Chelsea’s John Terry has hit back at Craig Bellamy after the Welshman’s comments about him following Manchester City’s win at Stamford Bridge.
Striker Bellamy scored twice in City’s 4-2 victory on Saturday and made a blunt attack on the former England captain’s off-field behaviour.
“I know what JT is like, everybody in football knows what he is like. That’s off the field,” stated Bellamy.
“People in glass houses should not throw stones,” said Terry in response.
Bellamy’s comments added further frustration to Blues skipper Terry, who was arguably at fault for at least one of the Manchester City goals.
Defender Terry also suffered the ignominy of seeing Bridge publicly refuse his offer of a handshake before the game.
Bridge’s snub went down badly with the Stamford Bridge crowd and the former Chelsea star was booed by the home fans, a development that baffled some of his Manchester City team-mates.
“I don’t know why the crowd reacted the way it did,” said Manchester City captain Shay Given. “I don’t see what he has done wrong.” Read more…
The humiliation of John Terry could scarcely have been more complete. Just after Manchester City had swept upfield, making light of a Chelsea team by then reduced to nine men, and Craig Bellamy had tapped in their fourth goal, Terry could be seen stalking back to the centre circle, a defeated man.
He exchanged angry words with Didier Drogba, though it surely owed more to emotional instinct than rational analysis of what had taken place.
For Chelsea have not experienced a home defeat like this for years and by this stage there was little to argue over:
As they turned to return to their half, Tevez then pointed to Bridge, deflecting the glory to him and indicating the motivation behind a remarkable second-half performance.
It was an afternoon that could scarcely have gone worse for Chelsea or Terry. ‘It was very disappointing,’ said their manager Carlo Ancelotti. ‘We made a mistake and usually in football if you do that, you lose the game. We are still top of the league, if only by a point, but it is a point and that is not bad. That is the only good thing from today. Today is not a good day for us.’ Read more…
Footballer Wayne Bridge refused to shake hands with John Terry today when he came face to face with him for the first time since it emerged his former teammate had an affair with his ex-girlfriend.
There was huge interest in how the pair would behave towards one another ahead of the game between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, west London,
As the off-pitch tension built up in the wake of allegations about Terry and lingerie model Vanessa Perroncel, the mother of Bridge’s three-year-old son, City player Bridge made his feelings clear by snubbing the Fair Play handshake courtesy to Terry.
As Terry, 29, stood in line with his Chelsea teammates, he held out his hand as Bridge filed past with his fellow Manchester City players.
But while Bridge, also 29, shook hands with the rest of his opponents, he walked past Terry without making any contact.
The ritual was introduced by the Premier League two seasons ago as part of the Get On With The Game campaign to encourage acceptable behaviour.
Such was the interest in the interaction between Terry and Bridge that Sky Sports viewers were able to see the crucial moments before kick-off.
Usually, the broadcaster would screen adverts during the routine and return to the pitch for the main action.
But timings were altered to make sure nothing was missed. Read more…
Although Bridge pulled out of the World Cup, City boss Roberto Mancini feels he is in the right frame to play at Stamford Bridge - and face John Terry.
‘I think Wayne is okay,’ said Mancini. ‘I don’t know what has happened in the last two weeks but I am sorry for him.
But mentally he is fine. He is an important player for us and we want him to play.’
Only a fortnight ago Mancini expressed confidence that Bridge would go to South Africa, despite the obvious issues with Terry over his affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the mother of Bridge’s young son.
So it came as a shock to both Mancini and England coach Fabio Capello when Bridge released his statement yesterday saying that his position within the Three Lions fold was now ‘untenable’.
‘I thought Wayne would stay with the national team,’ said Mancini. ‘It must have been a very difficult decision because I know how important the national team is for any player.
‘He didn’t speak to me before he made the decision. I don’t know what has changed, but he has changed his decision because I thought that he would play for the national team. But I respect what he has done. Read more…
Inter got off to the perfect start when Diego Milito cut inside and fired in with only three minutes gone.
Chelsea rallied from the early blow and after Salomon Kalou was denied a strong first-half penalty claim he was on hand to fire Chelsea level after half-time.
Parity was short-lived, with Esteban Cambiasso drilling in to give Inter a narrow lead to take to Stamford Bridge.
Predictably, Mourinho’s first match against the club he led for two-and-a-half successful and eventful seasons took centre stage but this was an encounter laden with context.
Current Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti led Inter’s local rivals AC Milan with aplomb between 2001 and 2009 and this was the first time he has brought a side to the city since leaving for west London last summer.
In addition, there is the added spice that former Champions League winners Mourinho and Ancelotti - the Portuguese with Porto in 2004, the Italian with Milan in 2003 and 2007 - are managers charged with repeating their feat in Europe’s premier club competition with their current clubs.
Under Mourinho, Chelsea were often accused of an overly cautious approach that came at the expense of entertainment, but Ancelotti affords his charges greater licence to be expansive and, on the front foot, they are an attractive team to watch. Read more…
Tale of the game
In three Premier League games between these teams, Chelsea have won all three, scoring 14 goals. Earlier this season Chelsea won 4-0 at Stamford Bridge, three of the goals coming in the opening 22 minutes. And on their only previous Premier League visit to Molineux, in September 2003, they won 5-0. After losing at Everton, Chelsea face a Wolves side with one defeat in their last four Premier League games.
Wolves are without Stephen Ward, Andy Kightly and Michael Kightly while David Edwards is closing in on a return from an ankle injury. Chelsea should recall John Terry, rested for the FA Cup tie against Cardiff, but Ashley Cole is out. Petr Cech and Nicolas Anelka, also rested for the 4-1 Cup win, should be back. Jose Bosingwa and Michael Essien remain injured and there are tests for Joe Cole, Deco and Juliano Belletti.
Who’s saying what?
Carlo Ancelotti:
“John Terry has returned and trained very well this week. He’s able to play tomorrow and is in good condition. He has very good motivation. We have to stay focused on the matches because they will be very difficult ones. We start tomorrow against Wolves and every game is very important.
“Until the end of the season, we have 90 days. It depends on us what happens at the end of the season. If we do very well in these 90 days, we can have a good result at the end of the season. Read more…
Robin van Persie spurned the chance to leave Arsenal because of his fondness for the north London club.
Four teams - believed to be Chelsea, Manchester City, Juventus and Inter Milan - expressed interest in the Netherlands international, but he revealed: ‘It’s not as easy to leave Arsenal as you maybe think.’
The Gunners are without a trophy since winning the 2005 FA Cup - to date Van Persie’s only major trophy with the club and a statistic which contributed to the departures of players including Mathieu Flamini. But Van Persie, who signed from Feyenoord in 2004, said in the News of the World: ‘It is good that four teams were really interested in me but I had to turn them down. ‘Even if you want to leave, as a player, I don’t think it is easy because when you move to Arsenal you are led there by your heart.’ Van Persie has been out since November with an ankle injury incurred while playing for Holland and he believes his fitness record has hindered his development into a great of the game. Read more…
Ashley Cole’s broken ankle is a big setback for England because he is one of the genuine world-class players at Fabio Capello’s disposal.
Let’s not pretend someone can come in at left-back and be as effective as Cole — he is the best in the world.
But it’s no good crying about it. Capello has to pick another player to replace Cole for the Egypt game on March 3 and hope he shows himself a worthy contender for the World Cup should the worst happen and the Chelsea man misses out.
It’s my firm opinion that person should be Wayne Bridge, regardless of his problems at Manchester City this season and a well-documented falling-out with John Terry.
Let’s take the private matter first. The Terry-Bridge relationship should not affect Capello’s thinking — and I don’t think it will.
They are both adults and the manager will expect them to put any differences aside once they are on the football pitch. In my experience, most dressing rooms have a couple of individuals who don’t like each other or who have had a row. Read more…
DIDIER DROGBA’S incredible form continued as he helped Chelsea dump Cardiff out of the FA Cup.
The striker netted his 11th goal in his last 12 games and chipped in with two assists for the Blues.
Drogba’s 23rd goal of the season put the home side ahead before Michael Chopra levelled.
The defence of the FA Cup continues but Chelsea were made to work hard by a Cardiff side that gave as good as they got in the first half.
Didier Drogba once again presented Chelsea with a great platform, scoring within seconds of the start for the second home game running.
But unlike the Arsenal match it was the visitors who scored next, Michael Chopra finding the net with a chance that was not their first of the match by any means.
There was plenty to talk about in the Chelsea dressing room at half-time and whatever was said had an effect. Cardiff were not without opportunities second-half, especially in a period before the home side’s fourth goal, but Chelsea began to assert our authority when Michael Ballack scored the second soon after the restart.
Daniel Sturridge continued his record of finding the net in every round so far with the well-finished third and substitute Salomon Kalou headed in the best goal of the game close to the end.
There had been no surprises in Carlo Ancelotti’s line-up. It was the one named yesterday. Read more…
