Di Matteo: Chelsea players not out of control
Reuters - Friday 05 October 2012, 15:49
Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo defended his players on Friday saying they were not out of control after Ashley Cole sent an insulting message on Twitter shortly after an FA inquiry criticised his evidence in the John Terry racism case.
Cole, 31, responded to a report which explained why the FA banned Terry for four matches and fined him £220,000 for racially abusing Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand by using his Twitter account to express his feelings.
The report questioned Cole's evidence saying the independent commission that ruled on the case had "considerable doubts". Cole responded by tweeting "Hahahahaa, well done FA. I lied, did I" before adding an abusive hashtag.
Di Matteo, informed of Cole's tweet during his pre-match news conference on Friday, said his squad were not ill-disciplined and added he would judge them by what they did on the pitch.
"I judge the players on what I see when they train and play, and I try and select a team that will hopefully be able to win against Norwich. That is my job," Di Matteo said.
"I always said about the social networks that it is a good vehicle if used appropriately. Players need to realise that tweets can be viewed by anybody and they have to be responsible.
"I do not think the players, apart from this, are out of control. I need to see the reasoning behind it."
The offensive tweet was later deleted from Cole's account and the player apologised.
Cole, who has played 98 times for England, was named in Roy Hodsgon's England squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Poland this month when he is expected to become the sixth English player to win 100 caps.