Grant-ed he did well, Spurs loss still hurts
What triggered the comeback has caused heated debate among supporters.
Some have it down to Grant’s substitutions, while as many others think the chanting against Grant and for Mourinho galvanised the team and gave them the additional spark to win the game.
The truth? Probably lies somewhere in between. My view is that he bought the right players on — but took the wrong ones off — and that he started with the wrong formation in the first place. But he won the game and in doing so shook off the biggest monkey on his back.
The other thing that went in Grant’s favour was that just as he made his unpopular substitutions, Sagna also had to come off due to injury. He had not only scored the goal but had been a thorn in our side. But again, Grant takes the flak if we lose and so we have to give the plaudits when we win
However, this makes the result against Spurs even more gut-wrenchingly annoying. The substitutions in the Spurs game directly resulted in us losing our 3-1 lead. There was an audible collective sigh of relief from the Tottenham crowd when Grant made the inexplicable decision to substitute Joe Cole. Then to go to five at the back where the confused Alex had no idea where to position himself showed Grant at his very worst.
I suppose I need to talk about Ashley Cole; yes he should have gone off — thought I would get that in first and foremost. But again, the witch-hunt that followed the incident at White Hart Lane would have made the good folk of Salem reel in admiration. So he wouldn’t turn around and face the referee — oooooooh, hang him! The amount of hypocrites crawling out of the woodwork to demand various punishments is a disgrace too. We’ve everything from calls for a three month ban to people demanding that he be dropped from the England squad. I assume disembowelling and the seizure of all his wealth by the FA is next?
Shall we put this in a bit of context? He committed a bad tackle (although not as bad as the notorious Sheringham tackle on Zenden at White Hart Lane a few years ago which, of course, went unpunished) and he was an arse when having to confront the referee. He has since apologised for the tackle and his behaviour. But that is obviously not enough to satisfy the bloodlust of some. Of course it helps all concerned that Cole is a Chelsea player because other teams would never behave in such a manner. Wrong. The difference is that it’s only Chelsea players that get brought up before the authorities for doing so.
The propaganda coming out of Chelsea suggests Grant is staying, but what effect that will have on the team and the fans is as yet unknown. I am not sure it will be a positive one. Many fans are claiming that they will not renew their season tickets with Grant in charge. I’m sure there will be a couple but most will come to their senses (at Chelsea you have to renew before the end of the season anyway), but the players do not have such deep-rooted emotional ties with the club.
I suppose we don’t know what’s around the corner, but many of these players helped to bring the Premier League title to us punters who thought we’d never, ever see it. So we have naturally formed an attachment to many of these guys who may themselves see their time at Chelsea as just their job. That said, I think many do see it as more than that, Lampard, Terry and Cole being just three of them.
There may have been a time when William Gallas would have been mentioned just as sentimentally, but as he has never laid to rest the public Chelsea accusation that he threatened to score an own goal if he didn’t get a transfer, supporters have turned against a player they once loved. And no amount of special pleading by Didier Drogba is going to change that. This season will be remembered as one of turmoil and unrest but it’s not too late to change that. The players proved on Sunday that they have it in them to win any game. Perhaps there is a possibility of a pot still coming to SW6 this season because after all, it’s a funny old game.
* Contact Trish on Trizia_f@hotmail.com
