Chelsea boss Di Matteo considers wholesale changes for Juventus clash

Roberto Di Matteo will lead his squad to Italy for Tuesday night’s game against Juventus considering wholesale changes, including potentially dropping striker Fernando Torres and adopting a more defensive approach, as Chelsea seek the draw that will keep their defence of the Champions League alive.

Defeat at the Hawthorns extended Chelsea’s winless league streak to four matches, with just two points from 12 since the fateful home defeat to Manchester United that ended in accusations of racial abuse against referee Mark Clattenburg.

It is a run of results that will trouble the club’s hierarchy and pressure on the manager will intensify if they do not return from Turin with at least a point. Five days later they host Manchester City at Stamford Bridge and another defeat would increase tensions.

With the Football Association to decide this week whether to charge Clattenburg or clear him, there is a growing sense that the next few days could set the tone for Chelsea’s season and define Di Matteo’s future.

The squad will travel with an angry dressing-room dissection of this defeat still ringing in their ears. Di Matteo and captain Petr Cech were left fuming by a performance from a team featuring a number of second-string players that leaves Chelsea four points off leaders Manchester City.

The exchanges were audible in the home dressing room and the tunnel, with Cech challenging his team-mates in industrial terms over the defensive errors and striking failings that cost them the game.

At the height of the exchanges the team were told by one player: “That’s f------ rubbish and you know it”.

David Luiz, an increasingly influential dressing room presence, confirmed that voices had been raised in defeat, but said it was “normal” for a team of Chelsea’s ambition.

“Of course, it is normal. This is a big club and in a big club you cannot lose games.”

Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay and technical director Michael Emanalo, a key ally of owner Roman Abramovich, were both in the vicinity of the changing room and witnessed the aftermath of the game.

Di Matteo has had to live with speculation about his future since succeeding Andre Villas-Boas eight months ago and, despite leading the club to the Champions League, it has intensified this season with Pep Guardiola taking a high-profile sabbatical from the game.

Failure in Turin will increase scrutiny from within Stamford Bridge, particularly if Di Matteo concedes that the more expansive style that has won admirers is not delivering results.

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Unlike Villas-Boas, who survived until March last season, Di Matteo inherited the role and then made himself unsackable, in the short-term at least, rather than being headhunted by Abramovich.

The Chelsea coach concedes he faces a major challenge in Turin: “Absolutely it is a challenging time when you don’t win games and you need to instil confidence in players and to the team and that is going to be a tough job.”

Saturday’s defeat took Chelsea’s goals conceded to 18 in the nine games since their last clean sheet, away to FC Nordsjaelland, and left Di Matteo openly considering a more conservative style as well as new personnel in pursuit of a victory.

The manager has stuck to a more progressive system than that which brought the Champions League to Stamford Bridge, but said he will change the balance to tackle the defensive frailties that let his team down again in Birmingham.

As well as greater defensive control, Di Matteo said he would consider dropping Torres, who endured another dismal afternoon at the Hawthorns, if it was in the team’s best interests.

Asked directly if he would drop the £50 million signing, Di Matteo said: “I think we will have to assess the whole team and see how everybody is, and how they have recovered.

"A lot of players have only come back [from international duty] yesterday or maybe Thursday afternoon from everywhere, from Europe and the rest of the world.

"We will assess them and see what the right selection is for Tuesday. [But] if I believe it is the right thing to do for the team, then yeah.

“I think as a team we have to be better defending, you don’t defend with one player, you defend with the whole team, like you want your whole team helping when you are attacking as well.

"It is a defensive organisation on the pitch that we need to look at and as I said maybe I have to do some changes.”

A more defensive approach is logical given that a draw in Turin will leave Chelsea favourites to progress to the knockout stage, but Di Matteo is not underestimating the challenge.

“Of course every game is massive and important, the club that we are we are looking to be always competing at the top and every defeat is a problem for us. But certainly Tuesday is going to be a massive game in the Champions League for us.”

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Source: Telegraph