Nemanja Matic (R) in action for Chelsea
Midfielder Nemanja Matic wants fans of Chelsea Football Club not to lose hope on the team as they can still win at least a trophy this season.
Chelsea are having it rough this season as the reigning champions are no where near the top four on the English Premier League table.
Securing 30 points in 25 matches have left them 13th on the table, in what is no doubt a bad season for the club. The teams dismal performance this season has led to the sacking of loquacious Portuguese manager, Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho’s exit form the London club paved way for Dutch manager, Guus Hiddink who is in interim charge until the end of the season.
Since joining the club, Hiddink has managed to stop the London club from crashing down the table but he has not been able to steer them towards European places. In spite of this, Matic believes that if the players can sustain the momentum, hope is not lost for Chelsea this season.
“I think we are playing well and if you don’t lose in 11 games (under Hiddinks) that means something,” Matic told Chelsea’s official website in an interview published Saturday.
Over the course of the next nine days, the picture is likely to become a little clearer with regards to the Blues’ hopes of ending the season on a successful note.
Following Saturday’s Premier League game against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea travel to France to take on Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the first leg of UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie.
That fixture precedes next Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round home match against Manchester City, and with three matches to come across three separate competitions there is no getting away from the fact that, in the context of the season, it’s a huge period for the club.
“Of course we are not happy when we look at the league table but if you think about how we started the season and how we are playing now we have to be satisfied. The important thing is to continue like this and have more belief in our qualities.
“After going 1-0 down against Manchester United last week we recovered well to score a late equaliser which shows the spirit in the team, and between now and May we can win a lot of matches. We also have the Champions League and FA Cup coming up, so we can still achieve something this season,” Matic assures.
Since Hiddink took charge of the side in December with Matic starting seven of the 10 matches. In four of last five games he has been deployed alongside Nigerian star, John Mikel Obi with both Arsenal and Watford failing to breach the Chelsea backline and seldom looking like doing so, while Jesse Lingard’s goal for Manchester United last weekend owed much to the quality of the finish.
The manager has spoken about the Matic- Mikel pairing in recent weeks and explained why there is a lot more to the set-up than simply two defensive midfielders screening the back four.
“John is more defensive than me so the coach has given me more freedom than him to go further forward and help Cesc Fabregas and the other attacking players,” Matic explains.
“My position is defensive midfielder but I will do whatever it takes to help the team, so whatever the coach asks me to do I am happy with that.
“It’s great when you have good players to work with. I’m always happy to be part of such a big team, it doesn’t matter whether I play with Obi, Cesc or somebody else, they are all great players.
“We also have young Ruben Loftus-Cheek, he’s done very well when he’s played and he shows in training that he has the quality to have a big future at the club. I’m very happy with my team-mates,” said Matic.
Matic to Chelsea fans: We can still win something this season
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