http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 caretaker manager, has insisted the Blue’s failure to defeat Liverpool in the English Premier League could not be held responsible for failure to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
The Blues were in the position to make it to fourth spot with a win over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809, but with a much weaker side they were unable to do so. They are now at sixth place on the English Premier League table, behind fifth place Newcastle United.
If Chelsea are to secure a spot in the top four, they are to win their remaining two games and hope the top five sides slip up. That seems difficult considering the fact that Di Matteo will be saving his strongest side for the UEFA Champions League final.
However, Di Matteo claimed the loss against Liverpool was not to have too much bearing on their finish on the English Premier League table. He felt their performance over the entire season counted for the end result and too much importance should not be
given to the defeat to the Reds.
Di Matteo said in an interview:
“We have played 37 games in the Premier League and I don't think the points we lost here made the difference.
We have lost many points in the whole season. You need to be objective over 37 games.”
The Italian manager defended his decision to field a less stronger team than the one that had played Liverpool in the FA Cup final. Di Matteo revealed he had selected the side with belief they would be refreshed and would put in a good performance since
they had not been playing in the important fixtures.
He continued:
“By utilising the strength we had I thought we would be able to reach the final and still have a chance (of the top four) with two games to go.
But you know how demanding it has been for us - we have played every three days in the last eight weeks - and I thought I thought a team which was energetic and fresh mentally would give us a chance.”
Tags: