Anelka start delights Grant
13 Jan 2008 - 10:45:22
Chelsea manager Avram Grant praised Nicolas Anelka's adaptability after he made his debut less than 24 hours after signing for the Stamford Bridge club.
The France international was a second-half substitute in the Blues' 2-0 victory over Tottenham on Saturday with the ink yet to dry on his four-and-a-half year contract.
Anelka joined Chelsea in a £15million deal late on Friday night to bring down the curtain on his 18-month spell with Bolton Wanderers.
Grant was forced to throw the 28-year-old into the fray after seeing Claudio Pizarro pick up an injury against Spurs.
He said: "We are very short of strikers - Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou are in Africa and Andriy Shevchenko is injured. Pizarro got injured so we had to use him.
"Anelka played without having one training session with us. He very quickly got into the style of the team and was part of the game.
"He hit the bar one time and the goalkeeper made a good save from him so you cannot ask any more from his first performance.
"But we didn't plan to use him."
Meanwhile, Grant was full of praise for the performance after goals from Shaun Wright-Phillips and Juliano Belletti secured the points.
"I am very pleased for many things. First I am pleased that we have won so many games but more pleased by the way we have done it," he continued.
"We changed the style a little bit and even without so many players, we keep looking to play good football.
"I am very happy. Our target is to win games and always play positive football."
