Roberto Di Matteo on a positive year for Albion
Friday 31st December 2010, 11:29AM GMT.
Albion head coach Roberto Di Matteo wants his players to banish the doubts as they prepare to tackle Manchester United tomorrow.
The Baggies take on the Premier League leaders weakened by suspension and by having their wings clipped in two holiday programme defeats to Bolton and Blackburn.
The setbacks have sucked the region’s leading top-flight team back towards the survival scrap at the foot of the table but Di Matteo is urging his players to focus on the positives of their first half of the season as they prepare for 2011.
“I look at it from the other side,” said Di Matteo when asked about Albion’s slide.
“People expected us to be at the bottom and we’ve never really been there. The positive side for us is that we’ve done well to be where we are.
“Apart from the last couple of weeks – which could have made 2010 a magnificent year – I think it’s been a good 12 months. We got promotion with record points, scored lots of goals, had a decent start in the Premier League, the best this club has seen and some incredible results.
“I’m a positive guy and that’s why we are where we are. We are a small fish in a big pond in the Premier League. I’m disappointed about the last two weeks but I can’t be too disappointed because my team have given me everything.
“They’ve given 100 per cent, we have a small squad but we will try to retain our top flight status.”
Albion have to shuffle their line-up tomorrow to cater for the suspensions of Gonzalo Jara and Gabriel Tamas at right-back. They have also been left sweating over the fitness of Paul Scharner, who missed training yesterday because of illness.
There were no clues from Di Matteo yesterday about who would fill the vacancies but Steven Reid is expected to step in at right-back and Pablo Ibanez in the centre.
He also has to decide how to accommodate the return of Chris Brunt from suspension with Somen Tchoyi tipped to drop to the bench.
Di Matteo is adamant his men will tackle the leaders with confidence. “We have a duty to go out confident of winning,” he said.
UK Sport
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We need goals, Tchoyi scores, Morrison doesn’t.
Just a couple of facts.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Jack, the best shot recently came from Morrison against Blackburn. It missed by inches and was doing 90mph on unleaded. It depends which team turns up for us tomorrow. I was panicking though when I read Scharner was ill. Let’s hope it was a pint of bad beer,
not flu. If it was bad beer, he’ll have to keep it tight at the back I think.
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Just read a very funny post on the Blackburn result thread from Dingle Dave. Surprise, surprise the thread closed after he posted his last telling us what a bigger club they are than us.
In answering Baggiebob and CR78′s posts he starts by saying ‘you may be above us but by the end of the season we will be above you. This follows his astoundingly accurate prediction at the start of the season that we would be bottom and relegated by Xmas.
He goes on to address their abysmal record against us. He actually admits it is poor but adds that this doesn’t mean they’re worse than us.
He follows this up with inevitable selectively sorted ‘FACTS’ IE more money, more trophies (if you include the Johnsons Paint or whatever it was called at the time) and bigger ground.
He’s still flogging the dead horse of calling us Steptoes, oh how that hurts deep inside, especially as he’s the only one doing it while the rest of the country now refers to them as Dingles.
Better still he’s declared that he’s more interested in ‘the Vile’ than us. Two things DD. 1. I wonder where you got that idea from????? ho ho. 2. If you’re really more interested in AV, why do you spend your life on our site yet never post on theirs?
After all these years I still miss the Morecambe and`Wise Christmas Show so thanks Dingle Dave for trying to fill the void. You’ve certainly given me a few chuckles.
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