Source: Telegraph
Chelsea deserved criticism says John Terry
Scolari claimed that certain members of the dressing-room had played at only "35 per cent" during Sunday's 3-0 defeat to Manchester United.[LNB]But last night's 4-1 victory revealed the determination in the Chelsea ranks. "We have underperformed recently, and the manager was right to criticise us for not fighting enough," Terry said.[LNB]"Tonight was an opportunity for us and we showed great spirit. It was not the best of starts [with Southend taking the lead] but after 30 minutes we upped the tempo. I thought we fully deserved the win."[LNB]Scolari refused to comment afterwards, leaving the talking to Ray Wilkins, the assistant first-team coach.[LNB]"Felipe is as happy as Larry apart from Joe Cole's knee injury," Wilkins said. "We wanted to put Sunday right. Because of the adverse reporting on the club, you do get that reaction from within. We have taken unfair stick so this is a good confidence booster for us."[LNB]As for Didier Drogba's demotion, Wilkins observed: "We have a very big squad and Felipe felt Nicolas [Anelka] was the man. Whether Didier plays on Saturday [against Stoke City], I don't know, but he is a very valuable member of our squad. I wouldn't have thought their relationship is at breaking point." [LNB]As for speculation that Scolari was now interested in Inter Milan's Adriano, Wilkins added: "Harry Redknapp [of Tottenham Hotspur] has been linked with Adriano more than ourselves."[LNB]Apart from Cole's knee injury, which will be scanned today, the other real concern raised last night was Chelsea's vulnerability at defending set plays with their new zonal-marking system, which gifted Southend the lead. "It was just one of those things," shrugged Terry. "You go through spells like that during the season and we will have it right by the weekend."[LNB]With Stoke visiting, Chelsea will need to. "We will try everything to get it right – zonal, man-to-man or sticking the coach in front of the goal," Wilkins said.[LNB]"They didn't look comfortable at set-plays," said Southend's manager, Steve Tilson. "If the delivery is good, and they are zonal marking, you have the run on their markers. It was the first time they had tried zonal marking and we exploited that." Tilson added that he detected a relief among Chelsea players when Chris Foy, the referee, initially declared the game off because of fog. "We certainly wanted to play," Tilson said. "Whether they did, I am not so sure but to be fair to them, everyone was up for it.[LNB]"Maybe they went through the motions at Manchester United but they were up for it tonight. Scolari was desperate to get a result. He must have felt under pressure when we were 1-0 up but the pressure was off after it."[LNB]
