And Lo, Avram Grant came good on his promise.

By: Rob | April 26th, 2008

Ballack presents a new way for Chelsea Over here at the Champions League offside, we’ve been as bemused and frustrated with Avram Grant as everybody else. Adam (a Chelsea fan) especially. The trouble was Jose Mourinho, who was in the job before him, was so damn popular. Mainly because Jose was incredibly entertaining. But, Jose’s Chelsea were never pretty. Avram, since getting the job has promised attacking, attractive football. Today, we finally saw it.

Alright, so it wasn’t a Roma, or Arsenal type performance which was astonishingly beautiful, but compared with the usual ‘hoof-it-up-to-Drogba’ tactic we’ve become used to at the Bridge, thier performance in thier 2-1 win over Manchester United this afternoon was a joy to watch.

Chelsea needed a win today, to keep thier chance of staying in the EPL title race alive – Man United knew they only really needed a draw. And save for a moment of Wayne Rooney magic, United were dominated by Chelsea. Forget all the penalty shouts and all that jazz, The Blues deserved to win.

Chelsea’s new midfield situation – even without Frank Lampard who is mourning his mother (the Chelsea players all wore black armbands as a show of solidarity, and produced a tribute shirt to Lamps mum when Ballack opened the score) which presents a two pronged central attack with Makelele holding works so much better under Grant that Mourinho.

In the last ten minutes, Chelsea played a full on 4-3-3, with Shevchenko, Drogba and Anelka all on the pitch. Now I might be getting ahead of myself, but imagine that weeek in week out, with Ballack and Lampard behind. Considering thier defence (Makelele or Essien, with a great back four and one of the best keepers in the world behind) they could easily play it, it would just take a bit of confidence.

It wasn’t just at the end that Chelsea attacked – literally from the first minute, when Essien (who had a fine game) nearly scored, Chelsea piled on the pressure on United. Legs started to tire around the 70 minute mark, and Man United began to get back in the game, but the rallied after Rooney’s goal and particuarly after Sheva’s introduction. Maybe he has a future at the Bridge afterall?

Maybe I am going too far – It was a weakened United side, and they knew they had to win, whereas United didn’t. But if Chelsea could play attacking football that they never could under Jose, next season could be absolutely magnifique in the EPL.

In the meantime, its a massive confidence boost for Chelsea. Going into thier home return against Liverpool now full of confidence, and then of course the Champions League final, which might well be against Man United. Suddenely even if they don’t win the EPL, they look good for the Champions League that so eluded Jose.