Have We All Taken Chelsea’s Avram for Granted?
Chelsea were written off as silverware contenders by many of the so-called ‘experts’ of the game when Roman Abramovich replaced the enigmatic Portuguese man of war Jose Mourinho with the dour Israeli Avram Grant back in September, but 5 months later on the Blues are back in the Premier League title race and still in contention for all the cup competitions. So was Avram’s appointment a masterstroke by Roman or has Grant just carried on where the ‘special one’ left off?
Since his appointment, Avram has pulled Chelsea into 3rd place in the Premier League, just 4 points off leaders United, reached the Carling Cup final, topped their Champions League qualifying group and successfully reached the 5th round of the FA Cup. Not a bad start I’m sure you’ll agree.
His record in all competitions reads, played 29, won 22, drawn 5 and lost just 2 (against United & Arsenal away). His League record since taking over at the Bridge of 39 points from 51 available is only bettered by United (by 4 points). It’s a point better than Wenger’s Arsenal and 10 points more than Rafa’s Liverpool have managed in the last 17 League games. With both the Gunners and the Red Devils still to visit Stamford Bridge the current gap between the clubs has begun to look very fragile indeed.
One of the reasons for Avram’s appointment was Abramovich’s thirst for a ‘sexy’ football style in the mould of Arsenal or Barcelona, however, Jose will be pleased to know his defensive legacy remains intact as 19 clean-sheets in 29 games testifies. Former Barcelona assistant and Ajax Head Coach Henk Ten Cate was appointed as assistant coach to help with the ‘sexy-fication’ of Chelsea’s winning brand of football but apart from two high scoring matches, the 6-0 home League win over City and the 4-4 home draw with Villa, the Blues League form has hardly changed from the style played under Grant’s predecessor. In fact, in the other 15 Premier League matches managed by Avram, Chelsea have not scored more than 2 goals in a match. The constant bout of injuries and suspensions could explain as to why the Blues new expansive game hasn’t quite come to fruition. Under Grant senior players such as Frank Lampard has played just 11 League games, Didier Drogba just 6 League appearances, Ricardo Carvalho 9 League appearances, both John Terry and Florent Malouda 7 League appearances.
The 52-year old Israeli is hardly a big name Coach in the mould of Jose Mourinho, his meagre reputation was built up domestically as manager of 3 different Israeli club sides. He won 4 domestic League titles and 6 domestic cups in a 16-year managerial career in Israel. He also spent a 4-year spell in charge of the Israeli national side, narrowly missing out on qualification to the 2006 World Cup finals despite remaining unbeaten in a group including France and Switzerland. His record certainly does not compare to the short trophy-laden career of his Portuguese predecessor. Cocky Jose has won 10-major honours in his short managerial career including the biggest club prize of them all, the Champions League.
Grant came to our shores in a Technical Director role at Portsmouth in October 2006 but lasted just 10 months before joining the Stamford Bridge billionaires as Director of football in July 2007 at close friend Roman Abramovich’s request. Within 2 months Avram replaced the charismatic Mourinho in the Chelsea hot seat despite widespread criticism of the appointment amongst the press and supporters alike.
Despite Avram Grant being portrayed as the footballing equivalent of John Major the transition from the attention seeking, slick dressing Jose to the dour, grey, mumbling figure of Grant has been a smooth one. The results have been good despite the various obstacles caused by injuries and the multiple call-ups to the African Cup of Nations. Chelsea are no longer constantly in the papers for the controversial opinions and gesticulations of a certain Mr Mourinho, press conferences are no longer hugely anticipated events as the Blues no longer tend to wash their dirty linen in public.
Avram Grant may not have been the fans choice to replace their enigmatic Portuguese hero Mourinho but few would argue at the work he has done so far. He may not possess the personality, dress sense, looks or proven track record that his predecessor had but if he delivers more silverware back to the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet, will it be a case of ‘Jose, who?’ for Chelsea fans come the end of the season?
Tags: Avram Grant, Blues, Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Stamford Bridge
January 28th, 2008 at 12:57
Jose will be greatly missed for his off field activities as he made the Premier League interesting again, but you can’t argue with Avram’s record can you.
January 28th, 2008 at 13:05
He has not won anything yet, Jose was a cup magnet lets see if Avram can do the business when it gets down to business end of the competitions like Mourinho always did
January 29th, 2008 at 12:24
He hasn’t got the passion that Jose had for the fans or for the club and without that I don’t reckon he can take us to the next level. We’ll beat Spurs in the Carling Cup final but I think that might be it for us this season
January 29th, 2008 at 16:18
i think he is doing a good under rated job although they havnt won anything yet i think they will win the carling cup they have a few big players missing still and still seem to be lurking in the shadows….anelka is a great buy for them
January 29th, 2008 at 21:18
It doesn’t matter who is in charge, we have the strongest squad by far in the Premier League, no Lampard, Drogba, Terry, Essien, Mikel, no PROBLEM! Jose may have been the Portuguese man of war, but Avram will be the Israeli ‘man of four’! (Prem, Carling Cup, FA Cup and Champs League).
January 30th, 2008 at 21:34
The two defeats are the intersting games - both against top sides. It is on these games that Chelsea’s title challenge will be won or lost…
January 30th, 2008 at 22:11
agree with the shed - even Steve McLaren could lead Chelsea to the title! Keep on grinding out those results - just like the 1-0 at home to reading this evening!
January 31st, 2008 at 13:30
‘Ave’ some of that, forget King Kev’s return to the Northeast, the best signings of the season will prove to be that of Mr Grant and Anelka at Chelsea. Jose, was a winner and master football politician, however Avram’s got on with the job silently and is clearly move the team forwards. Time for part two of the Blues revolution.
February 4th, 2008 at 15:52
Love that photo by the way, surely Avram should be used far more for advertising, he makes Jose and Beckham look ugly!