Wycombe v Chelsea:Jose Mourinho last night took the highly unusual step of denying reports that he had been subjected to player pressure to drop Michael Ballack. Reports had claimed that Didier Drogba and Claude Makelele had to be restrained from confronting the Chelsea manager over the German's poor form and Mourinho addressed the subject yesterday in an interview with his club's in-house television station.
"I have read a few articles like this but I know nothing about it," said Mourinho. "Reports about problems in the dressing room are not correct. Do we want more from him in terms of performance? Not from him, from everybody. And if the objective is to put some kind of pressure on me, then no chance because I pick the team, nobody else does it."
Mourinho will select Ballack for tonight's semi-final against Wycombe. "I hope it is the first step for him to play his first English cup final," he said.
Chelsea's 20-goal top scorer Drogba and defender Ricardo Carvalho are suspended for tonight's game. It means Mourinho will not be able to call on a single recognised central defender with midfielder Michael Essien and full-back Paulo Ferreira set to play at the heart of the defence.
Mourinho is still without Carlo Cudicini (thigh), Petr Cech (skull), Joe Cole (foot), John Terry (back), Khalid Boulahrouz (knee) and Arjen Robben (hamstring).
Wycombe hope to have their first choice central defensive pairing in place tonight. Mike Williamson will return to the starting line-up after being suspended for Saturday's draw with Rochdale, while Will Antwi should have fully recovered from a groin injury in time.
Midfielder Stefan Oakes is struggling with flu but Argentinian playmaker Sergio Torres, who made a surprise appearance from the bench on Saturday after four month out with ankle injury, could figure.
Recent recruits Leon Crooks, Anthony McParland and Folawiyo Onibuje are cup-tied while on-loan Chelsea winger Anthony Grant is ineligible.
Meanwhile, Terry yesterday escaped suspension for comments about the referee Graham Poll after he was sent off in November's defeat at Tottenham, but the Chelsea captain was fined for improper conduct.
The £10,000 penalty is unlikely to trouble him unduly and, although the Football Association made public a strongly worded reprimand, the 26-year-old is likely to be relieved at being free to return for this Saturday's home match against Wigan.
A disciplinary commission statement read: "Whilst noting the late admission to the charge, and the excellent previous disciplinary record of John Terry, we were extremely disappointed that the integrity of referee Graham Poll had been called into question, and that no public apology had been forthcoming for his admitted improper conduct."
After being sent off, Terry claimed referee Graham Poll gave him conflicting reasons for the second yellow card he received. Terry initially requested a personal hearing, but later accepted the charge.
Terry claimed in an interview, which was widely reported, that Poll had given him conflicting reasons for his second yellow card, saying: "On the pitch, Graham Poll said to me that it was for the barge on Hossam Ghaly where I just kept running.
"Then, after the game, he then said to me it was for the fall when me and Ledley King fell so, you know, he's obviously had a look at it, or got people to look at it and decided that's probably the best option for him and it covers every angle for him."
