West Brom fine tuned for success says Eddie Newton

Sep 7 2009 By Chris Lepkowski

ROBERTO Di Matteo and West Bromwich Albion are fully tuned into the right channel for success.

That’s according to Baggies No 2 Eddie Newton, who has given an insight into the way the Italian head coach works, claiming that the two men are on the same wavelength when it comes to football.

Di Matteo and Newton arrived at The Hawthorns on July 1, replacing Celtic-bound Tony Mowbray and his coaching staff.

The new coaching regime has had an encouraging start so far.

Only a late Sheffield United equaliser at Bramall Lane last week prevented Albion from collecting their sixth successive victory.

Their record stands at three wins and two draws, with two more victories being recording in the Carling Cup.

Newton and Di Matteo have been friends since they first linked up at Chelsea more than 13 years ago and have developed an almost telepathic understanding.

Di Matteo offers a more analytical approach to management, while his assistant is more likely to be yelling instructions on the training pitch and from the technical area.

Newton explained more about their relationship and offered his thoughts on what makes Di Matteo tick.

“Robby likes to sit back and analyse things, where I am the one who is driving things from the side or during training,” said Newton.

“People may think that’s weird but that’s how we work and always have done.

“Most of the time what happens is that I approach Robby with an idea and he will be thinking the same thing. We are always on the same wavelength.

“Likewise he might say something in my ear which I’ll have already thought about.

“We bounce off each other and it all stems from when we were players.

“We had this understanding on the pitch – he was offensive, I was defensive.