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Chelsea Debate: Is John Terry's Form Finally Being Affected By His Personal Life?
First defiant but now JT shows signs of being broken down by public shaming.
Feb 25, 2010 9:25:00 AM
By Alex Dimond | Chelsea Correspondent
It’s been a tough few months for John Terry, with the revelations surrounding his personal life and the widespread condemnation of his character as a husband and father. Losing the England captaincy in the fallout was both a massive blow to the Chelsea man, and an indication of how far his reputation had fallen.
It’s never nice to kick a man while he’s down, but Diego Milito did just that at San Siro on Wednesday evening, as he breezed inside Terry like he wasn’t there to plant the ball beyond Petr Cech and give Inter a third minute lead that would prove the basis of their eventual victory.
In such a high-profile game, it was a mistake that was always going to be analysed in close detail. But having made similar errors in recent weeks, is it fair to say that Terry’s performances are now finally showing the strain of his various off-field problems?
December 20 2009: The News of the World runs with revelations about alleged underhand training ground tours Terry has been giving, without the club’s knowledge and at the cost of £10,000 a time.
But the England captain shakes off the negative publicity to put in a decent performance the same day in a 1-1 draw at West Ham.
Subsequent form: After keeping a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw with Birmingham, Terry helps his side to five straight victories in league and cup action, with solid performances (and three clean sheets) in all the games.
January 29 2010: News breaks that Terry was involved in an affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the ex-girlfriend of former team-mate Wayne Bridge and mother of Bridge's child.
January 30 2010: Despite facing the abuse of thousands of fans at Burnley, Terry shows little sign of being affected by all the publicity as he goes about his defensive duties with a trademark lack of fuss, barring one slight hiccup that sees him booked for a foul on the half-way line.
In an ending that could have come out of a Hollywood script, the captain also gets some salvation as he nods home the winning goal in the last 10 minutes.
Only then, in reserved yet emotional nature of his celebration, do observers get a real picture of how much the situation is affecting the England captain.
January 31 2010: Sunday newspapers run with further revelations about Terry’s affair with Perroncel, and the 29-year-old’s long history of dubious conduct is revisited and re-analysed.
February 2 2010: Perhaps the first chink in Terry's footballing armour, as he is involved in a defensive mix-up at Hull City that leaves Steven Mouyokolo free at a first-half corner. The French defender takes full advantage of a free header to score, and raises further questions about Chelsea’s susceptibility from set-pieces. The one blight on an otherwise impressive performance from Terry in the face of a very hostile crowd.
February 5 2010: Fabio Capello strips Terry of the England captaincy in a short meeting at Wembley.
February 7 2010: Terry shows his mental strength to overcome that international set-back and lead his side to an important Premier League win over rivals Arsenal, a victory built primarily on a strong and organised defence (and Didier Drogba's double).
Terry even manages to get forward and flick on a corner for Drogba to open the scoring, in a solid all-round performance.
February 10 2010: Louis Saha exposes the first real cracks in Terry’s psyche as the French striker takes advantage of two uncharacteristic individual errors from the defender to score twice and lead his side to a memorable 2-1 win for Everton.
February 11 2010: Terry takes his compassionate leave, granted by Chelsea, in order for him to fly out to Dubai to reconcile with his wife, Toni. Misses his club’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Cardiff, a game they win 4-1.
February 20 2010: Terry returns to the team after his compassionate leave for the win against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and shows some signs of rustiness as he makes a couple of errors that allow Wolves players good scoring chances. Fortunately, keeper Petr Cech bails him out.
Balances the books somewhat with two important goal-line clearances.
February 24 2010: The ease with which Milito beats Terry inside the first five minutes of the huge Champions League first leg clash with Jose Mourinho's Inter draws even more attention to the suspect recent form of Terry, the three-time UEFA Champions League Defender of the Year.
Milito and strike partner Samuel Eto’o continue to cause Terry problems throughout with their pace and trickery.
The evidence firmly suggests that Terry’s form has suffered since the revelations about his private life hit the headlines, and particularly since Fabio Capello stripped him of the England captaincy, which was a massive blow to his personal and professional pride.
It's hard to dispute the fact that Terry has made more important errors in the games since the revelations broke than he had done previously managed during the whole season.
Most of Terry’s errors seem to come away from home, perhaps where the hostility of the crowd has got to him. But having only played five away games since the scandal arose - games in which only a handful of his team-mates have genuinely excelled - perhaps it is too soon to label this dip in form as anything resembling a crisis.
On Saturday, Terry will take the field against Manchester City, a team he was shown up on more than one occasion by the lively Carlos Tevez (who should play, having returned from Argentina after a personal matter) the last time they met.
The game might also see Terry come up against Wayne Bridge for the first time since the stories surrounding the two were published. That could be a dramatic reunion, especially with the announcement that Bridge doesn’t feel he can realistically play in the same England side as Terry and has thus quit England, despite the 2010 World Cup on the horizon.
In front of his home fans, and in perhaps the most testing of circumstances, Terry will have the chance to get back to his usually imperious self. But if another error rears its ugly head, there could be serious talk of a slide and showing that even the most hardened professionals are not impervious to nor unaccountable for their actions off the pitch. It all seems to take its toll eventually.
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It’s never nice to kick a man while he’s down, but Diego Milito did just that at San Siro on Wednesday evening, as he breezed inside Terry like he wasn’t there to plant the ball beyond Petr Cech and give Inter a third minute lead that would prove the basis of their eventual victory.
In such a high-profile game, it was a mistake that was always going to be analysed in close detail. But having made similar errors in recent weeks, is it fair to say that Terry’s performances are now finally showing the strain of his various off-field problems?
The Timeline
December 20 2009: The News of the World runs with revelations about alleged underhand training ground tours Terry has been giving, without the club’s knowledge and at the cost of £10,000 a time.
But the England captain shakes off the negative publicity to put in a decent performance the same day in a 1-1 draw at West Ham.
Subsequent form: After keeping a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw with Birmingham, Terry helps his side to five straight victories in league and cup action, with solid performances (and three clean sheets) in all the games.
January 29 2010: News breaks that Terry was involved in an affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the ex-girlfriend of former team-mate Wayne Bridge and mother of Bridge's child.
Turf score | JT reacts to scandal with winning goal
January 30 2010: Despite facing the abuse of thousands of fans at Burnley, Terry shows little sign of being affected by all the publicity as he goes about his defensive duties with a trademark lack of fuss, barring one slight hiccup that sees him booked for a foul on the half-way line.
In an ending that could have come out of a Hollywood script, the captain also gets some salvation as he nods home the winning goal in the last 10 minutes.
Only then, in reserved yet emotional nature of his celebration, do observers get a real picture of how much the situation is affecting the England captain.
January 31 2010: Sunday newspapers run with further revelations about Terry’s affair with Perroncel, and the 29-year-old’s long history of dubious conduct is revisited and re-analysed.
February 2 2010: Perhaps the first chink in Terry's footballing armour, as he is involved in a defensive mix-up at Hull City that leaves Steven Mouyokolo free at a first-half corner. The French defender takes full advantage of a free header to score, and raises further questions about Chelsea’s susceptibility from set-pieces. The one blight on an otherwise impressive performance from Terry in the face of a very hostile crowd.
Arm-banned | Losing England captaincy saddened JT
February 5 2010: Fabio Capello strips Terry of the England captaincy in a short meeting at Wembley.
February 7 2010: Terry shows his mental strength to overcome that international set-back and lead his side to an important Premier League win over rivals Arsenal, a victory built primarily on a strong and organised defence (and Didier Drogba's double).
Terry even manages to get forward and flick on a corner for Drogba to open the scoring, in a solid all-round performance.
February 10 2010: Louis Saha exposes the first real cracks in Terry’s psyche as the French striker takes advantage of two uncharacteristic individual errors from the defender to score twice and lead his side to a memorable 2-1 win for Everton.
February 11 2010: Terry takes his compassionate leave, granted by Chelsea, in order for him to fly out to Dubai to reconcile with his wife, Toni. Misses his club’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Cardiff, a game they win 4-1.
Home comforts | Blues Supporters still behind Terry
February 20 2010: Terry returns to the team after his compassionate leave for the win against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and shows some signs of rustiness as he makes a couple of errors that allow Wolves players good scoring chances. Fortunately, keeper Petr Cech bails him out.
Balances the books somewhat with two important goal-line clearances.
February 24 2010: The ease with which Milito beats Terry inside the first five minutes of the huge Champions League first leg clash with Jose Mourinho's Inter draws even more attention to the suspect recent form of Terry, the three-time UEFA Champions League Defender of the Year.
Milito and strike partner Samuel Eto’o continue to cause Terry problems throughout with their pace and trickery.
Mistake | Milito exposed Terry's hesitancy to score
The Verdict
The evidence firmly suggests that Terry’s form has suffered since the revelations about his private life hit the headlines, and particularly since Fabio Capello stripped him of the England captaincy, which was a massive blow to his personal and professional pride.
It's hard to dispute the fact that Terry has made more important errors in the games since the revelations broke than he had done previously managed during the whole season.
Most of Terry’s errors seem to come away from home, perhaps where the hostility of the crowd has got to him. But having only played five away games since the scandal arose - games in which only a handful of his team-mates have genuinely excelled - perhaps it is too soon to label this dip in form as anything resembling a crisis.
On Saturday, Terry will take the field against Manchester City, a team he was shown up on more than one occasion by the lively Carlos Tevez (who should play, having returned from Argentina after a personal matter) the last time they met.
The game might also see Terry come up against Wayne Bridge for the first time since the stories surrounding the two were published. That could be a dramatic reunion, especially with the announcement that Bridge doesn’t feel he can realistically play in the same England side as Terry and has thus quit England, despite the 2010 World Cup on the horizon.
In front of his home fans, and in perhaps the most testing of circumstances, Terry will have the chance to get back to his usually imperious self. But if another error rears its ugly head, there could be serious talk of a slide and showing that even the most hardened professionals are not impervious to nor unaccountable for their actions off the pitch. It all seems to take its toll eventually.
For the latest news and updates from Goal.com, follow our Twitter account!
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