Chelsea captain John Terry reveals that although it’s natural to be disappointed when omitted from the starting XI, he accepts Rafael Benitez’s rotation policy and says that players are being professional about it.
The 32-year-old has seen a lot more of the bench that he has in previous campaigns and has only played 23 times this season but part of the reason for that was due to the fact that it took longer than expected for Terry to recover from a knee injury he suffered towards the end of last year.
Terry denied that there was a rift in the squad over Benitez’s rotation policy, he said:
“There will be no frustrations publicly.
“Naturally, everyone is disappointed if they don’t play football matches. We all want to be on the field, but unfortunately with a big squad that’s not always the case.
“It’s not an automatic selection but at the same time we respect that. That’s the manager’s decision.
“If he chooses not to play us we are very much professional and we will do our job whether we play or not. When we do get a chance to come in and do well and obviously to score the goals [against Fulham], it’s an added bonus for myself.
“[Squad rotation] is very different but it’s important I maintain my sharpness in training and I’m ready when called upon.”
(BBC Sport)
He was also quoted in the Mirror that he doesn’t know where he stands in the pecking order, especially as Gary Cahill is to come back from injury, but believes he can play two or three times a week and he did look more like his old self against Fulham than he did against Rubin Kazan.
It’s an unusual situation for Terry and although he has defied medical science a few times in his career, perhaps Benitez is being cautious with the defender and with the games coming thick and fast he’s had to adopt a rotation policy but I’m sure Terry will establish himself as second choice, behind David Luiz, if he can just build a bit of form.
Terry isn’t the player he was a few years ago and you have to expect that as he has been through the wars but he is still a better defender than Cahill is and Branislav Ivanovic really struggles with spacial awareness. Whatever happens it would seem as though Terry is on call and will do what his asked, will work for the better of the team even if he’s being put out.
