We have to be meaner, says West Brom boss

Nov 25 2009 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail

ROBERTO Di Matteo believes some of Italian football’s traditional values have helped Albion soar into an automatic promotion spot.

Albion had the worst defensive record last season and had a more generous backline than relegated Leicester during their title-winning Championship campaign two years ago.

The head coach made Albion’s defensive structure one of his first priorities after studying footage of last season’s performances.

The Baggies have conceded 15 League goals so far this season, with Di Matteo admitting there was still room for improvement.

He hopes his side will show the kind of resilience associated with teams in his native Italy, where an ability to defend is held in such high regard.

“I analysed some of last year’s games,” Di Matteo told the Birmingham Mail.

“The feeling among players, the team and the supporters was shared – you could see and hear what the disappointments were in that sense and which area needed work.

“We have been trying to work on certain aspects of our game.

“It’s paying dividends but we’re still not good enough. Hard work has been the key.

“We’ve practised, we’ve given it a bit of Italian mentality – the perception of not conceding goals, being strong defensively and that’s why it annoys me when we concede goals.

“Saturday (Albion beat Bristol City 4-1) was a great performance, but 4-0 looks better than 4-1.

“I’ll happily take one goal against if we’re 4-0 up but we want to keep clean sheets because it gives you a platform to win games.

“Our last two goals against have been free-kicks and Saturday’s was a great execution by their player.

“Yet we don’t want to concede easy goals or concede from set-pieces.”

Di Matteo’s side take on Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday but may have to make do without Joe Mattock and Roman Bednar.

Mattock is suffering from a badly bruised foot while Bednar remains unwell, having been forced to miss Saturday’s victory.

Speaking about Mattock, Di Matteo added: “Joe’s got no fractures. It’s badly bruised and we’ll see how it is.

“We will assess him on a daily basis. At first the news the doctors gave us wasn’t good and he was stretchered off, but we always knew he needed a scan.

“We shall see how he gets on.”