Chelsea FC: The Road Ahead for Avram Grant

We all knew Mourinho loved to talk.

Perhaps he did that little too much of that for his own good when he called Arsene Wenger a "voyeur" or the constant mind games being played with Rafa Benitez prior to matches, but "The Special One" did what he had to do.

And the media loved him for that.

He provided the Chelsea faithful with trophies to show for his hard work while still managing to please the press with an arrogance that managed to amuse even the most casual football fan.

Mourinho delivered his usual controversial antics and the media would often laugh along with his methodical rants.

Heck, we love him so much that we even made him his own puppet talk show with his own sidekicks.

But after a tenuous relationship with owner Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea faithful were left in a situation where laughing wasn't a part of the equation.

The majority of the supporters are still screaming and crying out for their beloved Portuguese manager even as the 2007/2008 begins to draw to a close.

Needless to say, it's never easy to live up to the expectations that were exceeded by Mourinho. For Avram Grant, the situation just gets worse when you're always being compared to your predecessor.

After constant lectures of how Chelsea would play attractive football, Grant's side has failed to replicate his words with actions as Chelsea are still grinding out results with their multi-million cast of stars.

Had it not been for a change of tactics towards a more "Mourinho-esque" approach with more long balls towards Didier Drogba, chances are that Chelsea probably wouldn't have emerged victorious against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge a few weeks back.

Cries of "You don't know what you're doing" and "Jose Mourinho" from stands at Stamford Bridge only add to the precarious situation surrounding Grant's position. He's failed to live up to Mourinho's high standards, despite having only lost twice (Manchester United and Arsenal) in the Premier League since taking over.

It's almost become something of a cliche nowadays, but if Jose Mourinho was still at Chelsea, that certainly wouldn't have happened.

Of course by that, I'm not referring to the consistently questionable use of tactics and control over player personnel as witnessed in the Carling Cup final and Premier League clash against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

That's not mentioning how Chelsea crashed out against Championship minnows Barnsley in the FA.

Because unless you were living under a rock this week, it would have been impossible to have not heard about Avram Grant's spat against the media following a press conference in Chelsea's 1-0 win over Everton on Thursday night.

Well, maybe it wasn't a spat, but it almost certainly was something you probably would have heard or expected in a conversation between two five-year old kids at your local playground. 

It then put more pressure on Grant to deliver heading into his crucial fixtures against Liverpool and Manchester United; in both the Champions League and Premier League, respectively.

Responding with monosyllabic answers to the questions fired by the press in a melancholy manner, you certainly would have expected better from a manager in charge of one of Europe's most prestigious clubs.

It was five minutes and 39 seconds of either pure comedy or unexpected shock depending on how football fans chose to look at it.

We all know that Avram Grant has a tendency to give rather uneventful press conferences, but if Thursday night was any indication, the Chelsea manager has had it with the media.

Some fans were finally getting behind the Chelsea manager, lauding his protest as intelligent, witty, and even clever to a certain degree.

After all, it's never easy taking over in the manner that Grant did, on the eve of a match against Manchester United. Perhaps the pressure of managing a club like Chelsea has gotten to him.

The Chelsea manager has taken in his fair share of unnecessary criticism with anti-Semitic threats and the constant rants of disapproval through the press for more than just his tactical errors.

But did Avram Grant really expect the pressures from the media to go away with his muted protest?

What was more perplexing more than anything was Grant's refusal to answer the simplest of questions.

In particular, Grant claimed that he "didn’t know" whether Chelsea was still in the title race, despite (at the time) being two points behind Manchester United heading into next week’s Premier League fixture.

He also claimed to be happy with the performance but needed a 10-second pause before stating that he "didn't know" what he was satisfied about. 

If this was Avram Grant's attempt at being clever with the press than he must have gotten it all wrong. Answers like that only get him laughed at, as opposed to how the media would always laugh along with Mourinho whenever he crossed the line or had something to say.

Perhaps somebody needs to remind Grant that dealing with the media is simply a part of the job description when you take over a Premier League club, especially one as illustrious as Chelsea Football Club.

Journalists and critics are paid to ask these questions and for Grant to respond in such a way will only lead to more criticisms until his potential departure down the road.

Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Rafael Benitez, and the rest of the 16 Premier League managers have all had to deal with their issues to controversy and have conducted their respective press conferences in an honest and informative fashion.

Heck, some of the managers have dealt with harsher circumstances throughout the year compared to Grant's tenure at Chelsea.

Rafael Benitez was told by his club owners that they were, at one point, looking for possible replacement candidates for the Liverpool job.

They confirmed that they had met with Jurgen Klinsmann before he elected to take over at Bayern Munich. Now, the situation with the owners isn't any clearer as Hicks and Gillett appear to be having a bit of a row.

Arsene Wenger's side was knocked out after a couple of "dodgy decisions" went against them and were consequently knocked out of the Champions League.

They've also had to witness the gruesome injury to their Brazilian-Croatian star Eduardo after Birmingham City's Martin Taylor landed a bone-shattering tackle.

If Grant truly wanted to protest against the media, he will have his chance to do so this week in both domestic and continental competitions.

Despite the possibility of being without his star striker in Didier Drogba for the first leg at Anfield, Avram Grant heads into the Champions League fixture with an undefeated record against Rafa Benitez's men.

Grant's job will ultimately ride on this match as another season without the Premier League or Champions League title will spell the end for the Israeli manager's time at Chelsea.

Michael Essien is also probable for the match after fainting for a while during Chelsea's fixture against Everton earlier midweek. 

After trailing in the shadows of Manchester United and Arsenal for much of the season in the Premier League, Grant's Chelsea side has shown the same kind of resilience that we witnessed under Mourinho.

After Arsenal's collapse to third place, Chelsea has remained in striking distance of catching up with their storied rivals. Grant enters the fixture with the threats of Ronaldo, Tevez, and Rooney ready to lurk past the Chelsea back four.

As they now find themselves in enviable positions to strengthen their claim for two of football's most prestigious trophies (the English Premier League title and the UEFA Champions League) Avram Grant's fate could be very well determined by the end of the week.

Not even a monosyllabic press conference could save him if Chelsea were to fall out of contention in both competitions.