When Roberto Di Matteo was appointed Chelsea's manager on a full-time basis, it was a decision that was greeted with approval from Chelsea fans. After all, he had just led us to FA Cup & Champions League glory in a season that was filled with more twists & turns than a James Bond movie. And he did it with a squad that many didn't consider good enough to compete with the best in Europe. So giving him the job on a full-time basis seemed like the right thing to do.
But the Chelsea job is not an easy one. Expectations are always sky high, & Roman Abramovich is the most trigger-happy owner in the Premier League (if not the world). Since he has taken over the club in 2003, we have had 8 managers at the helm of the club (including Robbie), out of whom 6 have been sacked (Guus Hiddink left on his own terms as he was a caretaker manager).
Aside from the fact that the Chelsea job seems as haunted as the Defence Against the Dark Arts job in the Harry Potter series, Robbie now has to live up to his own high standards. When he took over the job, Chelsea were in disarray. We were out of the Premier League race & all but out of the Champions League. The FA Cup seemed like our only chance at silverware. But Robbie didn't panic. He put his head down, kept things simple & focused on the task at hand. He instilled self-belief & confidence into a squad that was utterly demoralized (the best example being Fernando Torres) & the rest, as they say, is history.
One argument is: If he could win trophies with a sub-standard squad, imagine what he can do with a decent squad! That argument is flawed, because football is never that simple. It's true that Robbie did a spectacular job of turning our season around, but the expectations surrounding him were minimal. We were underdogs in every major match that we played in, & if we won, it was mostly due to dogged determination rather than silky football. Of course, a win is a win... but I think everyone would prefer if we won our matches in a slightly different manner from now on!
So to put in a nutshell, Robbie does indeed have his work cut out for him. But I have plenty of faith in him. He just has to keep doing what he has been doing so far: focus on the result. With the type of players that we have now, attractive football will come on it's own. If he does that, I see Robbie being in charge of Chelsea for many years to come.
By Shayne Dias
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Yes I agree with u. That's a great way to look at thing. RDM did inherit a squad that played together for years and were mentality set up not to lose. Our legendary squad did munch everything that's came in front of them,and if we remember 06,08,09 and 2010 we played some dizzy football. Matteo just had to give specific instructions and d squad would do the rest. But he did brilliantly and we should be proud of him and our squad,AND WE ARE. But now we ask different thing of him,will he deliver? Mancini dint play nice football with manc 1st season but now it looks pretty fancy. So time is important but he wont get that much as u said, so he will need work hard and fast. The pressure is on. Pep is in background,just waiting.. RDM, we are all eyes.
ReplyDeletechelsea have a lot of new players this season who are also coming to england for the first time. it will take time for them to adapt and team to gel.
ReplyDeleteI think this season is for the rebuilding. next season will be chelsea's for sure.
Minimum requirement is a top 3 finish n dats if d team is not ready 2 compete with the manchester's.
ReplyDeleteWe will get atop 2-3 finish this year I'm sure.matteo has got aright idea saying he will play a mix between newbies and old testament... I'm quietly confident that we will be great this season,I just wonder if we will play with some swagger. I would love too see dblues play some one touch soccer and for Torres to score some early ones.. We are right behind u RDM.
Deletechelsea'll definitely win thepremier league next term.
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