Roberto Di Matteo

[AntrimBlack]

On 16/07/2016 at 20:41, terrytini said:

I haven't been able to see a quote where this is said ?  If true I would say it is far more than worrying.......it would mean we've been sold a crock of s###.

Someone please confirm its not been said !!

I can confirm it has not been said.

[AntrimBlack]

On 16/07/2016 at 21:11, Gary Thomas said:

I think it was Tuesday Xia posted “Hopefully we will complete the strengthened spine in two weeks! Creative midfielder and powerful strikers with bullets loaded." (link) and RDM said “Ideally I’m looking to go into the week leading up to the first game with roughly the group I would like to be working with for the season” (link). So that suggests we don't have to sell in to buy say a goal scorer (priority).  But today villa_southerner (who seems ITK) said "there's nothing close, Bamford is high on the list but there needs to be outs before ins.".  So who knows, but if Tony and RDM want to deliver on what they said they need to get their fingers out in the next couple of weeks.

v_s has been on it a couple of times, but in this instance Bamford has been ruled out as per Pat Murphy and the `outs before ins' bits was later admitted to be incorrectly interpreted.

[Gary Thomas]

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jul/18/roberto-di-matteo-aston-villa-house-needed-knocked-down

Quote

Roberto Di Matteo calls Aston Villa ‘a house that needed to be knocked down'

• Villa manager believes complete reconstruction of club required
• Di Matteo admits players are scarred by relegation to the Championship

The situation at Aston Villa was so wretched following their recent relegation that Roberto Di Matteo has admitted he felt the need to demolish the entire house and begin a complete reconstruction of the 142-year-old club. Speaking to the Guardian in Beijing, where he is accompanying Villa’s new Chinese owner on a three-day visit, the former Chelsea manager said he was determined to rebuild the Birmingham club from the foundation up so that it can bounce back into the Premier League within two years. “[It was] a house that needed to be knocked down and start afresh,” Di Matteo said of his first impressions after taking over at Villa Park last month. “That’s so far what I have seen.” But the manager conceded that escaping the Championship, which he compared to a gruelling marathon, would not be easy. “You have to kind of sustain a level of performance in the Championship to be able to come out of it at the end of the season.”Di Matteo took over the club last month after the Chinese tycoon Tony Xia bought Villa for a reported £75m. In one of his first interviews after the purchase, Xia said he would transform the relegated club into one of the world’s top sides in less than a decade. “Forget the past and think we are going to enter into a new age,” he told fans. Aston Villa’s chief executive, Keith Wyness, trumpeted similarly ambitious goals on Monday at a media event in Beijing designed to promote Aston Villa to Chinese fans. Wyness told Chinese journalists the club’s leadership was set on building a “great football dynasty” under Di Matteo and wanted to make Villa one of the most popular European clubs in China. “The lion has been asleep for the last four or five years and we want to be sure with Roberto and his team that we wake the lion,” he said. “Under Roberto we have a very, very talented, very bright manager and we want to establish a style of play that Roberto can give the squad,” added Wyness, Everton’s former chief executive. “Every great football dynasty starts with a definitive style of play and we want to develop our own Villa style as we go forward.”

Di Matteo was more cautious. He described Leicester City’s historic Premier League title, which came only two years after the club’s promotion, as a “unique story” that Villa should not expect to replicate. Instead, the Italian manager said he hoped the club could be “competitive” in its first season in the Championship after bringing in the Bournemouth defender Tommy Elphick, the Italian goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini and the Reading midfielder Aaron Tshibola. “By signing three new players, we have already identified players that we believe will help us guide the team into a very challenging season.” Di Matteo said he still wanted to “trim” his squad but hinted he had not yet given up on all of last year’s underperforming senior players such as Gabriel Agbonlahor. “I don’t think it is fair to judge people just on what happened in the last 12 months.” Asked how many players he would seek to bring in before the club’s season kicks off on 7 August, the Villa manager said: “I don’t want to put it into numbers. I’m certainly looking to freshen up the squad … [but] I don’t know if it is one more, three more or four more.” Di Matteo did not rule out importing Chinese players from the Middle Kingdom to the West Midlands now Aston Villa are in Chinese hands. “Obviously if there is a Chinese player that has the quality and the ability we will certainly be looking to recruit. [But] I think the main focus is to get promoted with Aston Villa. That is the main focus of the chairman, the owner and everyone involved in the club.” The former Lazio and Chelsea midfielder said one of his greatest challenges at Villa Park would be restoring confidence to the players after one of the club’s most catastrophic seasons. “Obviously it had an effect on the players,” he said. “It scarred them a little bit what they experienced last season. A lot of them probably had their worst experience in football terms last season and it’s something they will have to overcome.” However, Di Matteo said he was not yet losing sleep over the scale of the task. “So far I have had very good nights’ sleep,” he said, adding: “I’m generally an optimistic person.”

 

Edited July 18, 2016 by Gary Thomas

[Demitri_C]

2 minutes ago, Gary Thomas said:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jul/18/roberto-di-matteo-aston-villa-house-needed-knocked-down

 

Doesnt sound too promising with the whole "scarred from relegation talk"

I think if these players cant get over what happened they should leave the club. Forget what happened whats done is done, I want to hear that they are fighting and willing to make it right again. 

[Richard]

A few things from that very worrying article.  Well worrying for me no doubt others will disagree

1. A  house that needed to be rebuilt ? so far all you've done is bought some soft furnishings.  No demolition,  no rebuild in evidence

2. can bounce back into the Premier League within two years - all the previous noises were aiming for bouncing back next season so two years is a subtle change and perhaps realisation that there is too much work to do.  To be honest i didnt expect it next season at all anyway but even so its a realignment of expectations

3. To say we shouldnt just base it on the last 12 months,  sorry chap but people like Gabby have been shit for longer than 12 months and apart from the players signed last season you could say the same for most of them. Guzan, Clark, Baker etc .  If you are saying dont just look at the last 12 months then that means all players igned last summer get another chance,  the rest can do one

[Butterfingers]

3 minutes ago, Richard said:

A few things from that very worrying article.  Well worrying for me no doubt others will disagree

1. A  house that needed to be rebuilt ? so far all you've done is bought some soft furnishings.  No demolition,  no rebuild in evidence

2. can bounce back into the Premier League within two years - all the previous noises were aiming for bouncing back next season so two years is a subtle change and perhaps realisation that there is too much work to do.  To be honest i didnt expect it next season at all anyway but even so its a realignment of expectations

3. To say we shouldnt just base it on the last 12 months,  sorry chap but people like Gabby have been shit for longer than 12 months and apart from the players signed last season you could say the same for most of them. Guzan, Clark, Baker etc .  If you are saying dont just look at the last 12 months then that means all players igned last summer get another chance,  the rest can do one

1. They've only been back training around 2 weeks-It will cost millions upon millions to simply pay off contracts-Surely you agree it's better to try to find buyers for players? Besides, he wants to evaluate players first, which seems perfectly sensible and the right thing to do.

2. I don't think many on VT were expecting us to bounce back in 12 months as the season drew to a close in May-Most were more concerned about being in another relegation battle next season. We are aiming at bouncing back straight away, which is testament to the ambition that the new regime have bought-It is not guaranteed though and the target is within 2 years. Nothing wrong with that.

3. He has stated that he thinks a complete rebuild is required. He still wants the opportunity to assess the squad to see if attitudes and ability are right in certain players-Nothing wrong with that.

I don't see it as a worrying article-It makes perfect sense to me.

[Stevo985]

The article makes it sound like we have a very ambitious board and a slightly more restrained and pragmatic manager.

Not a bad combination as long as the board aren't impatient.

I'm not worried. I think we have a chance of promotion this season, although I wouldn't say it was a huge chance.

[BOF]

Looking to get promoted within 2 years does not preclude getting promoted in 1.  Giving themselves the leverage of 1 extra year, considering the task, just means knob ends don't come chasing them with quotes if we fall short this season - "Yeah but you said...".  As for a house that needs to be rebuilt.  Again, these are just metaphors and quotes for a media.  Trying to take a soundbite like that and somehow quantify it into something meaningful on the ground is an exercise in futility.  He has a big job on his hands.  He knows that and we know that.  Let's see how he gets on with it.

[bobzy]

Nothing worries me about that article at all - in fact, it's rather sensible.

Indicates we want to get rid of players but each of them will be assessed by Di Matteo first.  Indicates he wants to bring more players in but the amount will depend on how many he wants out.  I like it.

[Gary Thomas]

I am sure RDM is quietly determined to get us promoted this year but he is alleviating pressure (on him and his players) by lowering expectations.  Better to set expectations low and over-achieve than promise the earth and fall short.  I think the business done at the end of the window will tell their own story regarding our ambitions and intentions.

 

 

[Daweii]

44 minutes ago, Richard said:

A few things from that very worrying article.  Well worrying for me no doubt others will disagree

1. A  house that needed to be rebuilt ? so far all you've done is bought some soft furnishings.  No demolition,  no rebuild in evidence

We rebuilt last season and arguably did too much too soon. Yes there were lots of things wrong with last season from poor managers, to poor pre-season and a culmination of that was a poor season. Our issue though was we basically signed an entirely new first-team last season and it was too much in such a short span of time. In an ideal world I would love Xia to come in and spend £50 million just buying out the contracts of every player we don't want, but that would then put us in risk of having a completely new squad that needs time to gel just not gelling in time. 

So as much as we need to rebuild it may be wise to buy the new sofa, the new coffee table and the new TV now and merely move them all into the newly built house when it's ready, than scrap everything at once and hope it all works out. We need to take this slow and that is likely why the time frame of one year has shifted to two years. We will try our hardest to get up in one but it will require a lot of players on low confidence coming good again, so it's a hit or miss approach.

[Barney_avfc]

(VIDEO) http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/10505158/rdm-ready-for-tough-challenge

Aston Villa manager Roberto di Matteo talks about the up and coming Championship season.

[Butterfingers]

36 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

The article makes it sound like we have a very ambitious board and a slightly more restrained and pragmatic manager.

Not a bad combination as long as the board aren't impatient.

I'm not worried. I think we have a chance of promotion this season, although I wouldn't say it was a huge chance.

I think we will be in the top 6, which in my eyes is a huge chance. We probably have half a dozen stand out championship standard players, assuming we can keep hold of them. The press reports linking us to strikers have been very encouraging. I'd be more than happy with one or even two from that list. A few players moving out will see space for better replacements as well.

[Gary Thomas]

7 minutes ago, Barney_avfc said:

(VIDEO) http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/10505158/rdm-ready-for-tough-challenge

Aston Villa manager Roberto di Matteo talks about the up and coming Championship season.

Well plenty of emphasis on promotion this year!

[a m ole]

There's nothing more in the article than the manager saying that last year must have been tough for them. A little overdramatic to be 'really worried' by it.

[terrytini]

1 hour ago, a m ole said:

There's nothing more in the article than the manager saying that last year must have been tough for them. A little overdramatic to be 'really worried' by it.

I would say some of it is debatable as to whether it is of concern or not, but I'm staggered any fan is not upset by his statement that "it isn't fair to judge players on just the last 12 months "

Why isn't it ?!!  It was, Roberto, a pretty poor 12 months !! In fact, it doesn't get worse.  Why on Earth Wouldn't you judge them on that ?  12 months ! Not 12 games....I think, if that is really his view, it is deeply troubling, and no amount of desire to be happy (which I have in abundance) can alter that.

Secondly, who says 12 months ?  The players (we all now who) have in some cases been poor for longer than that, either here or at previous Clubs.

I would allow a little bit for the odd player who may have just got worn down/out by it, but there are some who, right from the off, were a big part in the problem !  So how can they possibly blame external people/circumstances/ and be considered part of the solution ?

My slowly forming feelings of disquiet are increased by this.  I genuinely think all the signs are that he will play the majority of them, he has virtually said so.  Now why, if money is really no object, would any Manager do that ?  To me it would seem that it would have to be because he really thinks he cannot buy better than Richards, Lescott, Gabby, etc.

And that would only be because he thinks they are that good (!) or because there isn't the money.  I don't think it is too soon to have those fears (that's all they are at present)based on what has been said.

[bobzy]

2 minutes ago, terrytini said:

I would say some of it is debatable as to whether it is of concern or not, but I'm staggered any fan is not upset by his statement that "it isn't fair to judge players on just the last 12 months "

Why isn't it ?!!  It was, Roberto, a pretty poor 12 months !! In fact, it doesn't get worse.  Why on Earth Wouldn't you judge them on that ?  12 months ! Not 12 games....I think, if that is really his view, it is deeply troubling, and no amount of desire to be happy (which I have in abundance) can alter that.

Secondly, who says 12 months ?  The players (we all now who) have in some cases been poor for longer than that, either here or at previous Clubs.

I would allow a little bit for the odd player who may have just got worn down/out by it, but there are some who, right from the off, were a big part in the problem !  So how can they possibly blame external people/circumstances/ and be considered part of the solution ?

My slowly forming feelings of disquiet are increased by this.  I genuinely think all the signs are that he will play the majority of them, he has virtually said so.  Now why, if money is really no object, would any Manager do that ?  To me it would seem that it would have to be because he really thinks he cannot buy better than Richards, Lescott, Gabby, etc.

And that would only be because he thinks they are that good (!) or because there isn't the money.  I don't think it is too soon to have those fears (that's all they are at present)based on what has been said.

It's just a manager keeping players onside and trying to get the most out of them.

If he'd gone to the press and said "the problem is all of the players who played in the last 12 months; we need to get rid of them all" he's hardly going to get decent performances from them at the start of the season, is he?

As per usual, people reading far too much into press articles.  Let's at least wait until a few games into the season before deciding we should be upset at things, eh?!

 

[terrytini]

3 hours ago, Daweii said:

We rebuilt last season and arguably did too much too soon. Yes there were lots of things wrong with last season from poor managers, to poor pre-season and a culmination of that was a poor season. Our issue though was we basically signed an entirely new first-team last season and it was too much in such a short span of time. In an ideal world I would love Xia to come in and spend £50 million just buying out the contracts of every player we don't want, but that would then put us in risk of having a completely new squad that needs time to gel just not gelling in time. 

So as much as we need to rebuild it may be wise to buy the new sofa, the new coffee table and the new TV now and merely move them all into the newly built house when it's ready, than scrap everything at once and hope it all works out. We need to take this slow and that is likely why the time frame of one year has shifted to two years. We will try our hardest to get up in one but it will require a lot of players on low confidence coming good again, so it's a hit or miss approach.

Surely just getting rid of the minimum 4/5 players most feel should go wouldn't mean that, it would just mean they had gone.  By your logic they would presumably play ? (Sorry if I have misunderstood).

Why would we want that ?

[Richard]

7 minutes ago, terrytini said:

I would say some of it is debatable as to whether it is of concern or not, but I'm staggered any fan is not upset by his statement that "it isn't fair to judge players on just the last 12 months "

Why isn't it ?!!  It was, Roberto, a pretty poor 12 months !! In fact, it doesn't get worse.  Why on Earth Wouldn't you judge them on that ?  12 months ! Not 12 games....I think, if that is really his view, it is deeply troubling, and no amount of desire to be happy (which I have in abundance) can alter that.

Secondly, who says 12 months ?  The players (we all now who) have in some cases been poor for longer than that, either here or at previous Clubs.

I would allow a little bit for the odd player who may have just got worn down/out by it, but there are some who, right from the off, were a big part in the problem !  So how can they possibly blame external people/circumstances/ and be considered part of the solution ?

My slowly forming feelings of disquiet are increased by this.  I genuinely think all the signs are that he will play the majority of them, he has virtually said so.  Now why, if money is really no object, would any Manager do that ?  To me it would seem that it would have to be because he really thinks he cannot buy better than Richards, Lescott, Gabby, etc.

And that would only be because he thinks they are that good (!) or because there isn't the money.  I don't think it is too soon to have those fears (that's all they are at present)based on what has been said.

Have yourself a thousand likes

[terrytini]

Just now, bobzy said:

It's just a manager keeping players onside and trying to get the most out of them.

If he'd gone to the press and said "the problem is all of the players who played in the last 12 months; we need to get rid of them all" he's hardly going to get decent performances from them at the start of the season, is he?

As per usual, people reading far too much into press articles.  Let's at least wait until a few games into the season before deciding we should be upset at things, eh?!

 

Nobody is suggesting he does that.

If I am one of the 'people reading far too much into an article' I profoundly disagree with you.  I haven't 'read' anything inot it.  I think he is wrong in his view that players can't be judged on the last 12 months.  I think they can, and I want our Manager to say so. I don't want him to 'keep them onside' I want them gone.  I am genuinely staggered that there is now a view that he might 'get the best out of them'.  I want him to say "certain experienced players failed in a variety of ways to contribute last season, so we have ripped their contracts up".

I know new Managers get (and probably deserve) a honeymoon period but it is only a few weeks ago Villa Park was toxic, and for all his faults that wasn't Lerners doing , it was the players.