My special green hat

“It is special because there is a story about this hat.
I will not tell now why, maybe one day I will explain, but not now.” 

PAOLO

BENNY

My players were weak - post JPT

We were all weak
"Today we deserved to be a loser because we were all weak.  I hope we take the humility and work hard during the week because the next game is important for us. 

We lose together
"When you lose you have to say you lose together,  We lost together.

Except for own-goal scorer Oliver Risser

 "but it's clear that Oliver, an experienced player, has to feel responsible after his mistake.

His players can't handle the pressure games (no mentioning the home and away defeats to Oxford United)
I feel responsible too, in the way I choose my players, but now we have to come back to Swindon and obviously we are sad because in one game, when you have to win or die, a lot of players were incapable of playing their best at this stage.  Not all of my players, but sometimes it happens when people feel sure, or even arrogant, or weak in their brain or weak in their heart.  I don't want to say we have many in our team but today on a special occasion we proved that some players are not ready to play this game.  I am happy that we have a tough game straight away, because we have to prove that we are not a donkey.   The defeat doesn't mean that we haven't had a very good season, the fact that we have reached the final is a fantastic achievement, but we are still top of the league.  The league is the priority, we have to look at this season as very good, as long as we go up. If we don't it will be a disaster."

I was the most beautiful boy in the world - pre JPT

Who else could it be, blonde, two metres tall, blue eyes - the most beautiful boy in the world?

Anyway, it was PDC, building HIMSELF up ready for HIS victory in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. 

How does it compare to his own career?

“This is the best.  It is the best trophy I can win as a manager. The emotion you can feel as a manager is completely different from when you play football.  As a player I won the league with AC Milan, I won the UEFA Cup with Juventus so I won important trophies and celebrated with my teammates. I felt like I was blonde, two metres tall and had blue eyes – the most beautiful boy in the world.  But as a manager you probably cannot celebrate in the same manner because you arrive at the moment full of stress, but the emotion you feel inside and that you give emotional feeling to the others and it is your product going on the field and doing what they do makes this the best. It is the best trophy I can win. Even in 10 years’ time when we win the Champions League I will remember this as the start of my career.  In some way I feel like a general from 1,000 years ago who guided his troops into battle.  The soldiers have to listen to your details, take in your information and keep their discipline, otherwise they cannot win the battle. To guide a team to this moment and you arrive at a moment where you can win something as a manager, gives me satisfaction.  I know there will be some players disappointed, but I am the manager and I have to make the right decision for the team, I need to think who works best against Chesterfield and pick my players on that decision only"

and how will PDC celebrate when PigHill win?

“I won’t explode or jump with joy and go celebrate at a disco like a player might do.  As a manager I am sure I will close myself off one hour after the game and start planning for Saturday’s game against Bristol Rovers.” 

Swindon fans are silly and pathetic

PDC's maths lets him down again, this time claiming that the PigHill fans criticise him after his first defeat after the initial three.  They have of course lost several games in between, in particular a 2-0 away defeat to Oxford United, despite United being down to ten men whilst the game was scoreless.   

"I am the manager and they are the fans.  They should hope that I am the manager in the future because it's difficult to find another manager like me.   Ninety-five per cent of fans are amazing because they love this club, but there are a small number of fans who criticise in a silly, pathetic way.  There are always some silly fans, probably the same fans that didn't want Paolo di Canio, who after three defeats they said 'we told you that he is not a good manager'.   Now they have waited for our first defeat. Maybe when we finish at the top they say we should finish with 130 points.  I'm not worried about this because I am too strong, too good, too intelligent, but I want to say to the others 'don't follow the stupid'.  There is some intelligence from the fans. It's obvious that 99% of the fans are intelligent; they follow us. They don't start to be snobby and maybe judge us after one game.  They can comment and say they prefer this player or that player, but they don't judge like they are a manager at the top level."

My team is Stupid and silly

PDC's PigHill lost 2-0 at Crewe.

"Sometimes we are stupid, and we behaved absolutely as if we were stupid and silly.  In the last few weeks some of my players have lost their passion and desire and now it is up to me which players I choose.  I have to discover why and find the key to motivate them to make sure we finish in the top three and go up.  Maybe some of my players didn't accept my advice during the week or they accepted it with arrogance."

Six Points thank you very much

Pre-match talk

Di Canio's fourth match in charge was a 2-1 home to defeat Oxford United. 

PDC: "It was a medicine for us.  In a way, they helped us become stronger.  I want to thank them for this because since that day we've become more of a unit.  The damage they did to us gave us more togetherness. We came out from a bad moment and became stronger. In some ways they have built what we are now." 

"This is the game that can show us what level we can reach. We play away from home, we play in a derby match and there will be a hostile atmosphere.  For this reason it will be more a maturity test for my players, to use their energy in the right way and play their football without nerves.  We will go through a difficult moment because I am sure they will use their physical presence to press in the first few minutes but we have the better fitness and I believe we will come through it.  I am sure that we are going to win because we are a better side than them, but if we are to lose then we have to make sure we play our football, like we did in the first derby match.  This way we will prove that they have to be very lucky to win again and I am not worried for the future.”

Post-match

"It reminded me a bit of the beginning of the season where we dominated the first 20 minutes but don’t score the goal. In a way today was similar.   We had three crazy minutes that unfortunately it had to happen today against Oxford. We have paid our price and in some ways they deserved to win, even if we had 20 shots.  It didn’t happen for us, we paid our price but at the end of today we will still be at the top.  We move on from this game and look at Tuesday.  We have to win this game and keep going with the run we have had until today.  My players today proved they are not ready to play this type of game.  They are not effective, do not play with fire.  To win a war you have to go through many battles.  There was mental fatigue.  ”