his fault it was Mourinho's.Why can't Grant just shut up so I can enjoy Chelsea without having to listen to his inane childishly spiteful views? He could take a vow of silence like Roman - now there's a man who knows the value of the spoken word - he doesn't use them often! There is life after Mourinho alright no doubt about it but Grant is hardly making me want to rally behind his cause.I'd rather rally behind the players, the rest of the coaching staff even Peter Kenyon than Grant right now.

Rosenborg were suprisingly awful in the end from start to finish we had acres of space and time and totally dominated them from start to finish it was men against boys stuff out there tonight.The whole team performed well not that the defence or goal keeper had much to do.Drogba was fantastic as always as was Joe.Rosenborg could and should have shipped more, I'm not sure where their midfield was but it wasn't on the pitch and their defence was ripped apart with every play we did.Derby offered tought resistence at times at the weekend. Quite how they beat Valencia home and away just defies belief when you watched them tonight absolutely woeful.Easy win for Grant very comfortable and we are top of the group so job well done for everybody - players, manager and all the other coaching staff.

He'd be mad to take it.He belongs in regular club football.He's far too young to be going into international management and I'm sure he knows it.Everything he's said to date does not point in the direction of taking this job.He would be wasting his talent just taking on the odd friendly and qualifier for the next two years - just silly stuff.

Yes true, of course we compete as hard as ever, I just resent Grant trying to take credit for something which was always there before but giving the impression he's discovered something new that's what grates. When he stops aiming his barbs against our previous coach and stops pretending he was hard done by when he took over then I'll be happier. He should just concentrate on the here and now and stop having digs about what is now our recent history.Then I can get to like and respect him more. I'd like to see what kind of players he may bring into the January transfer window, give me some idea of what kind of team he is trying to build the kind of players he likes and wants.Will they be radically different from what we would normally expect?

No I didn't, I thought it was ridiculous to suggest that.That is the whole point - the team is excellent and Grant is taking advantage of that quite rightly.It was never going to collapse because Jose left and I could never understand why people thought it would.Grant is a competent coach nothing more at present in charge of a magnificant team but to allude that he has done something special since taking over for me at any rate is totally overblown.Yes if you listen to some of the press you would think that Grant has turned into some kind of stellar coach and has staged a remarkable comeback for the team.What comeback?The team was always capable of improving its form, getting its players back from injury and winning again.Grant has had little out of the ordinary to cause this "transformation" in my opinion.When he gets some of his own players in that's when I'll get interested in his coaching credentials and also plays a top side.

Ironic that apparently Jose didn't really want Sheva and possibly even Ballack but for some reason they came and they ruined what was a great team. I just wish Roman had trusted Jose to leave him pick the team he wanted and not interfere - he's a fantastic coach and if only he had been left alone I just wonder what would have happened to this team. Buying Sheva was the deathknell I feel ultimately for him. He never wanted big stars in the squad, he wanted a team and Sheva and Ballack never seemed to fit in with Jose's team ethos.I resent the way people keep harping on about how dull Jose played all the time, he made the team play some great football at times but the way Grant and some of the press carry on you would think we never played any slick, fast paced, attacking football at all when he was in charge. If he was such a lousy coach entertainment wise how the hell did we score the goals we did? Win the league two years on the trot? I loved us when we had Duff and Robben on the wings we were fantastic to watch and we were a Mourinho team and that was never dull not for me.I don't respect Grant at the moment because of the constant digs about the past regime, it reeks of abject insecurity and disrespect towards a coach far more successful than he has every been and I feel he's been overly praised for what he has done with what is essentially Jose's team. He left Grant with a fantastic group of wonderful players drilled to the nth degree to play to the death for a win, a wonderful defence a wonderful attacking player in Drogba - a definite Mourinho buy and what a buy. He even had the nerve prior to the Rosenborg game to suggest that we had started so poorly in the premiership under Jose that really concentrating on the CL was the only thing to do but now he Grant had managed to turn it around.We were two points behind the leaders when Jose left us but now we are 5 points off the lead but 4th instead of 5th! How can you be out of the league being 2 points of the leaders in September! It just goes to show you how pathetic his statements are - how he tries to rewrite history to make him look as if he has worked some kind of magic trick - he hasn't. Hasn't he contributed to our poor start by losing at MU and drawing against Everton and Fulham? Or does he ignore those results?The way some act it's as if Jose legacy was some poisoned chalice to Grant - it was one hell of a legacy and he is now reaping the benefits of that Jose left him.I've seen nothing that leads me to believe that Grant has done anything much different, he's taken Jose's team, tried to tinker with it for the odd game but basically it's a well oiled machine that can run and run. Until he gets his own players in it will always have its roots with Mourinho for me, sorry but I just can't help seeing it that way.I just get fed up with people telling me how much more attacking and exciting we are and how "this would never have happened under Mourinho" and I just want to laugh because I have just not seen how different we are and yet if I say that I am shouted down by some for my abject blindness.Mourinho had his faults certainly, he made mistakes but his plus points were big ones and I still feel badly about how he left the club and wish he was still in charge.But he's not and that's it but I don't see why I should worship Grant on the little I have seen so far, this team is no better under Grant, it's not slicker, it's not hungrier, it's not more aggressive, or more attacking unless you count putting goals past hapless opposition more often than not.So yes Grant is doing the business which is great no question but it's a business that is hardly difficult for him. In fact it's been all too easy so far, his tactical nous has yet to be tested for me against really sterling opposition. And when it has we have lost or drawn.