Man Utd quick to capitalise on Chelsea vacuum
By Henry Winter
Sport.Telegraph, 24th September 2007
On the day that "Avram Who?" became "Avram Why?", Chelsea lost a player, two
goals and three points to compound the disaster of losing the inspirational
Jose Mourinho. If they are to rebuild for the future, Chelsea must appoint a
more substantial successor to Mourinho than Avram Grant, who possesses neither
the leadership skills nor the coaching licence.
Now sixth in the table, Chelsea's season is in danger of drifting into oblivion.
Lurking around the corner are potential ambushes in the form of tricky away
dates at Hull City in the Carling Cup and Valencia in the Champions League.
Fulham, free-scoring neighbours, come visiting in the Premier League. Never
before have Chelsea so needed John Terry to be a strong captain, shaking the
dressing room into life. Never before have Chelsea needed the treatment room
to be empty of such prolific talents as Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, and
the defensive class of Ricardo Carvalho.
As Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich sat alone with his thoughts in a deserted
directors' box at the break, serenaded by United chants of "You've Lost Your
Special One", even the Russian oligarch must have acknowledged that success
comes to those who employ high-class managers and then leave them alone.
Arsene Wenger's vibrant Arsenal lead the Premier League followed by Sir Alex
Ferguson's Manchester United, who are beginning to find their elegant stride.
Chelsea supporters must surely hope that Grant is merely a caretaker while
they await the arrival of a heavyweight manager such as Fabio Capello or
Marcelo Lippi or even that bright, young Teutonic thing, Jurgen Klinsmann.
The unexplained presence of Marco van Basten, the highly admired Holland
coach, in the smart seats must have excited Chelsea followers.
Visitors were greeted by local wags with "We hear it's cold down at Chelsea
– it is Minus One but it is a Special One!" Mourinho's departure was certainly
mourned by the away fans, who signalled their displeasure with chants and
banners. "Jose Mourinho – Simply The Best" read one.
Chelsea fans' lack of respect for Grant was brutally obvious in their
sustained chant of "Stevie Clarke's Blue And White Army", showing support
for the team, and a loyal club servant, but deliberately omitting the new
manager. The second line of "We Hate Tottenham" has been construed in some
quarters as a coded criticism of Abramovich, who is Jewish.
In fairness to Abramovich's contentious appointment, Grant made a few decent
decisions. After an hour, he removed Abramovich's favoured one, Andrei
Shevchenko, who ran hard but was largely ineffectual. Before John Obi Mikel's
dismissal forced Chelsea to sit deep and rely on counter-attacks, Grant's
side pushed forward in numbers. Equally encouraging was Chelsea's new-found
refusal to hound the hapless referee Mike Dean.
Yet Grant lacks presence and he cut a lonely figure in the dug-out, with
swathes of empty seats around him, watching the dispiriting events of the
first half unfolding in front of him. Not for the first time in recent days,
Chelsea found themselves a man down in controversial circumstances.
When Mikel over-ran the ball in midfield after 30 minutes, Patrice Evra
slid in for a routine piece of mopping up. Angered by his own carelessness,
Mikel carried through with his right boot slightly raised, making contact
with little Evra, who went somersaulting through the air. Brandishing a red
card, Dean called the challenge "two-footed", although Mikel's left foot made
no contact. "There was intent, and he could have hurt the boy, but it was
still harsh for him to go," said Ferguson. "Some referees would have let it
go."
Grant emerged from the dug-out, indicating that Chelsea should switch from
4-1-2-2-1 to 4-4-1 with Shevchenko isolated in attack. The ball inevitably
came largely into United's domain. One Giggs free-kick was brilliantly met
by the excellent Nemanja Vidic, who beat Terry to power a header goalwards.
Petr Cech saved superbly, echoing his feat in the first minute when he had
pushed away Wayne Rooney's curling shot.
Chelsea's keeper was beaten deep into stoppage time. In the wake of a Ryan
Giggs corner, the busy Wes Brown headed the ball back down the inside-right
channel to the Welsh winger. Chelsea froze. Shevchenko should have closed
down Giggs. Terry should have tracked Tevez's run towards the near post.
Giggs bent the ball in with the outside of his left foot, Tevez escaped
Terry and nipped ahead of Cech to score with a wonderful flicked header.
United fans turned and did 'chin up' signals to Abramovich.
Yet Chelsea did not fall apart, although Joe Cole was fortunate to stay on
the field, following a spiteful and deliberate targeting of Ronaldo's right
Achilles. The Portuguese sorcerer fortunately retained all his limbs but
Ferguson lost his temper, giving Dean a blast of the famous hair-drier. "These
are the kind of tackles that put players out of the game," railed Ferguson
later. "It was a clear red card, but he only got a yellow."
Dean soon erred again, gifting United the softest of penalties two minutes from
time. When Louis Saha drifted inside Tal Ben Haim, the defender made contact
but it was minimal. Saha, though, reacted as if he had been hit by a
knuckle-duster rather than feather-duster, and went down in embarrassingly
exaggerated fashion.
The penalty earned, Saha jumped up and calmly slotted the dead ball past Cech.
"I have seen our penalty and that was harsh," said Ferguson. It was the first
time his side had struck twice in a game since April, and the good times are
clearly rolling again for United. Chelsea have some good players – they just
need a good manager.
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