Roberto Di Matteo has turned around Chelsea’s season after taking over from Villas-Boas. With a potential Champions League-FA Cup double waiting for the Blues, one wonders if the Italian deserves an extension in Stamford Bridge.
March 4th 2012 was the day Chelsea parted ways with Andre Villas Boas after the previous day’s 1-0 defeat away at West Brom. After this decision, it quickly became clear that Chelsea would not be bringing in or confirming a manager until the season had ended. For the season’s remaining two and a half months, Andre Villas Boas’s assistant manager, and former Chelsea central midfielder would remain in charge. Since then, the Italian has overseen a generally positive improvement of Chelsea, having lost only once (at the time of writing) in all competitions. In this article, I’ll give five reasons why Roman Abramovich should give Di Matteo the pressure-filled job on a full time basis.
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Team spirit has improved
One of Chelsea’s most impressive attributes when they won the Premier League title in the 2004/05 season, was their phenomenal team spirit. The emotional connection they shared with then manager Jose Mourinho certainly wasn’t choreographed. Since then, none of Chelsea’s four permanent managers have replicated the connection they had with the current Real Madrid boss. Roberto Di Matteo however, has united the entire Chelsea squad and unlike under Andre Villas Boas, there are no rumors of a player’s revolt at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea’s triumphs against Napoli and Barcelona when their backs were against the wall showed the squad’s immense character which Roberto Di Matteo has instilled into them.
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Support of the fans
When Andre Villas Boas joined Chelsea in the summer of 2011, there was definitely some uncertainty from the majority of Chelsea fans; many felt he was too young and inexperienced to succeed at a club with the expectations of Chelsea. There was no hostility towards the man known as AVB, but there was unquestionably an air of doubt. When Roberto Di Matteo was confirmed as Boas’ replacement until the end of the season, Chelsea fans were confident that the Italian, who played for them between the years 1996 and 2002 would be able to steady the proverbial Chelsea ship. However, Di Matteo has done more than steady Chelsea’s ship, having guided them to the Champions League final and FA cup final. I can’t see many Chelsea fans objecting to this appointment judging on recent results, can you?
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The defence has improved
Since Chelsea became one of both English football’s and European football’s top clubs, one of their most fearsome qualities have been their superior defence. Players such as Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry and Ashley Cole have all helped achieve this and Stamford Bridge was for many years, widely considered one of the toughest stadiums to score in. However, Andre Villas Boas’ high line, offensive style of play made Chelsea’s defence more vulnerable than it had been for many years for the season’s first seven months. Roberto Di Matteo has totally changed this and once again Chelsea’s defence is extremely solid, as was seen in both games against Barcelona.
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Transfer market potential
Having an owner like Roman Abramovich guarantees one thing: if players are needed, players will be signed and because of the age of some of Chelsea’s stars, a summer overhaul is somewhat inevitable. So who to sign. Well due to the impressive improvement of Chelsea since Di Matteo took over, the blues certainly look like a good squad to be in. If Chelsea manage to get champions league football next season either through finishing fourth or by winning the competition, I think Chelsea will be able to attract some top drawer players this summer.
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Di Matteo can be a long term solution
Chelsea’s decision to appoint the then 34 year old Andre Villas as their new manager was clearly a decision taken with a long term plan in mind, which is perfectly understandable. Even though the initial reason Chelsea appointed Di Matteo as their interim manager was to just see them through the rest of the season, I think Di Matteo is a genuine long term option for Chelsea. After all, at the age of 41, Di Matteo is young, hungry and has already done some truly incredible things with not just Chelsea, but also at MK Dons and even at West Brom.
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Written by guest author Joshua Sodergren
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