'More psychologist than coach' - Stuttgart's American boss Matarazzo on battling relegation and the influence of Maradona and Jackson

Stuttgart boss Pellegrino Matarazzo revealed his approach to steering his club away from the relegation fight as he discussed how he has been influenced by the likes of Diego Maradona and Phil Jackson.

Matarazzo's Stuttgart sit 17th in the Bundesliga, four points from 16th-place Hertha Berlin for the relegation play-off spot and 15th-place Augsburg for that final safety spot.

But the American manager has full confidence his club can avoid the drop as he backed his team to survive the season in the Bundesliga.

When asked why the club seems so confident in avoiding the drop, the New Jersey-born coach said he believes that he believes the players are merely in need of a little bit of confidence.

“At the moment you have to be more of a psychologist than a football coach," he told reporters. "In Hoffenheim the fear of losing set in and we got passive.

"It’s about rebuilding confidence, through positive reinforcements, through successful instances in training that you try to build into the sessions. It’s hard work, but everybody is on board, everybody is working hard.

"All we need is a win and then we can start rolling. I am 100 percent confident that we can stay in the league and gain enough points to get in the relegation playoff at least or even get above the line. I see us reaching our goals at the moment.”

Matarazzo also reflected on his own upbringing in New Jersey, which paved the way for him to play at Columbia University before forging his own path in Germany as a player and coach.

But it was Italian soccer, not German soccer, that was the mainstay in the Matarazzo house as his family is made up of Napoli fans.

“I would call it the Matarazzo fan club," he said. "The big family fan club of Napoli.

"At the beginning we