Avram Grant's managerial credentials were given a further savaging by a former Chelsea player yesterday, with Mateja Kezman claiming that Fenerbahçe would not have achieved their Champions League victory on Wednesday had their opponents still been managed by José Mourinho. The Serbia striker wasted little time in attacking Grant where he is at his most vulnerable by offering a direct comparison with his predecessor, arguing that Chelsea have gone backwards since his appointment and describing his former club as a broken machine.

Grant's standing has been undermined by the 2-1 defeat in Istanbul, with his position to be reviewed after the second leg of the quarter-final at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. The Israeli first-team coach is fortunate in the sense that Roman Abramovich did not witness Chelsea's second-half capitulation and the inquest has been postponed until the owner returns from a business trip next week, although Grant is unlikely to emerge unscathed should his side be eliminated. While Abramovich is desperate for Grant to be a success and would like to give his friend at least one more season to prove himself, the prospect of him surviving cup defeats by Tottenham Hotspur, Barnsley and Fenerbahçe is remote.

Kezman has made it clear that, in his view, Grant should not have been appointed, although his opinions are slightly undermined by his limited impact during his season at Chelsea and minimal contribution to Fenerbahçe's win. The 28-year-old scored only seven goals in 40 appearances for Chelsea, but one of them was crucial in securing the first trophy of the Mourinho era, the third goal in the 3-2 Carling Cup final win over Liverpool three years ago.

“If Mourinho had been in charge of this match, of course it would have been different,” Kezman said. “He is a very different coach and in the time of Mourinho there were no surprises, no mistakes. Everything worked fantastically.

“Now you can see there are gaps there. You can see that something is not working. If [Frank] Lampard goes out of the game after 75 minutes, it means something is wrong. Maybe it's good for us because it gives us the chance to go to the semi-final.”

Kezman identified a vulnerability in Chelsea from their failure to hold on to leads on six occasions this season, something unheard of under Mourinho.

“This is our chance as Chelsea without Mourinho is not the same,” Kezman said. “Under him they were a machine. We've watched the last couple of games and against Middlesbrough and Sunderland they made four or five mistakes in both games. There's not the same spirit in the team.”

Michael Ballack has conceded in defeat that Chelsea's players have only themselves to blame. “There are no excuses and it was our fault,” the Germany midfield player said. “We controlled the game. We had everything in our hands, but didn't concentrate for every second. That's our fault but we have another game and we should win it at home.

“We're disappointed and frustrated as we've let a game out of our hands that we should have won. Until half-time, everybody thought it should be not an easy win, but a win for us. You have to concentrate for 90 minutes.”

Chelsea pass on TV money

Chelsea will use their £300,000 appearance fee from their televised Barclays Premier League match away to Everton on Thursday, April 17, to pay for match and train tickets for their travelling fans. The club objected to the Premier League's decision to bring the fixture forward 48 hours at the request of Sky TV, both because it could put them at a disadvantage in the title race and as a matter of principle. They believe it would be hypocritical to profit from the change. The club estimate that they can pay for their allocation of 3,000 fans to attend using the TV fee.