A disappointing league campaign comes to a climax tomorrow
afternoon with the visit of Blackburn Rovers to Stamford Bridge, and
while Roberto Di Matteo will be eager for his players to finish the
domestic season on a positive note, he admits we simply haven't been
good enough at times.
Two successive defeats, against Newcastle United and Liverpool, have
ensured we will finish in our lowest league position since 2002, but the
Italian was both honest and forthright in his assessment of where we've
gone wrong.
'It's very simple, we just haven't won enough games to get the points needed to finish in the top four,' he says.
'Normally it's a combination of the two, when you don't get the wins
you probably haven't scored enough and you've conceded too many goals,
it's about finding the right balance between those things, but it's
certainly proven a difficult season for us.'
Nobody would deny that it's been a dramatic season in west London.
After replacing the outgoing Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas was
dismissed at the beginning of March, following a dreadful sequence of
results which saw our title assault collapse and our Champions League
aspirations hanging by a thread.
Di Matteo was tasked with replacing the Portuguese, and the former
Blues midfielder has turned things around dramatically by already
securing the FA Cup and bringing us to a mere 90 minutes away from
Champions League glory.
Unsurprisingly, the build-up to tomorrow's clash with Steve Kean's
side, who were relegated to the Championship last Monday following a 1-0
home defeat against Wigan Athletic, has been dominated by talk of next
Saturday's clash with Bayern Munich in Germany, and the interim first
team coach admits he is leaving no stone unturned in preparation for
what is arguably the biggest game in the club's history.
'All the time I have, I will dedicate myself to preparation for
Bayern Munich,' he says. 'I watch many games, I will go and watch them
on Saturday night in the German Cup Final and analyse their patterns of
play.
'I've seen them play before, I saw the two semi-finals and also
watched them in the group stages. I know the game is in Munich but the
stadium will be split; it's a one-off game, we know how they can play,
I've seen them play away and at home, so we'll see.'
The last couple of months, ever since Di Matteo was handed the reins,
have been a whirlwind of crucial matches virtually every three days, as
we've attempted to battle successfully across three fronts.
Regardless of what happens in Munich, Di Matteo has emerged from the
second half of the season with a great deal of credit for the way in
which he he's steadied a ship that was veering way off course at one
point.
With every impressive result, the calls for Di Matteo to be handed
the role on a permanent basis gather momentum. Supporters have made
their feelings abundantly clear in recent weeks as to what they believe
should be the next step, but the man himself is simply taking it game by
game.
'At the moment I'm not thinking about that, when it's the right time
to think about those issues or decisions I'll do that,' he says.
'At the end of the season, or after the last game, the people at the
club will sit down together and make the right decisions for the future
of the club. Those decisions will involve what changes they want to
make, technical staff, players, but it's not something to discuss now.
'Everyone knows the type of games we've played over the last few
weeks; we've had some big emotions, but there's another game after this
one. I've always said that whenever I come back to Stamford Bridge it
will be a great feeling.'
