Grant: All smiles after top substitution
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Grant plays down his top tinkering
Chelsea boss Avram Grant played down the inspired double substitution that helped the Blues beat title rivals Arsenal 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.
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Sections of the home crowd chanted "you don't know what you're doing" and had called the name of former coach Jose Mourinho - when Grant made a double change with 20 minutes to go.
Claude Makelele and Michael Ballack were replaced by Nicolas Anelka and Juliano Belletti as Chelsea regrouped to play 4-4-2.
The minor protests were soon forgotten as the substitutes played their part to help Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba gun down Arsenal with two goals in eight minutes.
Grant, who gave captain John Terry instructions on how to reshape the team, said: "When you make a substitution I do not think any manager believes it will succeed every time.
"We wanted to be able to play in two systems, and I think this was the time to change.
"We had chances but did not score, so we wanted to put more pressure on the defence.
"I did not hear the crowd. I am concentrating on what I need to do and am very confident in what I am going to do - because I know the team and how they are."
Grant was full of praise for Drogba, even though the 17-goal striker is still not as sharp as he could be.
"He was not in the shape he was before he went to Africa, but that is understandable," said Grant. "Against Tottenham he was better - and today he was very, very good."
Chelsea leapfrogged Arsenal and are five points behind Manchester United - who have yet to visit Stamford Bridge - and are not too disquieted yet by what is thought to be a minor injury for Frank Lampard.
Chelsea's victory took their amazing unbeaten league run at home to 78 games, while Arsenal have won just once in eight games.
Arsenal went ahead through Bacary Sagna on the hour mark, but Drogba's two goals condemned them to defeat - and coach Arsene Wenger admitted it was a major blow.
"It was a game we should have won, but we paid for some lapses in concentration," said Wenger. "It is difficult to swallow - because we played quite well and were in control of the game.
"What was left to Chelsea was to play long balls, and we did not deal well enough with it.
"The spirit was right, and the mentality was fantastic; overall, the team played very well, but at the moment I feel we have some defensive problems which we need to sort out.
"It is a big setback for us. When you add the four games we drew and today's loss, now we just have to come back and win games before we dream of the title."
Chelsea 2 - 1 Arsenal
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Your Comments
Darkman (Chelsea fan)
"Can someone who went to the game on saturday ....carefully, politely,give me the words to the song that begins'...Adebayor,Adebayor....'just giving the first consonant and then astersks to any 4-letter words,in order for it to be posted for me to see.I quite liked the tune...And to the tune of go west by Frankie Goes to Hollywood...." One nill and you f****** it up,one nill, still you f****** it up......2-1 CHELSEA....Brilliant. But now we've got to make certain thatwe do not slip up and undo yhe hard work against Middlesborough."
Darkman (Chelsea fan)
"Semi-literate rant from a foolish Manc fan who is too embarrassed to go by even the most rudimentary of pseudonyms,instead "t_g". O.k.mister. So When has being the first British club to qualify for the European Cup in 1956 been a sign of a team with no heritage.A team who are second only to Barcelona in winning European cup - winners cups,one of the few teams to beat the great Real Madrid to secure the European super cup,and one of only 4 english teams to hold the English league title in it's two avatars as the first division title,and the premiership title...and you say no history,no style!!!We certainly sent your lot crying into your beers giving us guards of honour as champions in two successive seasons.That's not even to mention last years cup final.You cannot even spell let alone understand the concept of 'Nouveaux Riche'but let the aspect of jealous envy blind you to the fact that our Russian roubles have been trumped by glasers US dollars...you hypocrite. Manchester United are a good team.They have always had a tradition for playing expansive attractive football.Notwithstanding club loyaty,i will not be distraught if united win the league because they have shown greater consistency than any of their rivals.But it's United gobby,foolish illiterate followers who irritate the tar out of me."
psykofar (Chelsea fan)
"T_G MAN URIN FAN: For your information (and quite sadly you´re not aware of it, since you obviously are a "real" fan, knowing everything about your club through and through)Vidic bought, Rio F bought, Van der Sar bought, Evra bought, M Carrick bought, Anderson bought, C Ronaldo bought, C Tevez bought, W (Ogre) Rooney bought, Nani bought, O Hargreaves bought... maybe not with roubles, but with american dollars... and besides as I recall you lot has booed plenty of times at your own team during CL games in the past, so pleeease shut your hypocrite face! and to my fellow chelski fans, I know I've not been very positive regarding AG in my former posts (I definitely dont think he is competent enough to be Mourinho's successor) but singing and booing at him during games will only make him more confused ;O)I sincerely believe the best thing to do at the moment is getting behind him and the team and support them as much as possible, because right now they need it more than ever! KTBFFH!! Cheers!.. "
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