FanPost

The Learning Robbie Di Matteo

1 Champions League trophy and 1 FA Cup in his only 2-3 months at Chelsea were probably the biggest achievements for Roberto Di Matteo. It was beyond our expectation (and probably himself and the board) to win such trophies after Chelsea sacked their manager. Also adding the fact that Chelsea were on the worst run in PL during Abramovich era, and subjectively I can tell you that it was the worst squad that Chelsea had since Abramovich took the club. But RDM still managed to win 2 prestigious trophies despite he was sacked by Wes Brom in previous season. Lucky?

No I don't think he's lucky to win that both. After strings of bad performances from AVB, he changed few crucial things and also gave a new perspective at our side. 4-2-3-1 being used more often, old guards made more appearances, Ramires and Berty on the wing, and the most important thing from him was his effort to bring back winning mentality to our side. One of them was the video motivation which was being told by Berty. I am totally amazed with how he worked on that. Oh wait, his future at that time was also unclear. With Pep Guardiola always linked to us after his (coward) resignation from Barcelona.

Some of our fans, including me, were still unsure whether he could bring us to successful years ahead. He's not pictured as good as Mourinho, Guardiola, and Ferguson. His defensive method was also raising questions from fans and media, as it wasn't the way which Roman expects.

This season, we're sitting on the top of the table so far. It's a good precedent but still we can't hide our concern over some problems (defeat against Atletico & City, draw vs QPha, poor result during pre-season, lack of strikers, Torres, etc). His decision to pick Berty (an LB) for an attacking winger was also worrying us. And this is probably the major factor why some fans still wanting Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho to take his seat. I just don't want that though.

I'm not here to defend Robbie but he extremely needs an extra support from the board, the players, the staffs, the fans, and the media. However, he's still a newbie manager whose never managed PL team in full season. He has a lot to prove yet has a lot to learn. And as far as it goes, I can see him learning. He's not naive with his own "philosophy" or his "project" yet he tries to give some players new position (Rami & Berty on the wing, Luiz on RB, remember?) and we have some new styles of play too. This point shows us that Robbie is trying new things but his lack of experience sometimes cost us.

Experimental

All those "learning" stuffs from Robbie seem experimental to Chelsea. But his appointment as assistant manager by AVB and as manager by Chelsea were experimental as well. This "experimental" thing worrying fans sometimes. But any of you remember that Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova were also experimental appointment by Barcelona? I'm not comparing Robbie with them and not comparing Chelsea with Barcelona. But Barcelonistas seem happy with the appointment of them without much-worrying about hiring big name managers, yet they always challenge for the title each season.

Back to Robbie again. So far, his experimental attributes caught in my eyes the most. As much as the season goes, his decision quite surprising us. Picking good players in wrong position is worrying us though, but I can accept it as to me, he's still learning. I can tell you that our style vs Stoke (which Cole and Brana didn't offer width) was also his decision so the full backs do the harm from center and not doing their usual job (play wide, take on, cross) since it will be difficult to win crosses against Stoke. To me, this is experimental yet brilliant tactics despite we did't win comfortably.

Chelsea fans surely love Robbie especially to those who follow Chelsea since late 90s or since long time ago. But some of us love him as a player and still doubting his quality as manager. What he gave to us last season probably the best history for any Chelsea manager but that's just not enough. Robbie has a lot to prove and I sure he'll do that for sure. His experimental on many things is a prove that he's learning to prove himself as top class manager. I believe that he'll be better than himself currently and I hope it soon, as Chelsea manager.

"A Full-time Learner Sometimes Better Than A Genious"

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