Fulham 1 Chelsea 2:The real Avram Grant may just have revealed himself. Normally monotone and dour, the odd dose of sarcasm disturbing the deadpan, the Israeli cracked at half-time having been enraged by a wretched first-half display. "When the players are sleeping you need to wake them up," he conceded after yesterday's match. The quiet man has found his voice.
Chelsea continue to feature in the title race and that, in itself, is remarkable - they have won 10 points over the festive period despite having to play virtually a reserve side as the manager plots a shopping spree.
Grant's fury here might have partly reflected the reality that he had contributed to handicapping his own side by bafflingly asking Michael Essien rather than Mikel John Obi to anchor midfield. But that alone did not justify the visitors' sloppiness.
They deservedly trailed as the teams went in at half-time, Grant seething as he marched across the turf to deliver his criticisms. "It was a bit loud in the dressingroom at half-time," admitted Michael Ballack. "We needed that. We couldn't keep playing like we had in the first half. We had to change a lot and put more pressure on Fulham from the first minute."
"If I need to I can throw a tea cup or break a chair," Grant said. "Everything was wrong in that first half. We lost too many passes, we missed two great chances - one-on-ones - and we hadn't turned up. As a manager your job is to do the right thing to achieve a result. You don't have a lot of time [ at the interval] but you have to use what time you have well. If the team is nervous, you have to be calm. But if people are too calm, you must be excited. We needed more control in midfield."
Steve Sidwell, a bit-part player whose impact at Chelsea has been negligible, has played the fall guy before this season. Jose Mourinho substituted him at the interval at the Madejski Stadium back in August with the side losing 1-0, the revamped line-up promptly scoring twice in five minutes. The current crop needed slightly longer to transform this occasion but the comeback was just as ruthless.
With Mikel introduced to the anchoring role and Essien liberated - "That was the owner's decision," joked Grant - Chelsea pushed Fulham back. They did not take long to crack. Alex's header back across the six-yard box and Salomon Kalou's thumped finish restored parity and Ballack's eager fall as Clint Dempsey tugged at his shirt some eight minutes later won a penalty that the German himself converted. Instantly hope was sapped from Fulham.
Roy Hodgson was appointed only on Friday, taking charge officially after Saturday's draw at Birmingham, but already he will have seen why his new team are anchored in the relegation zone. Fulham have scored the first goal in nine games this season and not won any of them, with 22 points effectively passed up en route. Just as damning is that 30 of the 37 goals they have conceded have been in the second half, suggesting this is a side with brittle confidence who wilt far too often.
The new manager was loth to denounce their fitness levels, though he conceded that the balance of the team is awkward. "That's partly because of the players we have out injured at the moment but we have a lot of similar type players in the team," he said. "We're quite a small team - Chelsea were quite a strong, aerobic side. But you won't hear from me that the team aren't good enough, even if January is going to be a very hectic month."
Strength in midfield and pace and bite up front are desperately required. Danny Murphy displayed some of the former in shifting possession to Diomansy Kamara 10 minutes in, the striker slipping Moritz Volz into the area to draw Joe Cole's foul and win an early penalty. But Murphy, who converted from the spot, faded as the game went on. By the end, with Fulham desperate, his decision-making and distribution had disintegrated.
Others disappeared altogether, run ragged as Chelsea's reserves poured at them. "We are missing a lot of first-team players, players who'll make the team stronger," added Hodgson. "Chelsea can argue the same thing but, frankly, they're in a much better situation than us to cover for their absentees.
"I didn't see anything today to surprise me. I didn't come into the job naively. I don't think I was appointed naively. We have to do what needs to be done."
