Terry: Anfield defeat a ‘kick up the backside’

CHELSEA captain John Terry believes the defeat at Liverpool was a “kick up the backside” the team needed.

Two superbly-taken goals by Fernando Torres inflicted only the Blues’ second Barclays Premier League defeat of the season on Sunday, preventing them restoring their five-point advantage at the top of the table.

The visitors were left reeling by Liverpool’s first-half display and even though they had the better of things after the interval there was no way back for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Having struggled to overcome Blackburn last weekend Terry feels the players have to take a look at themselves and their performances.

“I don’t think we ever take things for granted at this club but maybe this is the kick up the backside we all needed,” he said.

“I am disappointed to lose in the manner we did. I just think the tempo was missing early on.

“We obviously knew Liverpool hadn’t had the best of starts to the season but they were up for it from the word go.

“The next thing we knew we were 2-0 down and by the time we got our game together in the second half, it was too little too late.

“We let it go too easily early on. It is frustrating and we need to look at it. When you suffer a defeat people always look at the players missing but we still had a good enough squad to win the game.”

Terry is thankful they will get the chance to correct things quickly as they host near-neighbours Fulham tomorrow night.

“We have to bounce back and move on,” he said. “The games come thick and fast now and we have to pick ourselves up quickly.

“It will be a tough game against Fulham, who proved very hard to beat last year, but we have to pick up three points now.”

Meanwhile Frank Lampard has jumped to the defence of England team-mate Wayne Rooney and has criticised those who make “lazy” assumptions about the player and dismiss him as being thick.

Rooney is currently training in the United States in a bid to regain top condition after a tumultuous few weeks with Manchester United which ended with him signing a new contract after initially signalling his intention to leave because he felt the club lacked ambition.

His contract U-turn, alongside headlines regarding his private life, has led to a great deal of criticism of the player but Lampard believes it is wholly unjustified and insists the Rooney he knows is nothing like the public preconceptions that have been built up around him.

Lampard said: “People who call him thick, it’s just a lazy thing to say by looking at him and saying ‘he’s a footballer, he looks quite tough because he’s come from that background’ and all that kind of stuff and the way he plays, but he is sharp.

“I think the people who are calling him thick have got a certain element of thickness about them, because they haven’t even invested the time to speak to him. He’s got a great sense of humour. I love being around people who will make me laugh, and he makes you laugh constantly. When you’re sat at a dinner table with 20 people he can dominate the conversation just through wit and the confidence in the way he speaks.”