"As a manager, you have to prepare your team as good as you can and then the players have to go on the pitch and perform."
Nobody has done that better than Ferguson in the last quarter of a century.
Di Matteo, who revealed the Scot had not made contact with him since he landed the Chelsea job, said: "He's at the top. He's a very successful manager and experienced manager.
"He's won many trophies. I think he's been fortunate as well to be able to work at a club where he's been able to be there such a long time. It doesn't happen these days too often."
It certainly does not happen at Chelsea, who are on their eighth manager in eight years under ruthless owner Roman Abramovich.
Asked if he would like to remain in charge at Stamford Bridge for a similar length of time, Di Matteo said with a wry smile: "That would be nice, yeah.
"If you win all the games, there's a good chance..."
That poses the question whether even Ferguson would have survived at Chelsea last season had he won nothing, as he did at United.
"Every club is different and every situation is different," Di Matteo added. "You cannot compare."
The Italian has already managed to outwit managerial greats such as Pep Guardiola, Jupp Heynckes and Arsene Wenger in his short time at Chelsea but Ferguson is arguably the biggest scalp of all.
But Di Matteo said: "I won't focus too much on that. I'll focus on my team and what we have to do to try to beat Man United and the way we have to approach the game tactically."
No comments:
Post a Comment