An attempt to put right his well-documented “personal issues” will see John Terry miss Chelsea’s fifth-round FA Cup tie with Cardiff City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. If he wasn’t the club skipper, the erstwhile England captain could have found himself dropped following a night to forget at Goodison Park.
Terry was sent off at this ground last season, and the Merseyside air would have once again turned blue when Louis Saha twice lost the troubled defender to give an impressive Everton a deserved win, and see Chelsea blow a chance to extend their lead at the top of table. The Blues skipper looked tired, almost dazed, and Everton capitalised on it.
It would be easy to read too much into it, to jump to conclusions and to claim that Terry’s mind is not on the job, as it were, but to do so would be a huge disservice to Everton, David Moyes and Saha. Had the French striker not lashed in the 75th minute chance that fell his way when the Chelsea defender mistimed his jump then no-one would be criticising Terry today, not for his on-pitch actions anyway.
Saha’s first was his 100th goal in English football. This was Moyes’ 300th match as a Premier League manager. The landmarks and plaudits should all be Everton’s, yet today all of the news is again about Terry. It is hardly a surprise.
The defender was widely praised for his performances against Burnley and Arsenal, both of which came in the full media spotlight, and so to suddenly claim that his display at Goodison Park showed that his inner demons have become outer ones seems foolish.
Perhaps Terry was thinking about his meeting with wife, Toni, in Dubai today when he should have been keeping an eye on Saha last night? Perhaps he was mentally preparing for the mother of all marital disagreements when he was supposed to be inspiring his side to come back from 2-1 down at Goodison? Perhaps he was wondering what other revelations will come out when he was supposed to be helping Chelsea move four points clear at the top? Or perhaps he wasn’t.
Maybe he and his team were simply beaten by the better side on the night, a dogged, talented team who were determined to bounce back from a defeat to a Liverpool side with a man less than them in Saturday’s Merseyside derby.
When Everton turn it on at Goodison they are a match for anyone, as Manchester United will probably find out when they visit a week on Saturday.
Terry’s personal crisis may be never out of the headlines, but the real story on Merseyside last night was the performance of Saha, his team-mates and the Everton fans, who roared their team on to a famous victory.
Theirs is a relationship that remains in the best of health.
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