Grant fights to save job after capitulation at Barnsley

Avram Grant is likely to be sacked by Chelsea this summer, unless he steers the club to success in the Champions League or Premier League. That appears to be the consequence of Chelsea's second cup failure in two weeks.

Grant, who took over from Jose Mourinho in the autumn, has overseen the club's revival in the domestic league and their passage to the last eight in Europe. He is also known to be the owner Roman Abram-ovich's personal choice in the job. But Chelsea's abysmal display in losing 1-0 at Barnsley in Saturday's FA Cup sixth round, following a disappointing performance in the 2-1 Carling Cup final defeat by Spurs, has left his position precarious.

Tales of internal ructions, and player dissent, can be withstood if a team are winning. Indeed, with a squad of egotistical internationals such problems can be expected. So can the factional infighting which pervades a club that at times seems to be modelled on a medieval court. A club such as Chelsea, however, is only ever one defeat from a fresh crisis. Grant is again engulfed.

Neither Abramovich, who eschewed Barnsley's offer of a free meat pie, nor the chief executive, Peter Kenyon, was at Oakwell but they were watching on television and soon made it known they were very unhappy. Team selection was questioned, as it was after the Carling Cup final. So, it should be added, was the commitment of some players.

Having admitted Saturday was his "most disappointing day" since coming to Chelsea, Grant said: "There is always pressure at Chelsea, but we will fight. We have two big competitions still to play and we will look to the future.

"I take personal responsibility. I am the manager and I am responsible for everything. The team that played today, even though we had a lot of injuries, was good enough to win this game. But we didn't do it. It's very sad because we'd played so well in the last week. This team has shown they can play good football.

"I accept there will be many negative things said but we have two major competitions left. I am concentrating on them, not other things. The last test [after the Carling Cup final] we handled very well and I'm sure we will do it again. I am looking forward to the next game."

That is against Derby County, in the Premier League on Wednesday. Victory will cut the gap to the leaders, Arsenal, with Chelsea possessing a game in hand. Yesterday the squad began preparations at their Cobham training base. It was a scheduled warm-down but it would not be surprising if there was a frank debriefing too.

Abramovich's recent close involvement in team affairs is not linked to results, but is instead a consequence of Grant being more amenable to the owner's presence than Mourinho ever was. For that reason alone Abram-ovich wants to give Grant time, if results allow.

If they do not, the latest name to be linked with the club is Michael Laudrup. The Dane, a compatriot of Chelsea's influential director of football, Frank Arnesen, is impressing after a poor start in Spain with Getafe, where his assistant is the former Arsenal midfielder John Jensen. Laudrup, however, lacks experience.

The striker Nicolas Anelka last night defended Grant, arguing that the players should be blamed for the Barnsley defeat. "We know the media will be after the manager, but as a player, you know when you have played well and we did not play well today," he said. "I think the criticism has to be aimed at the players. We didn't do what we had to do. We did not play well and we have to accept that.

"Even though we lost the game, it was not about the manager. It was about the players. The tactics were right. We just did not play well. We know we should have done better than this. We have the players and we should be better.

"We have spoken about the Champions League before and we will try our best to win it because when you look around the dressing room, we have big players who have the qualities to do it. I think Barnsley will be forgotten if we win the Champions League," Anelka added.