Terry creaking under strain

RECENT events have shown self-control is not John Terry’s strong suit and once again, when the moment called for humility and contrition, the shamed Chelsea captain got it badly wrong.

Asked for his response to Craig Bellamy’s withering post-match character assassination – the Manchester City striker had declared “nobody in football was surprised” that Terry’s complicated private life had caught up with him – the defender should have taken it on the chin.

Instead he reacted. “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

He blew away any hopes that he and Wayne Bridge might find closure to a sorry and unsavoury affair that has entangled fractured family lives with the club rules of the dressing room.

This will almost certainly trigger further barbs and if the evidence of other recent games is anything to go by, that is the last thing that Terry and Chelsea need as they attempt to stop their season from imploding.

There was little doubt which player left Stamford Bridge the stronger following the first meeting of the two players since allegations about Terry’s affair first emerged.

Terry enjoyed the full-throated backing of the home crowd who cheered his every touch and repeatedly chanting “there’s only one England captain” for the benefit of the watching Fabio Capello.

Yet it was Bridge who emerged with reputation enhanced. His discreet refusal to shake Terry’s hand was done well and with the minimum of fuss and he certainly gained neutral support when he became the target of jeers from Chelsea supporters, a mind-boggling reaction on any level.

Bridge may not have had anything other than an average game – there was certainly nothing to trigger feelings of despair on the part of Capello at the loss of his reserve left back – but he was steady and, given the circumstances, that was enough.

Terry, by contrast, again showed signs that, despite Ancelotti’s protestations to the contrary, he is currently off his game.

His failure to recover John Obi Mikel’s miscued header led directly to City’s first goal and from that moment always looked vulnerable to the pace of City’s forward players. He was also clearly riled by Carlos Tevez, one of the first of Bridge’s team-mates to don a ‘Team Bridge’ vest when the story first broke.

Perhaps Bridge was always going to have the upper hand in his personal contest with Terry, given that he was supported by his snarling attack dogs Tevez and Bellamy while, understandably, none of Terry’s team-mates felt moved by any desire to rile the City left back.

Indeed, as a former colleague, many of the Chelsea players will have felt sympathy for someone who they would consider a friend and Bridge reportedly received several messages of support from within the Stamford Bridge dressing room before this game.

At times during the second half it looked as though that support extended as far as gifting City the win, so shambolic was Chelsea’s defending, so insipid their attempt to get back into the game.

For Bridge and his team-mates, it is all about looking forward. Rumblings of discontent have emerged from Eastlands recently with manager Mancini and Bellamy rowing over the forward’s recovery from a knee injury but now, partly thanks to the sense of togetherness engendered by Bridge’s misfortune, they appear united.

“Has it helped galvanise us? I think so,” said Gareth Barry. “A lot of people felt sorry for Wayne with what has gone on. As a club we’ve all supported him and got behind him and today was a great team performance.

“Whether it was down to that I don’t know, but it was good for Wayne and it was good for the other players and for the fans.

“Nobody knows how you’d feel if it was you so everyone got behind him and hopefully it will all be forgotten about now and we can concentrate on football.”

Terry and Chelsea, meanwhile, are looking backwards to the recent past when they appeared so commanding in the Premier League and in Europe. And the last thing they need are any more distractions.