CHELSEA can use the Carling Cup as a springboard for a new manager in the way they did in 1998, according to assistant boss Roberto Di
Matteo.
Andre Villas-Boas is committed to blooding his younger fringe players in this year's competition, and will do the same tomorrow night against Liverpool in a quarter-final at the Bridge.
But he would dearly love to land his first major trophy at the club to effectively announce his arrival, in the way Gianluca Vialli did 13 years ago, when Di Matteo was in his pomp.
“Winning the cup then gave the team a real belief and momentum,” said the Italian.
“It's two completely different situations then and now, but it gave the team a real positive effect to go on and win the Cup Winners Cup and finish the season well.
“From our first game in the Carling Cup this season, we set out [thinking] it's a trophy to win and I think we've shown that in the previous games we've played.
“We are looking forward to trying to win this competition - it can create very positive momentum if you win a trophy in that part of the season. We're going to go into the game with the belief that we can reach the semi-finals.”
Villas-Boas will be without John Terry, whose booking late on against Wolves for time wasting means he is suspended for a game, while Raul
Meireles is cup-tied.
But in any case, Terry would probably have been rested anyway. Not that the club would admit their skipper deliberately invoked the yellow card.
Di Matteo says the game will again be a good opportunity for players who have not been able to get into the first team on a regular basis.
“It has been difficult for the young ones, but the philosophy in the Carling Cup has been, from day one, that the manager was going to give
these young players a chance and we will keep going like that,” he said.
“Players like Romelu Lukaku knew it wasn't going to be easy just to walk into the team, so he just has to keep working hard and when he
gets an opportunity, to show he wants to be in the team and deserves to be in the team. Josh McEachran too is definitely the future of this
club.
“We go into the game feeling good. It was important to get back to winning on Saturday and putting a solid performance in and I thought
it was a perfect afternoon for us in terms of performance and the goals that we scored. We played very well and we kept a clean sheet.”
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