Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has hit back at criticism of Avram Grant following the Blues' defeat to Tottenham in the Carling Cup final.In-form England midfielder Joe Cole was left out of the starting line-up and only introduced in extra-time after Chelsea had fallen 2-1 behind.

Michael Ballack was also a substitute, while Nicolas Anelka played out of position on the left wing and was largely anonymous.

However, Cech has defended his manager, insisting there will always be difficult selection decisions at Chelsea due to the squad's strength in depth.

Cech told Sky Sports News: "If Joe Cole played and Ballack played, but (Frank) Lampard or (Salomon) Kalou or someone else was not in they (the critics) would say the same thing.

"We have a large squad, we have 27 top players, and the manager has a difficult decision to choose 11 to play.

"He chooses what he thinks is the strongest XI. If we had won the game these questions would not have been asked."

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