FA Cup / Ralph Ellis / 16 April 2012 /

Ralph Ellis considers the reasons why Roberto Di Matteo is proving a huge success at Chelsea just a year after being dumped on the managerial scrapheap...

You can have an army of analysts, physios, medicos, psychologists. You can equip them with cameras, computers and cutting edge software. But when it comes to the crunch, managing a football team remains an art and not a science.

Ultimately it is all about the fit of the leader to his club, the little bit of chemistry that sparks and inspires players to fit together and bring out their best.

How else do you explain Roberto Di Matteo's stunning success in a few weeks in charge of Chelsea? A year ago, he was in the eyes of most a failed manager at West Brom. Sacked mid-season, the conclusion was that while he'd delivered success at lower levels he couldn't cut it in the heights of the Barclays Premier League.

Watching him do his little smiling jig on the Wembley touchline yesterday told a different tale. Di Matteo has stepped up in the toughest arena of all after the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas and proved himself a proper Premier boss.

He's found the way to juggle the big players who all think they should star in every game. He's tapped into the passion for the club that John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba still possess. And he's not done so badly with his tactics either, subtly adjusting the side here and there for different opponents.

But then when you think about Di Matteo's background in management, he's had success when, at whatever level, he's been in charge of the best players. At MK Dons he was two points from winning automatic promotion from League One, working with a squad who were among the best in their division. In his first year at Albion he took the second best squad in the Championship into second place. Now at Chelsea he has top players again and he clearly knows how to turn them on.

Chelsea are [1.74] favourites to win the FA Cup, and now comes Di Matteo's ultimate test in the Champions League semi-finals against Barcelona. They are a tempting [5.2] to score a home win on Wednesday in the first leg , and it's not just the way Di Matteo's luck is running that suddenly makes that look attractive.

It's easy to dismiss yesterday's FA Cup semi-final win as being down to the ghost goal. But Chelsea were earning that bit of luck by having ridden out Tottenham's best first-half spell and then producing some pressure of their own.

If Di Matteo has the chemistry for Chelsea, then for all his difficulties at Anfield this season it's hard not to think that Kenny Dalglish retains a bit of magic where Liverpool are concerned. Andy Carroll's late winner in the other semi-final couldn't have been better scripted for him. Clearly that's how Liverpool's owners see it too, after last week's decision to sack Damien Comolli and effectively blame the Frenchman for the failure of last summer's £113million spending spree to deliver a return to the Champions League.

Of course if there's one man who fits a club it's Sir Alex Ferguson, the right man for Manchester United when he took over in 1986 and still the right man now. Usually one-eyed when it comes to refereeing decisions, he deserved credit after yesterday's 4-0 win over Aston Villa for publicly warning Ashley Young he'll get a reputation for diving.

He's also big enough to handle big players, dragging off Wayne Rooney as punishment for getting "casual". That might just light a fire under the England striker in the last few games of the season - don't forget he's just three behind Robin Van Persie but [6.2] to be top Premier League goalscorer.

In contrast it's hard not to think the star names still rule the roost at Manchester City, where Roberto Mancini's word should be law. I go along with Richard Aikman here. Why did the Italian tolerate the ghastly golf club celebration with which Carlos Tevez marked his hat-trick in the 6-1 win at Norwich?

I've never been convinced by Steve Kean's credentials at Blackburn, and the refusal of Gael Givet to play in the 3-0 defeat at Swansea underlines that there remain too many issues behind the scenes at Ewood. It's only a fortnight ago I said you must back Blackburn to go down at [2.56]. They are now [1.31]. He's never looked the part since stepping up from number two, and sadly the same is true of Terry Connor at Wolves despite scrambling a 0-0 draw at Sunderland on Saturday.

Connor has the qualifications, the coaching experience, and the support of all the 'ologists' who work at Molineux. Sadly he just doesn't have the bit of magic to have made it the proper fit.

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