Avram Grant has remained calm in the face of intense personal criticism, vile racism and the most horrific threats against his wife, but after a week in which his fitness to manage Chelsea has been called into question, he came out fighting.

Grant launched an impassioned defence of his managerial record yesterday, arguing that only three defeats in 35 matches since taking over as first-team coach in September means that he should be treated with more respect by players, pundits and fans.

Grant’s reputation has been diminished by Chelsea’s poor showing in the Carling Cup final defeat by Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, a setback that seems to have stirred some fire in his belly. The Israeli has been most offended by suggestions that he could be replaced by Frank Rijkaard in the summer, only months after signing a four-year contract. “It’s the same Avram Grant, but sometimes you make me angry,” he said. “Please, you need to respect my professionalism as much as I respect you. You’re trying to hurt the team, hurt the club because we lost one game. If we lose against West Ham, wait with the knife a little bit.

“I have no problem in relation with anyone at the club. We have a very good relationship with the staff, the players, with everyone. It’s not been easy because we came after the beginning of the year, but we’ve won a lot of games together.”

Grant is happy to accept responsibility for the defeat by Tottenham and was keen to point out that he, rather than Roman Abramovich, the club’s owner, is responsible for picking the team. Abramovich has been a regular presence at the club’s training ground this week, although he will not be at Upton Park today because he has returned home to vote in the Russian elections.

“I’m responsible for everything and went home and thought about how we could make things better, but I don’t think that because we lost one game you should take it too far,” Grant said. “I speak with Roman Abramovich a lot of times. Roman Abramovich has never told me one player that he needs to play, never told me to pick the team this way. I’m in charge.

“I’m very happy when the owner comes to training. I’ve pushed that at every club I’ve been at. He’s the owner of the team, part of the team. But he wasn’t there for six weeks and no one said anything. Then we lose a game and he’s here. When he’s here in England, he comes a lot. He’s part of the team. I want the players to feel that, that we’re all together.”

Grant will make several changes from the team beaten at Wembley and plans to rotate his players for the rest of the season. He has also taken encouragement from the words of Diego Maradona, who on a recent visit to the training ground provided his experience of the fickle nature of football. “A very good player, one of the greatest who played the game, came and visited me here and told me a story,” Grant said. “He said, the owner came up to him and said, ‘you’re too heavy, you’re overweight’. ‘I was the same weight as I was before. The only difference was that I hadn’t scored.’

“The players are fantastic and they behave nicely. I know there were some players who were disappointed not to play at Wembley, but that’s part of it. No one’s criticised me for the team that was selected.

“All the players knew the day before that they were playing. But, if I want to name the team three hours before the game, I’ll do that. Rafa said to me he named a team two hours before. I’ll do what I want. Nothing was different to other games. What was different was we lost.”

Berbatov’s quiet life

Dimitar Berbatov says that he did not celebrate Tottenham Hotspur’s Carling Cup triumph over Chelsea with his team-mates at an Essex nightclub last weekend because he was too tired. The forward preferred to concentrate on recovering for the match away to Birmingham City today. “I didn’t have any strength left, mentally and physically,” he said. “I don’t have time for a private life in London. I try to stay away from the noise and the nightlife. I just want to play more and more. When one game finishes, I want the next to begin.”