Roberto Di Matteo admits Chelsea’s crunch Champions League clash against Juventus couldn’t have come at a worse time as they struggle with a crisis of confidence.
The Blues are joint top of Group E with Shakhtar Donetsk but are just a point above the Italian champions and travel to Turin knowing a loss could see them become the first European champions to fail to reach the knockout stages.
What’s worse for Di Matteo is that the club’s hit their first rut of the season having not won a league game in their past four outings. And the manager is well aware he faces a huge task in rallying his troops for tonight’s encounter.
“It is a challenging time when you don’t win games and you need to instill confidence in players,” the Chelsea boss said. “This club are always looking to be competing at the top and every defeat is a problem for us, so certainly Tuesday is going to be a massive game in the Champions League for us.”
The biggest area of concern for the Italian is at the back with Chelsea conceding 18 goals in just eight games. And Di Matteo added: “It is a defensive organisation on the pitch that we need to look at and, as I said before, maybe I have to do some changes.”
However, it’s not just in defence where he is looking to swing the axe. Star striker Fernando Torres’ head is also on the chopping block following another yet disappointing display in Saturday’s defeat to West Brom.
And Di Matteo said: “If I believe it is the right thing to do for the team, then yeah, I will leave him out.”
