Terry hands momentum to rivals
Posted by Alex Livie on 17/04/2010
Momentum is a vital thing in sport and Manchester United certainly have it following the events of Saturday. Sir Alex Ferguson’s men have a never-say-die attitude so it came as no surprise that that scorer of countless key goals during his career, Paul Scholes popped up with a header out of the very top drawer to win the Manchester derby.
Scholes threw down the gauntlet and Chelsea failed quite miserably in their bid to take up the challenge. Tottenham deserve plenty of credit for their win, but Chelsea did little to help themselves. They looked pretty ordinary going forward, Didier Drogba looked to be feeling the effects of the hernia problem that is expected to require surgery in the summer and was a virtual passenger in the second half due to Carlo Ancelotti using up his substitutes at the break, but it was the actions of John Terry that had me shaking my head.
Terry got away with one at Bolton in midweek when he handled the ball. After that game he suggested luck evens itself out and maybe the footballing gods were watching as an almost identical situation saw him concede a spot kick which Jermain Defoe rammed home. That was not the incident that caused any alarm, it was just one of the things that can happen when you are defending, rather his rush of blood in the second half.
Terry brought down Roman Pavlyuchenko and was immediately cautioned by referee Phil Dowd. You would have thought a defender of Terry’s calibre would take stock, having escaped a caution in the first half for handball. He was certainly on Dowd’s radar but rather than rein things in, he lunged wildly at Gareth Bale a couple of minutes later and was shown a second yellow card.
"Twice I got the ball," he appeared to gesture to his bench as he trudged down the tunnel. Not sure about that, but whether he did or he didn’t when you are walking the tightrope you have to make dam sure you make the right move.
The one saving grace for Chelsea is that Terry will sit out a home game with Stoke as opposed to a trip to Liverpool, but with Droga part of the walking wounded and John Obi Mikel an injury worry – the red half of Manchester, and Arsenal for that matter, have a spring in their step.
Comments
Posted by Johnny on 18/04/2010
Lunges again have Mr Terry in strife.
Posted by Taiwo on 19/04/2010
Am not happy cause of what terry did,the league raze continues,,,,,
Posted by Mark Bywater on 22/04/2010
I'm delighted to see that a sport's journalist of your calibre is talking sense...one of only a few. Not many people actually realise that Spurs won the game in the first half when Chelsea had all 11 men on the field.
Pavlyuchenko should be sent to Siberia though for his finishing, to say that they miss Robbie Keane takes some doing but even Gary Birtles (do you remember him?)would have buried at least one of those chances.
Come on United...another title would wipe all the grins off the Liverpool faces and put John Terry's miserable season on an all time low, which perversely might would spur him on to greater things this summer with England...but can you really see that happening?
Another inglorious quarter final exit against Germany / Argentine / Spain / Brazil looms I fear.
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| Alex Livie found his way to ESPN after learning his trade with Sky Sports, Setanta Sports and Eurosport. He is running out of companies with sport in their name so has made it his raison d'être to ensure ESPN.co.uk has the website it deserves. |  |
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