Grant spin is fooling no one, we’re winning ugly

ANOTHER win, another clean sheet, a goal by Shevchenko, Liverpool and Arsenal losing — it’s been a pretty good weekend all round.

Our game was dull beyond words but then you can’t have everything. I think in all the shenanigans I must have missed Chelsea bringing Alastair Campbell onto the payroll.

I cannot see why else Grant is insisting on parroting this stance on us playing well. The spin is fooling no one and indeed is beginning to alienate those supporters who were willing to accept him despite the manner in which he became manager. We’re winning ugly — just say it Avram.

I can take winning ugly — I will especially take winning ugly this weekend. We all know why he won’t admit to it, but he is making himself look a fool.

Newcastle and Boro have shown us the way to unsettle Arsenal — get up them. It’s hardly rocket science. We cannot allow them space and time on the ball while the referee too needs to be on his game; let’s hope the man in the middle is a bit more vigilant than Howard Webb was at the Riverside — Eboue should have been sent off (twice) but managed to avoid even a booking.

It has steadied the nerves that Arsenal seem to have suffered a bit of a wobble of late — the media seem desperate to point out their injuries have contributed to this; yet they don’t seem to be too bothered to also point out that we, at various parts of this season have been without equally key players such as Terry, Cech, Carvalho, Lampard and now Drogba.

Funny how so many people are offering opinions on who should or should not be the next England manager whose opinion should not count.

I see that this week Wenger and Graham Poll have both spoken publicly on the matter of Jose Mourinho in connection with the job.

Why Wenger should be consulted on anything to do with the future of English football I really cannot understand. Then for him to go all jingoistic just takes the proverbial biscuit. The amount of Englishman in the Arsenal squad tells you exactly how much Wenger cares about the English game.

As for Graham Poll who takes self-publicity to a new low, for him to carry on his bitter little agenda against Mourinho just goes beyond pathetic. As it is Mourinho looks to have rejected the poisoned chalice — shame for English football, but a good move for him.

You have to laugh at Liverpool; they so desperately need to get through to the next round of the Champions League for money reasons that they obviously under-estimated the “mighty” Reading.

You’d have thought that not having won the title for 19 years would keep the mind focused somewhat wouldn’t you? Still, they have history, so that’s OK.

But back to the Arsenal match — the Chelsea management committee will have quite a few decisions to make. With Cech and Carvalho expected to be fit, I wonder will they play or will we stick with a winning team and will we go for an attacking game (a real one as opposed to the make-believe one that Grant keeps talking about) or will we play it safe.

If we do win, it will go some way to persuade many of us that the club is safe in Grant’s hands — and to be honest that is the best we can expect. Despite the club continually assuring us that Grant is here for the long haul, the speculation over his position does not stop, especially abroad. The Spanish papers are full of the “fact” that Rijkaard will be re-joining Ten Cate at Chelsea in the summer. He’s not someone I particularly like, but at least he has managed arguably the biggest side in the world and played at the highest level — and at the end of the day all we supporters want, is what is best for our club.

It would be nice to hear from our esteemed owner at some point — he speaks as little now as ever — yet there seems to be no stories in the press over what he is meant to have said or what he is meant to be thinking. Even the TV companies seemed to have stopped panning to him during matches — as they did previously.

I hope at the end of 90 minutes on Sunday that policy will change and your TV screens will be filled with his grinning face.

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