Terry can’t be left out, says Ranieri

CLAUDIO RANIERI admitted he simply cannot afford to leave John Terry out of any more crucial games after Watford exposed Chelsea’s defensive weaknesses to force an FA Cup third-round replay.

Ranieri defended veteran captain Marcel Desailly against growing criticism, with Match of the Day pundit Mark Lawrenson describing the French international as "creaking".

However, the club's acting chief executive Paul Smith has already admitted Chelsea's two main transfer targets are a central defender and a midfielder.

And the latest reports indicated that Parma defender Cristian Chivu is their leading choice.

Ranieri was, predictably, more circumspect about the club's plans even after First Division strugglers Watford exposed the need for a new centre-back in the 2-2 draw at Vicarage Road.

"I have four centre-backs Marcel Desailly, William Gallas, John Terry and Robert Huth so at this moment, I am happy," he insisted.

"Marcel had a bad injury to his back and now he's back. It's normal. Maybe sometimes it wasn't only Marcel, but everyone and the first-half was not good.

"We cannot concede 45 minutes to the opponents like that. They created two or three great chances to score and Chelsea cannot permit this. All the high balls were dangerous for us.

"I had hoped to give some rest to John Terry without suffering in this way. But we missed him. Can I afford to leave him out again? At this moment, no."

Ranieri, who also rested Wayne Bridge, admitted the same applied to Frank Lampard and Claude Makelele, who were selected at Vicarage Road and just managed to keep Chelsea in the cup.

"Frank Lampard also needs some rest. He didn't play as well as he normally does but he is always important for us. I cannot give rest to him and Makelele," he said. But I'm thinking about Juan Sebastian Veron, Emmanuel Petit and all my injured players, I'm focusing on them, not any new players."

The reality for Ranieri, however, is that despite his enormous squad, there are several key players namely Terry, Lampard, Makelele and Carlo Cudicini - whom he cannot afford to leave out.

Cudicini's fitness permitting, they should all be back in action against Liverpool on Wednesday night the game that ensured Terry was rested at Vicarage Road.

In the absence of his physical and aerial presence, the Blues struggled to cope with Watford's threat, just as they had done against Charlton over Christmas.

Their chief tormentor was centre-forward Heidar Helguson, who was deemed to have put Watford ahead after five minutes, even though his header did not actually cross the line when it bounced off the underside of the crossbar.

Chelsea equalised through Eidur Gudjohnsen's penalty after Jesper Gronkjaer had been fouled but it was again in the air that Gavin Mahon put Watford back ahead before Lampard saved the visitors' blushes.