Grant: We Are Still In The Title Hunt

[warnie_666 1,081]

I agrre with Grant that we are still in the Race. Last year with 2 injuries in our squad we struggled to win at home. This year with 8 injuries in our squad we are winning away and at home.

Last year it was just Man Utd and Chelsea and other teams were well below power. This year its Arsenal Chelsea Man utd Pool Citeh Villa all rite behind each other cabale of beating each other hence 6 points behind the leaders this season is no big deal when compared to the last season.

And btw....Last year Jose couldnt organise a defence without terry, and we drew 2 games at home against weak teams like fulham and some other team. Drew again at Villa ( away) on the new year. Inspite of losing only Cech and Terry. Look at us this season. We dont have half of our team and we are still up there. winning away games. Look at the positives of your manager rather than paying minute attention to his negatives. No one blamed Jose when his defense gave away last minute GOALS against weak teams. WE COUDNT DEFEND then. But im sure had it been Grant...you guys would have eaten him up for Supper!!. Most of you choose to pay attention to Jose's positives and Grant's negatives. Try changing it for God's sake. Jose is gone. Move on guys!!

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Bloke shouldn't be in the job and is winging it.

We have a chance of the title, with or without Grant. Abramovich needs to open his wallet this month, and buy Berbatov, Anelka and a quality defender. And Ronaldhino while we're at it.

[pluto 0]

I agrre with Grant that we are still in the Race. Last year with 2 injuries in our squad we struggled to win at home. This year with 8 injuries in our squad we are winning away and at home.

Last year it was just Man Utd and Chelsea and other teams were well below power. This year its Arsenal Chelsea Man utd Pool Citeh Villa all rite behind each other cabale of beating each other hence 6 points behind the leaders this season is no big deal when compared to the last season.

And btw....Last year Jose couldnt organise a defence without terry, and we drew 2 games at home against weak teams like fulham and some other team. Drew again at Villa ( away) on the new year. Inspite of losing only Cech and Terry. Look at us this season. We dont have half of our team and we are still up there. winning away games. Look at the positives of your manager rather than paying minute attention to his negatives. No one blamed Jose when his defense gave away last minute GOALS against weak teams. WE COUDNT DEFEND then. But im sure had it been Grant...you guys would have eaten him up for Supper!!. Most of you choose to pay attention to Jose's positives and Grant's negatives. Try changing it for God's sake. Jose is gone. Move on guys!!

Despite the points haul, I'm still with Fulham Broadway, Grant is just winging it and making it up as he goes along. He was praised for the Mikel sub like it was some genius decision, it was a good one yes but considering it was blatently obvious to all and sundry that is what was required I fail to be that impressed with his tactical nous as yet.

And Fulham last year were 12th in the league and a far stronger proposition, this season they have just sacked their manager and are 19th and look like being relegated!

Newcastle - ditto - team in crisis and a current soft touch, lacking confidence.

So Grant yes has done better over Christmas than Mourinho no question but he did not face the same quality teams in at least two cases. And he played Villa at home and drew, Mourinho played Villa away last season - always a difficult place for us to go.

As for the many injuries, how many of those players Grant has had available now would you say he would pick in normal circumstances?

I would suggest SWP, Joe, Mikel, Essien, Belletti, Paulo, Kalou, Ballack.

Bridge can easily sub for Ashley and in fact I think he plays often better.

Did we really miss Sheva and Malouda?

The only players that really count for us that were out are Drogba, Cech, Riccy, Lamps and Terry.

Lamps appeared out of form just prior to his injury so Ballack as his sub is more then a good replacement and Alex is doing a great job for us.

Grant was lucky that he met a weak Newcastle and Fulham when he did otherwise we may have had a much more uncomfortable time of it I'll wager.

So yes he did a good job no question but I'm not doing cartwheels over his obvious managerial genius just yet and our injury woes though bad are not quite as horrific if you look at the calibre of players he can still call upon.

As for giving Mourinho stick when things went wrong, from what I can recall he only had to get a few draws or lose one in the odd game and the moaning was endless. He hardly got a free pass when he failed, people expected great things of him and were not happy when it went wrong.

Same thing will apply to Grant, how can it be any different?

We have become used to setting high standards for ourselves now.

Edited January 2, 2008 by pluto

[Aesthetic Relic 301]

And btw....Last year Jose couldnt organise a defence without terry, and we drew 2 games at home against weak teams like fulham and some other team. Drew again at Villa ( away) on the new year. Inspite of losing only Cech and Terry. Look at us this season. We dont have half of our team and we are still up there. winning away games. Look at the positives of your manager rather than paying minute attention to his negatives. No one blamed Jose when his defense gave away last minute GOALS against weak teams. WE COUDNT DEFEND then. But im sure had it been Grant...you guys would have eaten him up for Supper!!. Most of you choose to pay attention to Jose's positives and Grant's negatives. Try changing it for God's sake. Jose is gone. Move on guys!!

Difference being last season when Terry was out we hadnt any defensive cover so we had to use Essien at CB and a;so we had Bridge AND Cole out too for some time and used Ferreira at LB for a time too. WE've been fortunate this year to have either Bridge or Cole fit to play, Have Belletti to play at right back and also Ben Haim and Alex to cover at CB.

We didnt have that last season, plus, with losing Essien from midfield took a massive chunk out of our midfield and not having him there was a major reason why our performances weren't up to scratch.

Of course we're going to compare between Jose and Grant, especially when he continues his back handed comments about "HIS" style of football is more attractive and effective than his Joses. He brings most of it on himself, so its there to be debated.

What exactly are Grunts positives ???

As far as I can see he's been fortunate to get as far as he has due to the depth of the squad. He's been found wanting when its mattered against so called title "rivals". When the crunch comes to the crunch he hasnt got it. More and more fans are cottoning onto him after giving him a chance to prove himself.

One day you too may see the light :thumbsup:

[joe_kura 0]

Difference being last season when Terry was out we hadnt any defensive cover so we had to use Essien at CB and a;so we had Bridge AND Cole out too for some time and used Ferreira at LB for a time too. WE've been fortunate this year to have either Bridge or Cole fit to play, Have Belletti to play at right back and also Ben Haim and Alex to cover at CB.

We didnt have that last season, plus, with losing Essien from midfield took a massive chunk out of our midfield and not having him there was a major reason why our performances weren't up to scratch.

Of course we're going to compare between Jose and Grant, especially when he continues his back handed comments about "HIS" style of football is more attractive and effective than his Joses. He brings most of it on himself, so its there to be debated.

What exactly are Grunts positives ???

As far as I can see he's been fortunate to get as far as he has due to the depth of the squad. He's been found wanting when its mattered against so called title "rivals". When the crunch comes to the crunch he hasnt got it. More and more fans are cottoning onto him after giving him a chance to prove himself.

One day you too may see the light :thumbsup:

totally agree. last season we played with makeshift defence. we had to play essien at CB, sometimes fereira, essien at right back, fereira at left back but we didnt concede as much as we are right now although we have enough cover. we also dont have our top wingers (cole and robben) for a long period and lampard played with a broken toe while ballack has been on and off the field.

avram try to tell us that he is much better than mourinho but ironically he always follow mourinho tactical changes. during mourinho first year, we are a record breaking team (most clean sheets, fewest goals conceded, most victories, most points earned). so all i want is a manager to repeat those feat. not a manager who talks big, but inside, he is only a 'morgue manager'.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

The difference between this point now and this point 12 months ago is that teams outside the top four are very much capable of beating Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United. Now there are teams like Everton, Man City and Villa who are all capable of causing upset, and of course West Ham are United's bogey club.

[Elliott 7]

The reason we've done better this time around is because apart from Villa the opposition has been a doddle, and this time, thanks to Mourinho's signings, we've actually had adequate defensive cover.

[Guest Lampards Bitch]

I still find it hilarious how some of you think he is the brains behind the outfit. Clarke and Ten Cate are doing the job not him. He always looks fucking clueless

[SuperSheva7 0]

We all know that Clarke and Ten Cate have an influence on the team, but no one knows how much really, give the man some credit.

[Aesthetic Relic 301]

We all know that Clarke and Ten Cate have an influence on the team, but no one knows how much really, give the man some credit.

If he wants credit he can get a bloody mastercard :thumbsup:

[pluto 0]

The reason we've done better this time around is because apart from Villa the opposition has been a doddle, and this time, thanks to Mourinho's signings, we've actually had adequate defensive cover.

Agree with the comments posted above about the difference between the Christmas cover defensively and with now. Grant has better options in that department (thanks ironically to Mourinho!) and he has also met far weaker opposition during this period. Essien is also in the midfield not spending his time getting acquainted with defensive duties. I'm sorry but Newcastle and Fulham are teams in a right mess and despite flickers of fight initially are frankly pretty woeful.

Villa was the only tough team Grant faced over Christmas and he drew. Even Blackburn proved toothless in front of goal and never looked like scoring after a while. Mourinho fell out with Roman last January over the fact he had no defensive cover and it's ironic that eventually being allowed to bring in Alex, TBH, Belletti gave Grant the platform he needed to boast about the 10 points from 12 he has got.

In fact Grant has faced a number of woeful sides in his tenure that last year were far far superior - the likes of Fulham, Wigan, Boro, Bolton and Newcastle are a shadow of what they were once were as they have imploded as the season has moved on. Throw in the likes of just promoted Sunderland, Derby etc into the run and no wonder he can boast such a great winning run that's 7 games right there!

Carling Cup easy run against Hull, Leicester and a reserve team Liverpool who didn't care, next up QPR. Mourinho had to beat Blackburn and Villa to name just two last year to get through. Ditto CL where we had Barca, this year Grant had Valencia a team already in crisis when we met them and are now a total mess.

When Grant has been ultimately tested against top opposition he has usually stalled.

He may yet prove me wrong and win us some silverware and if he does then I'll congratuate him but until then jury still out.

He's been made to look far better than he actually is I feel by having luck at key moments and facing generally poor opposition which Chelsea would beat normally any way. He has tinkered little with Mourinho's team and yet has the never to rabbit on about how much better we are playing under him than Mourinho after every match. The only goal fests we have had again are against poor teams or teams having an off day who don't know how to defend!

So excuse me whilst I don't immediately think Grant is the new specical one.

He's going to have to work harder than this to get my tick in the box for his continuing reign at Stamford Bridge lasting more than a season.

Edited January 3, 2008 by pluto

[joe_kura 0]

We all know that Clarke and Ten Cate have an influence on the team, but no one knows how much really, give the man some credit.

being a football manager is not about credit. its about getting the results.

Edited January 3, 2008 by joe_kura

[Elliott 7]

She means give him the credit for the results obtained.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Not sure he is worthy of any credit for the results tbh.

As far as I can see, he is an all ears and shifty eyed MP3 player between the stereo speakers of Clarke and Ten Coats.

He pulled the wool over Abramovichs eyes, and the results, - win, lose or draw are despite him in my opinion. His input is negligible at best and highlty irrelevant to performance.

What he has done, is create a void, -a vacuum that should be filled witha competent experienced coach.

[pluto 0]

What he has done, is create a void, -a vacuum that should be filled witha competent experienced coach.

I know I really should try hard to like the guy, he is our manager after all but he leaves me dead cold and I can't muster not one ounce of goodwill towards the man.

He is a void and about as interesting as watching a kettle boil.

I'm sure he is a nice enough guy personally but just on face value and on the irritating way he continues to whitter on about our new style football and have digs about the previous manager - I just want him to disappear and wish he would leave it to Clarke and Ten Cate.