Swansea City will this afternoon pit their wits against the FA Cup holders in Premier League Portsmouth – a chance for many of them to see how they cope with a step up in level.
However, Roberto does not believe it fair to judge any of his players on this one-off fixture and – to an extent – he says the result is almost irrelevant in a cup game like this.
Speaking in today’s Western Mail, the Swans boss said “I think it would be very unfair to judge players’ Premiership potential on this one game
“It would be like deciding whether we are a Championship team or not after the first game at Charlton.
“It takes time to adapt to each level of football. What is clear to me is that I have a group of players who don’t need to prove to me they can compete against Premiership players.
“I know they can play in the Premiership. But everyone needs time to develop into that level.
“We all want to get there, but the key to getting there is being consistent at Championship level first.
“The result, for me, is almost irrelevant because anything can happen in a one-off.
“We have seen it ourselves in cup games. Just because things have not gone our way in some games against non-league sides, it does not mean the non-league players are better than what we have.
“My biggest concern will be can we be ourselves in the fourth round of the cup at a Premiership environment such as Fratton Park, that is our only challenge.
“If we can do that, irrelevant of the result, I’ll be happy because it shows we are serious about our Championship form.
“Make no mistake, this is a great occasion, the glamorous tie that we’ve been waiting to give to our fans for a while,” he admitted.
“Memories are big things in football, everything you do is to try and be remembered for.
“And this is an exciting tie. To be at this stage of competition is a fantastic achievement whoever you play. But facing the holders adds to it to create that excitement.
“And, of course, we will be hoping for the magic of the cup.
“I don’t think the boys will be overawed,” he stressed. “We have come such a long way now and all the big games we have had this season will help in that respect.
“We have played in Premiership environments at Birmingham, Reading and Wolves and learned from those lessons.
“People have mentioned Peter Crouch and David James, but, if you want to start getting worried about Portsmouth, then we might as well be getting worried about every single player because of the talent they’ve got.
“They have a manager who had a unique career as a player but as a boss has his own beliefs and ideas and who has given his team a very different look.
“I watched them against Tottenham last week and they were very impressive.
“So all we can do is approach it like we would any other game and find a way to be ourselves in a difficult environment.”