morning papers bolton away

The TimesOctober 8, 2007
Avram Grant prepared to put entertainment on holdBolton 0 Chelsea 1Tom Dart at Reebok Stadium
“Clean sheet, three points, that’s what’s important,” Avram Grant said. Winning with style? Sorry, call back later.
Chelsea were entertaining yesterday, but for neutrals - not quite what their watching owner, Roman Abramovich, would have hoped for. The scoreline was the traditional symbol of dour, grinding efficiency, but that would be a misrepresentation of this match. Chelsea performed with an insecurity that was not redolent of the José Mourinho years. They did not concede but they gave up plenty of chances and possession.
For much of the game it was hard to tell which team had just scraped a 1-0 victory over Rabotniki Kometal and which had beaten Valencia in Spain. Still, Grant, the first-team coach, could be forgiven for prioritising the result. This was Chelsea’s first Barclays Premier League win in five matches, their first under Grant’s management. “It will take time, I think we need to develop from month to month, but sometimes you need the points, especially when you play away after a long time without a win,” Grant said. “The target for the long and short term is to build a style of our own as a team and play good football. The base before was good, but this season we didn’t play well.”
Despite Didier Drogba being suspended, Andriy Shevchenko was left on the bench until the final 15 minutes. When Salomon Kalou, the goalscorer, went off with a hamstring injury at half-time, Grant turned to Claudio Pizarro.
Not favouring Abramovich’s favourite player – more evidence, perhaps, that Grant is not the owner’s puppet. “When I got the job, nobody said to me that a friend of Peter Kenyon [the chief executive] needs to play,” Grant said, by way of example. “I need to take decisions that are for the good of Chelsea. They pay me to be in charge, I have to take the decisions, for the present and the future, to take the team forward. We have a long season, every player has good times and bad times. Sheva is trying hard, he’s a great player, I’m sure he will be good for Chelsea.”
Grant is eager to portray himself as tough enough for the challenge of winning with flair, even though most of his statements are coated with a calculated blandness, as if to contrast himself with his predecessor.
“I don’t want to live in football without pressure. I was all my life in big clubs in my country, you’re always under pressure to achieve the best, this is good pressure,” he said. “Especially if we make a process to change the game of Chelsea a little bit. It’s a big responsibility but I like it.”
The most determined defensive performance of the day came from Sammy Lee, the Bolton manager, when pressed on why neither his captain, Kevin Nolan, nor his coach, Gary Speed, had even made the substitutes’ bench. “I pick the side that I think will do the best for any given game,” Lee said. Several times.
If that was evasive, another comment by Lee – “We’ve shown desire and commitment but made a mistake and got punished for it” – hit the mark. Bolton were undone when Kalou beat Abdoulaye Meïté and the onrushing Jussi Jaaskelainen to a flick-on, knocked the ball past both and – surprisingly, given their relative size – outmuscled Meïté and scored the first league goal under Grant.
Bolton might have had a penalty in the same period when Steve Sidwell appeared to handle in the area. Stelios Giannakopoulos, a substitute, hit the bar with a header in the 90th minute, while El-Hadji Diouf, Kevin Davies and Nicolas Anelka would probably have proved too much for a defence without the solid Ricardo Carvalho.
Frank Lampard, back from injury, looked fine, while John Terry’s performance was good news for England, if not for referees. His ability to argue with officials is evidently not impeded by his mask.
Bolton Wanderers 0
(4-1-2-3): J Jaaskelainen 8 – J O’Br-ien 7 (sub: S Giannakopoulos, 85min), A O’Brien 7, A Meïté 6, R Gardner 7 – I Campo 8 – G McCann 7, D Guthrie 6 – K Davies 8, N Anelka 7, E-H Diouf 8 (sub: C Wilhelmsson, 67, 6).Substitutes not used:A Al Habsi, G Cid, D Braaten. Booked: Diouf, Davies, McCann, Jaaskelainen. Next: Arsenal (a).
Chelsea 1 Kalou 41
(4-1-2-2-1): P Cech 8 – J Belletti 7, R Carvalho 7, J Terry 7, A Cole 6 – C Makelele 6 – S Sidwell 6, F Lampard 7 – J Cole 6 (sub: P Ferreira, 85), F Malouda 5 (sub: A Shevchenko, 74) – S Kalou 6 (sub: C Pizarro, 46 6).Substitutes not used:C Cudicini, T Ben Haim. Booked: Carvalho. Next: Middlesbrough (a).
Referee A Wiley
Attendance 20,059 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Telegraph:Avram Grant not looking to win friendsBy Tim Rich
Bolton Wanderers (0) 0 Chelsea (1) 1
It is Bobby Robson's first and only season as manager of Barcelona and already he can see the white handkerchiefs being waved from the topless stands of the Nou Camp to signify their displeasure.
He has come to replace one of the most charismatic, opinionated and successful managers Spanish football has known and, unlike Jose Mourinho, Johan Cruyff knew what it was to play in World and European cup finals. Robson is struggling to learn Spanish, let alone Catalan, and compared to Cruyff he seems grey and dull.
At half-time Barcelona are three goals down to one of the also-rans of Spanish football but, somehow, come back to snatch the match 4-3. The next day Robson surveys the press. One headline reads: "The manager loses the first half, the players win the second."
And this is what Avram Grant will always face. It was the end of a few days which, under other circumstances, would have been highly-successful. The remarkable recovery in the Mestalla to overcome a Valencia side who were expected to carry out a ritual execution of Chelsea's supposedly faction-ridden team was followed by their first Premier League victory since August.
Not once was Grant's name mentioned by those who had travelled up from the Home Counties, and this will go down as a match won by a moment of brilliance from Salomon Kalou. In all other respects it was the kind of hard-bitten victory that was so often orchestrated by Mourinho, a man who always knew to whom the credit should be given. In his first campaign at Stamford Bridge, he took the title at Bolton in a season in which 13 matches were won 1-0.
If, by removing Mourinho, Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, hoped for a more entertaining side and a pivotal role for his friend, Andrei Shevchenko, he is being grimly disappointed. Grant argued yesterday that his first responsibility was to stabilise Chelsea's results before unveiling the beautiful game, a process he said would take "several months".
The goal that decided this match was beautifully taken; a long ball that Kalou, under pressure from the hulking shape of Abdoulaye Meite, controlled with one touch, pushed past Jussi Jaaskelainen and then shot into the corner of the Bolton net as Meite clung on to him. It was Chelsea's first goal for 461 minutes of Premier League football and the first under Grant. It was worth the wait.
Shevchenko did not start either here or in Valencia, and even when Kalou was withdrawn at the interval with a hamstring injury that will put more pressure on Chelsea's forward-line, his replacement was not the once-great Ukrainian but Claudio Pizarro.
"When I took the job I wasn't told to pick the friends of Peter Kenyon [the chief executive] or Simon Greenberg [the communications director]," Grant smiled on a day Ajax confirmed their manager, Henk ten Cate, was in negotiations to join him as assistant manager. "I am here to make the best decisions for the good of Chelsea.
"I don't want to live a life in football without pressure. Back in my own country I was always involved with big clubs. Here there is pressure to do well, it comes from inside myself and it comes from everyone. This is no game for weakness." John Terry would attest to that. Still wearing a mask to protect his fractured cheekbone, he was given an intense working-over by Kevin Davies, who epitomised the skill, desire and commitment still present in a Bolton side floundering deep in the relegation zone.
The England captain will not be given a tougher examination by Estonia or Russia.
Frank Lampard's return, after spending six of the most traumatic weeks in Stamford Bridge's history nursing a thigh injury, was gently encouraging. "For Frank to play for 90 minutes after six weeks out is good for him and good for us," said Grant, who hinted that the injured Shaun Wright-Phillips would recover in time for the internationals.
Like Grant, Bolton's manager, Sammy Lee, also knows what a pressurised life feels like. Bolton and Chelsea had last won in the Premier League on the same day, August 25, and Lee responded by dropping his captain, Kevin Nolan, and his first-team coach, Gary Speed, from the squad. Lee pointedly refused to give any reason for his decision other than parrot the phrase: "I pick the team."
Lee first got to pick the team after Sam Allardyce's final match as Bolton manager, a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge in April that handed the title to Manchester United. Had Nicolas Anelka not driven his shot into Petr Cech's body or had Stelios Giannakopoulos not headed the Frenchman's chip fractionally over the bar, Bolton might have extracted another precious point from Chelsea.
Once more under Lee the performance was better than the result, but this is like staging a West End play that receives wonderful reviews but draws a pitiful audience. Sooner or later, the producers will have to close down the show. Lee's regime may have received its final notices.
Man of the matchSalomon Kalou (Chelsea)• One goal from two shots• 100% passing accuracy---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kalou ends drought as Chelsea hint at return to old routine
Daniel Taylor at the Reebok StadiumMonday October 8, 2007The Guardian
Avram Grant has his first league win and even if Chelsea's fans still refuse to sing his name (it may be well into 2008, if at all, before that moment arrives) it was noticeable yesterday that the visiting fans were not as vocal in their continued support of Jose Mourinho. Winning always tends to placate unhappy supporters and, after a workmanlike 1-0 victory reminiscent of the old days, Grant is entitled to claim an air of normality is returning - if, that is, life is ever normal at Chelsea.
His first three points as Chelsea manager came courtesy of a rare piece of opportunism from Salomon Kalou and the team's first league goal in seven hours and 40 minutes of action. Or to put it another way, the first since Frank Lampard slashed in the winner against Portsmouth on August 25.September 2007 will be remembered as fondly as a burst appendix to the average Chelsea fan, but the team have begun October encouragingly and Grant has shown, if nothing else, that by leaving out the Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko from a side that had Didier Drogba suspended the Israeli manager is far from merely a yes-man for the club owner, Roman Abramovich.
Shevchenko was not only overlooked for the starting line-up but, when Kalou went off at half-time with a sore hamstring, Grant preferred to bring on Claudio Pizarro and when Shevchenko did finally come on, 17 minutes from the end, it was on the left of midfield, where he contributed little more than the winning of a couple of throw-ins.
A cameo role keeping tabs on Joey O'Brien was not what the former European footballer of the year must have had in mind when he left Milan for London, but Grant was just as unapologetic as Mourinho used to be. "I need to make decisions for the good of Chelsea," he said.
It was a perfectly plausible explanation, particularly when analysed in conjunction with Sammy Lee's deeply unimpressive justification for leaving out not only his captain, Kevin Nolan, but also Gary Speed, the man he made his first-team coach after becoming manager at the end of last season.
Neither player even made the bench amid simmering tensions behind the scenes but Lee, whose tenure has been badly affected by leaks from the dressing-room, was in no mood to divulge his reasons.
"I picked the team I wanted," he said nervously, a gerbil in headlights, "and you don't ask me why I pick them when they are in the team."
Nobody was fooled and it was an unsatisfactory way to end what was otherwise an impressive effort from the Premier League's second-from-bottom club. Bolton were strong in the tackle, ruggedly committed and, given that it is widely known Lee's methods have caused resentment in the dressing room, it was certainly not evident from the way the side, minus two of their more influential players, set about their opponents.
At times, too, they produced some slick football, with El Hadji-Diouf and Kevin Davies breaking in from the flanks, Ivan Campo instrumental in midfield and the 20-year-old Danny Guthrie, on loan from Liverpool, impressive on his league debut.
They may have taken only five points all season but Bolton had two sustained periods, at the start of either half, when Chelsea's defence came close to buckling under the pressure and there were three occasions before Kalou scored his first league goal since April that the visitors were indebted to Petr Cech's goalkeeping - the Czech Republic international keeping out Davies and Campo and diving at the feet of Nicolas Anelka after the striker had accelerated into the penalty area and twisted away from the Chelsea captain, John Terry.
Terry, incidentally, spent a large proportion of the match complaining to the referee Alan Wiley and it is becoming an irritating feature of the England captain's persona. Wiley ended up booking five Bolton players compared to one for Chelsea, and Steve Sidwell was fortunate to get away with a handball inside his own penalty area. Yet the principal reason for Bolton's defeat was not because of bad refereeing but the atrocious mix-up that preceded Kalou's goal.
Jussi Jaaskelainen, Bolton's goalkeeper, will wince when he sees the replays, as will the centre-half Abdoulaye Meite, for it was their indecision in dealing with a bouncing ball that allowed Kalou to steal in, nick the ball away and finish with an angled shot.
The goal originated from a long Cech goal-kick, headed back towards his own penalty area by Gavin McCann, and Lee spoke in sombre tones about his team's "one big mistake".
Bolton's under-pressure manager could otherwise reflect on an admir-able performance but Chelsea, with the England midfielder Lampard back, edged the game regardless of Sidwell's good fortune and, on the back of the Champions League victory in Valencia during the week, Grant wore a Mourinho-esque look of satisfaction.
A typical Makelele performance, the Frenchman mopping up in front of defence, and providing a safeguard for the England midfielder Frank Lampard and Steve Sidwell to supplement the visitors' attack.
Man of the match: Claude Makelele
Best Moment Any one of numerous interceptions to break up Bolton attacks and instigate Chelsea's own forward thrusts.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mail:Are you Mourinho in disguise, Avram?Bolton 0 Chelsea 1
by MATT LAWTON
Intent on matching Jose Mourinho stride for stride, Avram Grant's attention to detail now appears to extend to the style of play as well the scoreline. 2-1 in Valencia. A turgid 1-0 win in the Premier League. All very familiar to followers of Chelsea.
Even his treatment of Andriy Shevchenko is starting to echo his predecessor. Dropped for Valencia, Shevchenko was left on the bench again for this encounter and he remained there when Salomon Kalou disappeared with an injured hamstring after scoring a fabulous first-half goal.
Rather than send on Roman Abramovich's 'adopted son', Grant opted for Claudio Pizarro and turned to the troubled Ukrainian only when he then lost Florent Malouda to injury. From European Footballer of the Year to makeshift left winger. How the mighty have fallen.
For Grant, it simply proved that he is very much in charge. That he and not his Russian owner picks the team and also makes the changes.
"They pay me to be in charge," said the Israeli, who has even started to rant on the touchline in the manner of the animated Mourinho.
"I have to be in charge. I make the decisions for the present and for the future. Sheva is trying hard and I'm sure he will be good again for Chelsea."
But how does he square it with Abramovich? Shevchenko is the owner's best chum, after all.
"When I got the job at Chelsea, no one says I had to pick a friend of Peter Kenyon or a friend of Simon Greenberg (Chelsea's director of communications)," said Grant with a wry smile.
"Simon even said there was someone he wanted to play. But I'm in charge of the team and I make decisions for the good of Chelsea."
The selection of Kalou as a stand-in for the suspended Didier Drogba certainly proved a sound one.
Not only did he take his goal wonderfully well, but he was also responsible for the pass of the match.
It was a magnificent ball that squeezed between two Bolton defenders and finished at the feet of the rapidly advancing Malouda.
While Malouda squandered that opportunity, Kalou made no mistake when a long ball forward from Petr Cech was mistakenly headed on by Gavin McCann.
Kalou lifted the ball over Jussi Jaaskelainen and, with the kind of strength and athleticism one would normally associate with his countryman Drogba, shrugged off the foul challenge of Abdoulaye Meite before finishing with considerable aplomb.
If this delighted Grant, it left Sammy Lee in an even more precarious position as Bolton's beleaguered manager.
Bolton performed with spirit and forced Cech to make a couple of super saves. But Lee's side are languishing in the bottom three amid rumours of a bust-up with his first-team coach and his captain.
Gary Speed and Kevin Nolan did not even discover they had been omitted from the squad until they arrived at the Reebok Stadium at lunchtime and Speed had what was described as 'a face like thunder' afterwards.
When Lee was asked to explain his decision, his response was less than convincing. Bizarre in fact. "You don't ask me to explain myself when I pick them," said Lee with almost child-like logic. "I pick the team and I picked the team I considered best for Bolton."
Lee is a fine coach, a charming man, but never should he have been made a Premier League manager and it is unlikely to be long before his employers reach the same conclusion.
One win in 12 League games since he took charge towards the end of last season should tell them all they need to know.
Much the same was being said about Grant when he first succeeded Mourinho, but Chelsea's last two results would suggest he might yet have a chance.
With Frank Lampard back from injury and Drogba and John Obi Mikel soon back from suspension, the team is beginning to gain some momentum.
This was an important victory for them at the ground where they secured the first of their two championship titles under Mourinho - and not just because Kalou's 41st-minute strike was their first in 460 minutes of Premier League football.
It was proof, once again, that they can grind out results. That they can snatch a lead and hang on. That, in players like the outstanding Ricardo Carvalho, they still have the quality to close the sevenpointgap which exists between them and Arsenal.
As Grant insisted, it will be a while before we see the 'football with style' he has promised. "It will take time," he said.
"Sometimes you just need the points. Sometimes you just need to score a goal. Especially when you play away from home. The target was taking three points and we got what we wanted."
He also felt the pressure lift a little more off his shoulders. "I don't want to live in football without the pressure," he said.
"I have always had pressure in my career and it is a pressure I put on myself. This job is a big responsibility but I like it.
"The game is about pressure. It is not a game for weakness."
As Lee, rather than Grant, is probably about to find out.
Bolton (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen 7; J O'Brien 6 (Stelios 85min), A O'Brien 6, Meite 5, Gardner 6; McCann 5, Campo 6, Guthrie 7, Diouf 6 (Wilhelmsson 67, 6); Davies 7, Anelka 6. Booked: Diouf, Campo, Davies, Jaaskelainen.
Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech 7; Belletti 6, Carvalho 8, Terry 6, A Cole 6; Sidwell 6, Makelele 6, Lampard 6; Malouda 6 (Shevchenko 74, 5), Kalou 8 (Pizarro 46, 6), J Cole 6 (Ferreira 84). Booked: Carvalho. Man of the match: Salomon Kalou.
Referee: Alan Wiley. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sun:
THERE might be a light at the end of the tunnel — but it’s not exactly dazzling.Chelsea finally snatched a first Premier League victory under Avram Grant and their first league goal for almost eight hours. Yet the jury is still out on a team struggling to raise themselves above the average.
If Roman Abramovich got rid of Jose Mourinho to produce more excitement and entertainment, it clearly is not working.
But Grant will settle for three points right now as he works to drag his team out of the doldrums of Black September. Salomon Kalou’s 41st-minute strike leaves Bolton boss Sammy Lee on the brink of following Mourinho out of the door. The Ivory Coast striker showed strength and composure to cash in on a mix-up between Abdoulaye Meite and keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen. Kalou chipped over the stranded Jaaskelainen before drilling in from a tight angle. Chelsea’s matchwinner hobbled off at half-time with a hamstring strain — but he had already done enough to justify his selection ahead of £30million Andriy Shevchenko. Grant said: “When I got the job, nobody told me who I had to play. They pay me to be in charge and I make the decisions that I feel are best for the club. “This was an important three points for us after a long time without a Premiership win. “We created more chances and our attitude against a very direct and physical team was excellent.” Grant insisted: “The new style will take time. It may take a couple of months to develop. Sometimes you need the points first, especially when you are playing away from home.” From the bench, disgruntled Shevchenko could have learnt a few lessons in passion from Kevin Davies. The Bolton man has never been the most gifted forward in the world but what he lacks in technique, he more than makes up for in effort and courage. He thundered into every challenge and rattled Ashley Cole’s bones. But Blues skipper John Terry — still wearing a protective mask on his fractured cheek — was unhappy with some of Davies’ aerial challenges. Twice in the first five minutes, the Bolton battering ram muscled his way into promising positions without being able to find a finish. Ivan Campo was also taking no prisoners and he was guilty of two horrendously late fouls on Joe Cole and Frank Lampard. The first was punished with a yellow card, the second should have led to red. Although Chelsea were shaken by Bolton’s naked aggression, they were not about to chuck in the towel. Galvanised by Lampard’s return from seven matches out with a thigh strain, they gradually took control of the midfield and started to open up Bolton. Florent Malouda should have fired them into a 21st-minute lead but shot wastefully over after being sent clear by Kalou. Seven minutes later, Malouda did hit the target from Kalou’s knockdown but was denied by a smart instinctive low save from Jaaskelainen. Bolton also had their chances, notably when Campo’s first- time effort was saved by Petr Cech, who then denied Nicolas Anelka. El-Hadji Diouf also sent a header straight at the Chelsea keeper and sub Stelios brushed the bar with a header from Anelka’s cross in stoppage time. The home side also felt they should have had a 43rd-minute penalty when Steve Sidwell appeared to use an arm. With only one Premiership win and a trip to Arsenal next, time is running out for Lee. His bold gamble to axe captain Kevin Nolan and coach Gary Speed backfired and it seems to be only a matter of time before chairman Phil Gartside pulls the trigger. Lee said: “There were no ulterior motives for leaving those players out. I always pick the team I think will do the best job. “I’d rather talk about the determination and application of the players who did play. I felt we deserved something but you don’t always get what you deserve.” Grant’s team had started the day nine points adrift of leaders Arsenal in ninth. Now they are back up to sixth place. Chelsea are up and running again. The beautiful football can wait a little longer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------