“Avram Grant — an accident that has now turned into a
full-blown car crash.”
The Sun, April 16, 2008
The following day, Chelsea won 1-0 at Everton and this extended headline,
which covered most of the tabloid page, could come back and haunt Grant’s
most trenchant critics if the rest of the season pans out as it could.
Manchester United are still likely to retain their Premier League title
despite dropping two points at Blackburn yesterday, but Grant’s Chelsea are
running them as close as Jose Mourinho’s team did last season and there is a
real chance of the Special One’s replacement succeeding where he failed, by
winning the European Cup.
Liverpool beat Mourinho’s men twice at the semi-final stage, in 2004-05 and
again last year, and Scousers have been asking if they get to keep the club
they deride as “Chelski” if they do it again over the next 10 days. This
time, however, it is Anfield, more than Stamford Bridge, that is riven by
unseemly politicking, and among the uncommitted there is a creeping
suspicion that for Chelsea it could well be third time lucky.
Unlike the two previous occasions, Chelsea are playing the decisive second leg
at home, which is always an advantage, and would be even more so if, as was
the case on Merseyside a year ago, the outcome has to be determined by a
penalty shootout.
Irked by criticism which he deemed to be unfair, as well as tabloid
“exclusives” that he would surely lose his job in the summer — a trend that
continued yesterday with claims that Guus Hiddink, the Russia manager, was
being lined up to take over — Grant was monosyllabic in his post-match press
conference at Goodison Park on Thursday. He opened up subsequently to
reporters with whom he had no complaint, and promised his opposite number,
Rafael Benitez, “a real battle this time”. Had that not been the case
previously? “The last games were too tactical,” he said, in what was clearly
a dig at his celebrated predecessor. Grant explained: “Football needs to be
tactical but not too much. Players need the freedom to play, the freedom to
think [for themselves] and I’m trying to give my team that. I have a good
feeling about this [semi-final].”
Benitez had his respect but could be outwitted. “His results show what a good
coach he is in Europe,” Grant said. “He beat Chelsea on two occasions in the
semi-finals when he was 20 points behind in the league, so he has that
strength. He knows how to play against big teams but I know his way. We will
give him a battle this time.”
There has been little sign of self- expression in the Chelsea ranks but,
despite fevered talk of dressing- room dissension, some of which is
well-founded, the players are bullish and willing to put the future on hold
while they focus on their shot at a place in the European pantheon. Didier
Drogba and Frank Lampard are not enamoured of Grant, and will probably leave
in the summer, but they would give a king’s ransom to leave as European
champions.
Liverpool’s players will not want for motivation of their own after last
year’s defeat in the final against AC Milan, and can point to their
impressive record in the tournament, particular the way they saw off Inter
Milan and Arsenal, to get this far. Chelsea, however, are more difficult to
beat, especially at home, where they claim to be undefeated in 100 matches
in all competitions — they count their elimination from the Carling Cup by
Charlton in October 2005 as a 1-1 draw, despite going out on penalties. In
reality, the Bridge is not quite the fortress it was in Mourinho’s time.
Some unexpected opponents are among those (Blackburn, Fulham, Everton, Aston
Villa, Liverpool and Wigan) to have gained points there this season, while
Rosenborg and Valencia emerged with draws in the Champions League. That
said, some of these results — most recently the damaging 1-1 draw with Wigan
last Monday — can be attributed in part to Grant’s contentious squad
rotation and we can assume there will be nobody rested at Anfield on Tuesday
night.
After missing last Thursday’s match at Goodison Park, Claude Makelele, Lampard
and Drogba will all be back in what is certain to be a full-strength team.
The win against Everton was the product of a mundane, grafting performance
but supporters will have been encouraged by the shut-out effected by John
Terry and the outstanding Ricardo Carvalho, who will need to be at their
very best if the pacy, prolific Fernando Torres is to be kept at bay.
Chelsea have nobody to rival the Spaniard, with his 30 goals in 42 games —
their leading scorer is Lampard, with 18 in all competitions — but it should
be borne in mind that Drogba’s 13 have come in only 26 appearances.
Michael Essien, like Carvalho, was impressive at Goodison, and his absence,
through suspension, on Tuesday is a significant loss. Grant’s original plan
had been to use him at right-back, where he regards Paulo Ferreira and
Juliano Belletti as defensively suspect. Without the Ghanaian, Ferreira will
keep his place, with Michael Ballack, who is fit again, replacing Essien in
midfield. Up front, Drogba will return at the expense of Nicolas Anelka,
whose form since his arrival in January has been a major disappointment. Two
goals in 18 appearances is not quite what Chelsea had in mind when they
forked out £15m for the peripatetic French striker, and is in stark contrast
to the 21 in 53 league games he scored for Bolton, or his 38 in 89 games for
Manchester City. If Anelka really was bought with next season in mind, to
replace Drogba, he will have to come alive again to do it anywhere near as
effectively as the player from the Ivory Coast.
Statistically speaking, there is little to choose between the two teams.
Before they played Fulham yesterday, Liverpool, like Chelsea, had scored 60
goals in the Premier League and Liverpool had conceded 26 to Chelsea’s 24.
It was desperately close when they met in the Champions League semi-finals
three years ago, and Luis Garcia’s dodgy goal gave Benitez and company an
aggregate 1-0 win. It was even tighter last season, when Jose Reina’s
heroics settled the shootout. Could the desire for revenge tip the scales
Chelsea’s way? Lampard thought not. He said: “You don’t want that on your
mind because the Champions League is about keeping your head and
concentrating for the entire 90 minutes of both legs. We ended up being
knocked out on the last two occasions, and those were both very big
disappointments, but that will have no bearing whatsoever on how this tie
goes. All we have in our thoughts is the carrot of getting to the final.
“We can learn from those defeats. The best thing we can take from them is the
memory of the feeling that hits you at the final whistle. It’s the worst you
can have. You have to learn from your setbacks and try to correct things
when you get the chance. In modern-day Champions League ties, the away goal
seems to be becoming more and more important, so we’ve got to go there with
a positive attitude and get an away goal.”
Talking up a storm: the Sulky One v the Special One
Grant’s surreal press conference comfi rmed he is very different from The
Special One
A deserved win, Avram?
G: Yes
M: All Chelsea wins are deserved, when we have the referees, FA, Uefa and
United Nations against us
You seem distracted. Do you have a problem?
G: No problem
M: Yes, the wine served by Moyes was inferior, and my wife tells me the
police want to arrest my dog
Do you have a message for the Chelsea fans?
G: You represent the Chelsea fans?
M: You’ll miss me when I am gone
Are you in the title race?
G: I don’t know
M: Yes, and the Champions League race. We should also be seen as true winners
of the Carling Cup
Did Michael Essien faint?
G: He had problems, but he is okay
M: Yes but players and young ladies always go weak at the knees around me
TV match
Liverpool v Chelsea
Tuesday, ITV1, 7.30pm, kick-off 7.45pm
