John Terry will this week get a placatory arm around the shoulder and some words of comfort and support as Chelsea look to put their damaged title challenge back on track.
The Chelsea captain’s season has dipped from bad to worse, culminating at White Hart Lane with a performance, in front of Fabio Capello, that the defender will want to erase from the memory bank.
Carlo Ancelotti will tell Terry: “non agitarti”. The Italian will translate that to “don’t panic” but the order, from a man who has experienced everything this game can offer, will be straightforward and calm amid the chaos that is unfolding at the business end of this most compelling of seasons.
Terry will miss the visit of Stoke City as a result of his first red card since December 2008, at Everton, when the same referee, Phil Dowd, sent the player off. This time he went for two yellow cards, for two sloppy fouls, but he could have been dismissed earlier had Dowd spotted Terry pulling the shirt of Jermain Defoe.
He had appeared to recover, with strength, from the allegations of an affair with the former girlfriend of Wayne Bridge and the subsequent loss of his England captaincy.
But the latest display, in a 2-1 defeat, will give cause for concern, both for Chelsea and England, particularly as he was outshone by another defender, Tottenham’s Michael Dawson, who is still waiting to make his senior debut for his country. Dawson later refused to consider the prospect of an England call up, but Capello is considering him for the coming friendlies.
Terry was even involved in an altercation with a Spurs fan at half time. How ironic that the fan has been banned, by Spurs, from the club’s next home game -- the same punishment meted out to Terry for the red card.
“The people are looking too much at John Terry’s performances,” claimed Ancelotti. “He is doing very well. He did a fantastic season. Maybe sometimes he had some problems and didn’t play so well, maybe against Tottenham he didn’t play too well. But he has been absolutely fantastic.”
As for the rashness of being sent-off in a game of such importance, Ancelotti again offered sympathy. “I was a player,” he recalled, “and you know sometimes you are not always rational, you lose sometimes your control.”
Which is something Chelsea can no longer afford to do. “Now we have to win the next game and if it’s possible the next three games and then we are the champions,” he added. “Tottenham played better than us, it can happen, so it’s not a time now to be disappointed, it’s a time to stay calm, to stay focussed and to look forward for the next game.”
As for the possibility that Tottenham could make it a trio of prize scalps, at Old Trafford, Ancelotti added: “They are in a good moment and they could do a very game, but we are not interested, we have to win against Stoke.
“And we have to control this but I think my players have the character and the concentration to maintain an atmosphere of calm and quiet and remain in focus on our match.”
Which is something they failed to do at White Hart Lane. From the early stages Spurs were inspired and having been denied one penalty, won another when Terry was adjudged to have handled David Bentley’s cross. The decision was harsh; the ball bounced awkwardly and may have caught his shoulder, but the complaints were minimal and Defoe, who had missed six of his previous 10 penalties, converted with power.
And when Gareth Bale, quite stunning on the left side, added a second before the interval, the warning bells were alive. Chelsea teams in the past have responded with urgency. This Chelsea side threw in the towel.
They were not helped by a woeful performance on the right by Paulo Ferreira, who was torn to shreds by Bale. He had been ill, his manager insisted, so his failure to appear for the second half was not a surprise.
Spurs had chances to embarrass Chelsea and although Frank Lampard’s late goal gave the visitors hope, losing Terry in the 67th minute, was the final set-back. Now Chelsea face Stoke with a defence missing Terry and Ricardo Carvalho but, almost certainly, reinforced by Ashley Cole, who spent Saturday on the bench.
One more slip, and one wonders what Roman Abramovich will be thinking. Interesting times indeed.
The Chelsea captain’s season has dipped from bad to worse, culminating at White Hart Lane with a performance, in front of Fabio Capello, that the defender will want to erase from the memory bank.
Carlo Ancelotti will tell Terry: “non agitarti”. The Italian will translate that to “don’t panic” but the order, from a man who has experienced everything this game can offer, will be straightforward and calm amid the chaos that is unfolding at the business end of this most compelling of seasons.
Terry will miss the visit of Stoke City as a result of his first red card since December 2008, at Everton, when the same referee, Phil Dowd, sent the player off. This time he went for two yellow cards, for two sloppy fouls, but he could have been dismissed earlier had Dowd spotted Terry pulling the shirt of Jermain Defoe.
He had appeared to recover, with strength, from the allegations of an affair with the former girlfriend of Wayne Bridge and the subsequent loss of his England captaincy.
But the latest display, in a 2-1 defeat, will give cause for concern, both for Chelsea and England, particularly as he was outshone by another defender, Tottenham’s Michael Dawson, who is still waiting to make his senior debut for his country. Dawson later refused to consider the prospect of an England call up, but Capello is considering him for the coming friendlies.
Terry was even involved in an altercation with a Spurs fan at half time. How ironic that the fan has been banned, by Spurs, from the club’s next home game -- the same punishment meted out to Terry for the red card.
“The people are looking too much at John Terry’s performances,” claimed Ancelotti. “He is doing very well. He did a fantastic season. Maybe sometimes he had some problems and didn’t play so well, maybe against Tottenham he didn’t play too well. But he has been absolutely fantastic.”
As for the rashness of being sent-off in a game of such importance, Ancelotti again offered sympathy. “I was a player,” he recalled, “and you know sometimes you are not always rational, you lose sometimes your control.”
Which is something Chelsea can no longer afford to do. “Now we have to win the next game and if it’s possible the next three games and then we are the champions,” he added. “Tottenham played better than us, it can happen, so it’s not a time now to be disappointed, it’s a time to stay calm, to stay focussed and to look forward for the next game.”
As for the possibility that Tottenham could make it a trio of prize scalps, at Old Trafford, Ancelotti added: “They are in a good moment and they could do a very game, but we are not interested, we have to win against Stoke.
“And we have to control this but I think my players have the character and the concentration to maintain an atmosphere of calm and quiet and remain in focus on our match.”
Which is something they failed to do at White Hart Lane. From the early stages Spurs were inspired and having been denied one penalty, won another when Terry was adjudged to have handled David Bentley’s cross. The decision was harsh; the ball bounced awkwardly and may have caught his shoulder, but the complaints were minimal and Defoe, who had missed six of his previous 10 penalties, converted with power.
And when Gareth Bale, quite stunning on the left side, added a second before the interval, the warning bells were alive. Chelsea teams in the past have responded with urgency. This Chelsea side threw in the towel.
They were not helped by a woeful performance on the right by Paulo Ferreira, who was torn to shreds by Bale. He had been ill, his manager insisted, so his failure to appear for the second half was not a surprise.
Spurs had chances to embarrass Chelsea and although Frank Lampard’s late goal gave the visitors hope, losing Terry in the 67th minute, was the final set-back. Now Chelsea face Stoke with a defence missing Terry and Ricardo Carvalho but, almost certainly, reinforced by Ashley Cole, who spent Saturday on the bench.
One more slip, and one wonders what Roman Abramovich will be thinking. Interesting times indeed.
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