Shuffle: Roberto Di Matteo is considering shuffling his
pack
Wednesday, 21 March
2012
Time: 3:45 am - (Live) (Thur
Morning)
Mio Channel 102 in HD
Roberto Di Matteo has revealed he would consider
changing Chelsea's formation to partner Didier Drogba with Fernando
Torres.
Torres has given Di Matteo a selection headache for
Wednesday's Barclays Premier League game at Manchester City after
finally breaking his long goalscoring drought in Sunday's FA Cup
thrashing of Leicester.
Drogba is still expected to get the nod at the Etihad
Stadium tomorrow but caretaker manager Di Matteo has not ruled out
pairing Torres with the Ivorian in future.
The duo failed to perform in tandem under Carlo Ancelotti
last season, while Andre Villas-Boas did not even try to do so,
always preferring to start with a lone striker.
But Di Matteo was adamant Drogba and Torres could play
together.
Asked if he would change the system to accommodate both,
he said: 'If the game requires it, yes.
'We tried it in the Napoli game.'
Di Matteo, whose four games in charge have seen him use a
4-2-3-1 formation, welcomed the selection dilemma.
'It's great for this football club, isn't it?' he
said.
'To have that firepower in the team, it's fantastic. And
we will try to do our best to try to exploit the good form of
both.
'It's going to be tough on anybody I leave out.
'We have a fantastic squad and it hurts to leave players
out of that calibre. It's really difficult.
'I can only field 11 positions and the ones on the
bench.'
Daniel Sturridge also covets the centre-forward role at
Chelsea and appeared reluctant to pass to Torres from his position
out on the wing on Sunday.
Di Matteo said: 'I wouldn't think it's difficult to play
for the team.
'Every player has to put his individual qualities within
the team for the benefit of the team.'
He added: 'We forget that he's a very young player, a very
young man, and really this is his first full season with his
club.
'He's still developing if you think about it for his age
and how many games he's played.
Rested: Didier Drogba missed the cup game but is also
in fine form
At last: Fernando Torres bagged a brace against
Leicester
'There is certainly some incredible talent that
you can improve and he can make the team help and win more
games.
'I think he could play down the centre.He has the ability
to play in both positions.'
Meanwhile, Di Matteo was confident captain John Terry
would be fit for the rest of Chelsea's nightmare schedule of
matches after ruling him out of Wednesday's game.
Terry has been struggling with a calf strain since his
second outing after his remarkable comeback from knee
surgery.
Di Matteo said: 'He did very well to come back from his
operation and he's then played two games in a very short period of
time, very intense games as well.
"He's fine for Saturday.'
