23.9.07

Jose-less Chelsea crash to defeat

Jose Mourinho must be having a good laugh somewhere out there. Having just pocketed a cool 20million pounds to leave the managerial post, he just watched Chelsea's new puppet, Avram Grant lose 2-0 to Man United. A superb glancing header from Tevez in the dying minutes of the first half, as well as a late late penalty from Saha in the second half secured the points for the Red Devils.

However, the result aside, Chelsea can count themselves very unlucky, as they gave it a right go for the first 30 minutes. It was an open, end to end encounter and i'm sure fans from both side as well as the neutrals were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Probably the referee was also enjoying the match, so much so that he decided to get in on the action.

Mikel Jon Obi was sent off for a purported two footed lunge on Patrice Evra. The decision was obviously a pile of horse fart. There was no consistency in the referee, as Joe Cole's nasty challenge on Ronaldo was ridiculous and could have caused some serious injury. But in keeping with the inconsistency, there was not even a yellow card for Cole. After the sending off, there could only be one winner and the final score reflected that. But as i said earlier, Chelsea are unlucky, and they had many positives from the game.

The combination of Malouda and Cole and the left seems to be getting better and better. Sheva's confidence also seems to be growing and overall, matched Man United's play for the better part of the first half. Chelsea looked strong all over the park and passed the ball well, as they have over the 'Jose' years. However, for Avram, there's lots of work left to do. Playing reasonably well in your first game in charge, albeit against the defending champions, is a good step, but the league is all about playing well every single game, against different type of oppositions and situations.

So, does Avram have what it takes to do everything that Jose has done, but with the added expectation of making Chelsea play attractive football AND win the champions league?

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