The competition that supplied Avram Grant's first win as Chelsea
manager has produced a cup final in his debut season.
The League Cup may be as low on Grant's list of priorities as
his managerial experience at club level was last September when the
dour Israeli replaced the charismatic Jose Mourinho.
But reaching a showpiece Wembley final so soon is the perfect
answer to the legion of Blues fans who opposed his appointment by
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
And Grant knows it.
"Look, (there were doubts) when I took the job," Grant said
after Wednesday's 1-0 semifinal second leg victory over Everton.
"What happened sometimes was reasonable, sometimes not, but I need
to do my job and I'm concentrating on my job.
"It's not easy at this club with all the situations, but it's
also a big challenge and a lot of satisfaction," he said.
Like Mourinho in his first season in 2005, Grant can now win the
League Cup, which would be Chelsea's third in four seasons, with
victory over three-time winner Tottenham Hotspur on February
24.
Still, don't mention the self-styled "Special One."
"Do not compare me with Mourinho or any other coach," Grant
said. "We will do everything to win a trophy and I believe we have
played well and impressed throughout the last few months."
So has Tottenham manager Juande Ramos, who also covets a trophy
in his first season.
"The final will be tough. Tottenham are a very good team, but
then so are Everton and we have beaten them," Grant said. "It is a
big challenge at this club, and winning through to a final gives me
great satisfaction."
Even after Joe Cole sealed a 3-1 aggregate win, Grant was on
defensive with reporters, fearful about how his comments could be
construed.
Cole's finish from Florent Malouda's diagonal pass pierced
through the Everton defense - a rare dazzling moment on a pitch
where imagination was lacking.
With Chelsea lacking ruthlessness up front, there was a
tenacious approach relying on the solid back-four and goalkeeper
Petr Cech in denying the opposition.
Grant supplanted Mourinho, a Champions League winner with FC
Porto before arriving at Stamford Bridge, with managerial
experience limited to Israel's low impact league and the national
team.
In September, a Premier League defeat at Manchester United gave
Grant an uncomfortable introduction to English management, but his
side immediately bounced back to crush lowly Hull in the
second-tier knockout competition.
Grant's harshest detractors were waiting for a more experienced
figure to be rapidly installed. It never happened.
Instead, Chelsea is third in the Premier League standings - four
points behind Manchester United and Arsenal - while also chasing
Champions League and FA Cup titles.
Grant has lost just twice in 28 games at the helm, to United and
Arsenal, while coping with lengthy injuries to captain John Terry
and Frank Lampard.
"I think everybody needs to respect what Chelsea's been doing in
the last months," Grant said. "We won a lot of games, not just in
the Premier League, but the Champions League and the Carling Cup we
are now in the final."
And that was achieved without Terry, Lampard, Michael Ballack,
and Andriy Shevchenko, in addition to the African Cup of Nations
absentees: Salomon Kalou, Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and John
Obi Mikel.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily January 25, 2008)