Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4:THE JOKE doing the rounds in Manchester in the aftermath of the latest twist to a scarcely believable saga involved a text message sent by Wayne Bridge to John Terry: "Now that's how you're supposed to play away from home."
Bridge could exhale and bask in glorious relief after his return to Chelsea to face his personal tormentor went just about as perfectly as he could have imagined. The nonchalantly choreographed pre-match routine, when the Manchester City left-back ducked Terry’s handshake, made its point without too great a fuss while his 78th-minute substitution spared him any unwanted post-match showdowns.
City’s victory, their first at Stamford Bridge in 17 years, was hailed for its potential to rejuvenate. For Terry, however, the anguish goes on. Since he was stripped of the England captaincy, for his part in the alleged affair with Bridge’s former girlfriend Vanessa Perroncel, he has looked strangely hesitant on the pitch.
The Chelsea defender’s defining characteristic has long been his decisiveness, the manner in which he assumes control of a situation with a no-holds-barred sureness.
Doubts, though, have seemingly crept in.Terry did not appreciate Craig Bellamy’s take on his problems. “I know John Terry and nothing surprises me about him,” said the City striker. “Everyone in football knows what the guy is like off the field.” It has to be considered a low point when Bellamy starts to moralise about you. “People in glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones,” Terry retorted.
Terry rarely allows emotion to get the better of him on the field. With his new crew cut, he has come to radiate a cold-hearted focus. Yet, while Bridge played the match, Terry and Chelsea appeared to play the occasion, which had been built up around the feud between the former best friends.
“That’s right,” said the City midfielder Gareth Barry. “We tried not to think about all the speculation because we knew it was a big game for us and it could turn our season. I don’t really want to speak about Chelsea too much.”
“I think the Wayne Bridge story has galvanised the club,” Barry said. “A lot of people have felt sorry for Wayne and, as a club, we’ve all supported him. This result can help us turn the corner. It has set us up to finish strongly. Our target is to finish in the top four. If we don’t, the season will have been a disappointment.”
There was rich irony in that, for 44 minutes City had resembled a bunch of fumbling schoolboys and it was difficult to see them leaving west London with anything other than a dispiriting defeat, one that might have ratcheted up further the pressure on the manager, Roberto Mancini.
But on the stroke of half-time came the latest Chelsea defensive calamity and City had their lifeline. Mikel John Obi appeared the favourite to deal with Bridge’s high punt forward but, having twice glanced over his shoulder at Terry, he erred with his header.
Carlos Tevez’s first touch was true, he bundled past Terry and scampered through on goal. Terry could not get back and, after Tevez had pulled Ricardo Carvalho, who failed to get tight enough, one way and then the other, the City striker dribbled a shot past the hapless Henrique Hilario.
The significance of Terry’s error may have been watered down by those of his team-mates but it continued a trend. He had been guilty of basic misjudgments in each of his previous three fixtures, against Everton, Wolves and Internazionale, and some of them were punished by goals.
Terry could not be held responsible for Saturday’s defeat; he merely featured on the list of the culpable headed by Hilario, who was beaten too easily for the first and second goals, and supplemented by Juliano Belletti, the substitute, and Michael Ballack, who were both sent off.
Belletti conceded a penalty into the bargain as Chelsea imploded in the second half. Yet it was impossible to ignore Terry’s wobbles. Fabio Capello, the watching England manager, certainly would not have done. Terry was booked for a lunge at Adam Johnson, which was not the only time that he went to ground unconvincingly, and he could not stifle the outstanding Tevez. He appeared a yard off the pace at times.
City departed having staged the most eye-catching of smash-and-grab raids. Their first, second and fourth goals came on the counter-attack.
Guardian Service
