Chelsea manager Di Matteo says John Terry’s form is nothing to be concerned about, we beg to differ, and think the Manchester City defender provides a solution.
With all the furore which led to John Terry being stripped of the England captaincy, you’d think there were enough question marks over his involvement as it is.
Now over the past fortnight, Terry has allowed his form to drastically dip, at just the wrong time, and proved a big game liability in Barcelona.
The fact it was the much-maligned Andy Carroll, who has thrown his own name into the mix, hardly fills fans with confidence knowing that in under a month’s time he could be facing Real Madrid’s freescoring striker Karim Benzema.
Faced with criticism of his club captain, Roberto di Matteo backed him, but we hardly expected him to write him off now did we? Some might say that would be like asking for his P45.
“”John has been magnificent for us” – The Italian reminded us.
Now it should be remembered that before Terry’s poor form started, he was actually playing well, helping Chelsea to clean sheets against Barcelona at home and away to Arsenal, striking up an impressive partnership with Gary Cahill.
With Cahill injured he has suffered, understandably, having full-back Jose Bonsingwa playing alongside him.
If Cahill is back and fit, we’d feel a lot more confident about seeing him pair up with John Terry at Euro 2012 than an unsteady, ageing, distrusting central defensive axis between Terry and Ferdinand.
And that is England’s big problem. While Terry is out of form, they really can’t afford to be too fussy.
Both Phil Jones and Chris Smalling have had poor seasons, Newcastle’s Steven Taylor is injured, which would leave the in-form Joleon Lescott as the only real alternative.
Lescott has been on the fringes of the England set up for quite a while, having his most impressive performance to date in the 1-0 shut out of Spain last Autumn, but was peculiarly not selected by Stuart Pearce for England’s friendly with Holland.
We wouldn’t necessarily suggest dropping Terry altogether, but Lescott should be England’s first choice based on form, and Ferdinand, Terry, and Cahill should compete to be his partner. He has earned it.
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