Why Roberto Di Matteo Is The Next Pep Guardiola?

The next Guardiola in the making.....

Irrespective of what happens in RDM's tenure over the next two years, RDM will go down in our history books as one of our most successful managers.And that is simply because he was the first Chelsea manager ever to win the Champions League.The fact that he is a Chelsea legend as a player makes it all the more special. So how does RDM qualify as the next Pep Guardoila ?What I write henceforth is just a hypothesis, it may be proved wrong but it has more chances of being correct than wrong.

The world knows what Guardiola did at Barcelona...

When Pep took over Barcelona, he had inherited a de-moralised team which was being utterly dominated by Real Madrid. The team was always finishing second best to Madrid.And it looked like Barca would never be able to turn the tables on Madrid. Enter Pep. Pep was a Barca legend. And he was a midfielder too. The board trusted him.Why ? Simple because he knew the club inside out and understood what the club wanted and what it stands for. The next 3-4 years, we all know what happened.Barcelona today are widely considered to be the best team in the world and Madrid struggle against them. Yes, Madrid won the league, but that was after a gap of 4 years.
And unless Madrid continue it, it'll be just a flash in the pan and Barca will dominate again.

Now take RDM's situation. I am sure you all would have started seeing  the similarities already.
RDM took over Chelsea at a time when we were lost. We had no direction, we had no formation. We had lost the will to play. We had lost the will to fight.Pride was lost and the season was heading for dooms-day. AVB resembled a harrassed person. One who had lost all control and respect of the dressing room. And his philosophy wasn't working.After endless poor results, and that 3-1 defeat in Napoli, It was clear that something had to be done and so AVB left.Enter RDM. THe club legend. The guy who understood the club ideals. The guy who knew exactly what the club wanted. Oh, not to mention, he was a midfielder too (*wink*).

Cool,calm and composed that's how he did things.

He identified the areas where the club faced problems. There have been endless articles on what RDM has done, so I won't repeat them. You already know that.So, he identified the problems and solved them. Her didn't do anything extra-ordinary. He kept it simple.Here's one proof. This one's from King Drogba yesterday only :


" When we were about to play against Barcelona, we watched a lot of video. We knew we were playing the best team in the world.So for us playing this game, especially when we came from Napoli and we should have been out a long time ago, we were lucky to be there but we played hard as well.  So when we watched the video, the manager wasn't showing Messi. At the end, you could see the important players. The ones who scored and created assists, the most consistent guys. With Messi, he just said that he had 61 goals. We all started laughing. We knew we were in for a difficult night but we did our best."

See ? RDM understands the basics of football. He knows how to strike a chord with the players. He won't take drastic measures. He'll just keep it simple. And that's why the players love him.

One more plus point about RDM is that he's highly intelligent. He and Hiddink have been the only two managers post-Roman era who have been sane enough not to challenge Roman's authority.
A GOOD manager is the one who cries for the resources he REQUIRES annd gets the job done, like he should.


A GREAT manager is the one who UTILIZES the resources AVALILABLE with him, however insufficient they may be and still gets the job done.RDM falls in the second bracket manager. So does Pep.If you look at Pep's signings, they have been terrible. Ibramovich, Hleb, Afellay and many others have been duds. But then how has he been successful ?He's used the talent the club already possessed and brought out the best in them.And that's exactly what RDM is doing. I am sure everyone is understanding what I am trying to point out.

Let's hope Robbie takes Chelsea to a whole new level and stays with us for years to come....

RDM has got a contract for 2 years now. So lets see what all can he do in the next 2 years.
One thing is for certain, the old players like Terry, Cech and Lampard will continue to give 200% for RDM and Chelsea. RDM himself is a legend and he knows how to treat legends.So when he has the senior player's support, he'll have control over the dressing room.Players already respect him. The new players will respect him too not only because that he's a UCL winning manager but because also as a manager he's extremely humble and as we all know he's a master of man management.

Everything is in place for RDM to do at Chelsea what Pep did at Barca. We have financial resources. He's inherited a great team and more players are enroute.We got awesome youth. We got a great owner. We got great fans. We all love RDM. The players love RDM.All in all, without repeating what has alreadly been said in many articles, I think RDM could be our Pep Gaurdiola. I hope he is.

#KTBFFH

-RR2 (Chelsea360)

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Our Best Champions League Matches of the Season

Today we recap some of the most amazing matches of last season as the BLUES marched on and became European Champions....

No one except Chelsea fans believed it was possible. That is why, when we finally won the Champions League on May 19th 2012, Chelsea fans were beyond jubilant. Our tireless faith had paid off, & we became Champions of Europe for the 1st time in our history.The win wasn't a "fluke", by any means. The team worked extremely hard to win the trophy. We may not have had the best team in the tournament, but our desire & never-say-die attitude eventually came through. Let us now take a look at the 5 best matches we played in the Champions League:-

Chelsea celebrating the 3rd goal vs. Valencia

1) Chelsea vs. Valencia, December 6th 2011- I believe this match was the turning point for us in our Champions League campaign. Chelsea had to win this match in order to qualify for the knock-out stages, but that was easier said than done. Results weren't exactly going our way, & there were rumours of dressing-room unrest between the players & the manager. The performance that we saw was nothing less than magnificent. The team played mostly on the counter, allowing Valencia to play their game. The tactic worked wonders. Didier Drogba chose that night to show Chelsea that he still had it, producing a fine performance that included 2 goals & 1 assist. Chelsea won the game 3-0, & that match was the moment that Chelsea fans realized that this could be our year.

Ivanovic (right) after scoring the winner

2) Chelsea vs. Napoli, March 14th 2012- 3-1 down after the first leg. Andre Villas-Boas sacked. Club in total disarray. No one expected us to make the quarter-finals. The match started, & Didier Drogba proved his love for the big stage once again by putting Chelsea ahead. Later, John Terry scored from a corner to make it 2-0. This scoreline was enough to see us through. But Napoli pulled one back. 2-1. Now Chelsea needed 2 goals to go through. When fans were beginning to lose hope, a penalty was awarded to Chelsea for handball. Frank Lampard stepped up, & showed us all exactly why we call him Super Frank. Into extra-time, & Fernando Torres, who had come on as a sub, missed a chance to put us ahead. But it didn't prove too costly as Ivanovic scored what was to be the winner. Chelsea won 5-4 on aggregate & were through to the quarters, against all odds.

Drogba scoring the only goal of the match

3) Chelsea vs. Barcelona, April 18th 2012- The first leg of what promised to be an interesting and intense semi-final. The match had special significance for Chelsea fans after what had happened the last time these 2 teams clashed at Stamford Bridge. As was expected, Barcelona had most of the possession, but that was exactly what Chelsea wanted. On what seemed to be our first chance to break, Didier Drogba (who else?) scored right before half-time. Barcelona came out all guns blazing in the 2nd half, but nothing they did seemed to break down a stubborn Chelsea defence. Chelsea went into the 2nd leg at the Camp Nou with a lead to protect, albeit a slender one.

Torres scoring in injury-time

4) Barcelona vs. Chelsea, April 24th 2012- The second leg of the semi-final. Chelsea had a 1-0 lead after the 1st leg, but that lead quickly disappeared when Sergio Busquets found the back of the net in the 35th minute. Minutes later, John Terry was given a straight red card for a foul on Alexis Sanchez. Iniesta then doubled their lead in the 43rd minute, & it appeared to be all but over for Chelsea. However, a delightful chip by Ramires made the score 2-1, & suddenly the tie was back in our favour. The next half was spent mostly trying to defend our slender advantage. There were some scary moments, like the penalty Drogba conceded. But Lionel Messi failed to convert the effort, & Chelsea kept digging deep, simply refusing to yield. Then, in injury time, a Barcelona attack was cleared down-field, & the ball found substitute striker Fernando Torres, who was clean through with only the keeper to beat. He went around Valdes & calmly slotted home, hence ending any hopes Barca may have had of beating us. Chelsea were through to the finals.

Drogba scoring the winning penalty

5) Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich, May 19th 2012- A day Chelsea fans will never forget for as long as we live (we'll even remember it in our afterlife). This was the day we'd all been waiting for; the finals. Bayern Munich had most of the chances throughout the game, but only scored in the 83rd minute through Thomas Muller. Normally that 1 goal would have sufficed, but Chelsea's stubbornness to let go of the Champions League shone through & Drogba managed to equalize in the 89th minute. Enter extra-time. Bayern had a penalty given to them after Drogba fouled Ribery inside the box, but Robben's kick was poor, & Cech saved. Extra-time finished, & it was down to penalties. Lahm scored Bayern's 1st kick, but Mata's penalty was saved. Cech was in sublime form though, & saved the penalty of Ivica Olic, before Schweinsteiger hit the post. The score was 3-3, & up stepped Didier Drogba. With amazing calm, he slotted home. Chelsea became Champions of Europe.  

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Ireland Coach- We Can Use The Chelsea Way

Teams around the world are taking inspiration from The Chelsea Way

The Euros now up and running the group stages are soon going to end and some vital fixtures are yet to take place. In the wake of Spain's clash with Ireland, Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has taken inspiration from Chelsea's victory over Barcelona and in Munich as they face Spain.

A report on Sky Sports UK read-

Ireland coach Giovanni isn't ruling his sides chances against World Champions Spain

The Blues shocked the footballing world when they overcame the then European champions in their UEFA Champions League semi-final.

"Nobody gave Chelsea any hope when they played Barcelona he said.

And Trapattoni feels Ireland can take heart from Chelsea'sunexpected win as they face Spain knowing defeat would knock them out after they lost their opening match to Croatia.

"Every game in this Euro could be a surprise. We have to believe this," said the Italian.

"We know how difficult this is going to be because Spain are the world champions and they have very big players.

"But nobody gave Chelsea any hope when they played Barcelona.

"In the Champions League Final nobody thought Chelsea would do it. They had four or five players missing.

People wrote the BLUES off pretty early, only for CFC to prove the doubters wrong.

"Bayern Munich had 17 corners to Chelsea's one but Chelsea won.

"That is football, anything is possible."


The way the Blues countered Barcelona's tiki taka and Bayern's attacking football with their ultra defensive tactics shocked millions of people worldwide and made their jaws drop as well. The Chelsea Way is really a newly found way for some teams who don't use attack as their main strategy. The Chelsea Way is a newly found hope for millions of fans around the world in this case Ireland fans. 

All we can do is wish luck to Ireland and hope they use The Chelsea Way well.


Till then, KTBFFH as always .

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