John Terry returns to Wembley on Saturday for the Championship Play-off final. He should stop by Chelsea to give a refresher course in leadership and professionalism.
John Terry and Aston Villa are preparing for the best, which in Terry’s case means the prospect of preparing for the worst. Terry is negotiating a contract for another season at Aston Villa, and if the Villains return to the Premier League for next season, Terry wants a clause exempting him from having to play against Chelsea.
Even if he is not on the pitch against his once-and-future club, the Blues will still face John Terry when they come up against Aston Villa. In only one season, one that started off looking like a sunset tour, Terry has stamped Aston Villa with his character. While Chelsea drift apart into any number of fragments, Villa have the cohesion, professionalism and grit that only a true locker room leader can provide.
Terry provided FourFourTwo with six thoughts on leadership. The title could have been “Six team attributes Chelsea lacked this season,” or “Six reasons Chelsea disintegrated in 2017/18.”
“Don’t start blaming people behind their back,” Terry said. “If there’s something to say, have it out and deal with it.” Terry would be – probably was – rightfully appalled at the passive-aggressive social media posts from David Luiz and Willian. They aired their greivances in the most public, least eye-to-eye way possible. Diego Costa at least had it out with Antonio Conte in their training ground row. This season, though, the players used snide comments, the occassional leak and the obligatory pining for Madrid in place of a direct conversation with Conte, Gary Cahill or the board.
Despite being one of the most powerful personalities in the sport, Terry knows he is not the most powerful person in the locker room. “Trust what the manager tells you and do your best to instill confidence throughout the team.” Trust in the manager. What a novel concept. Instead of going through the motions in the game and then whinging about results and tactics, trust in the manager. The “players know best” second-guessing of the manager creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Within the locker room, the players need to be as close as a family. Maybe closer. Terry was speaking of the captain when he said “you have to know your team-mates inside out,” but that goes for everybody.
Chelsea won the 2016/17 title with incredible team cohesion and rapport. The players always knew where to find each other on the pitch. The ball did their bidding as it moved around the Blues. Cesc Fabregas always knew where Diego Costa. Eden Hazard and Willian always knew where the other was (and wasn’t). Gary Cahill could always count on Marcos Alonso forwarding the play on to Hazard.
Between the games, the players’ social media were full of pictures of the team out at dinner or otherwise hanging out together away from Cobham. They would comment on each others’ posts, and Cesar Azpilicueta would chime in with “training tomorrow lads” when the youngsters were having a bit too much fun.
This season the team looked like a group of strangers. Cesc Fabregas couldn’t find a striker if Alvaro Morata was in the backseat of his car. Eden Hazard’s flicks went nowhere on a good day, straight to the opposition on others. Olivier Giroud and the ball could rarely agree on where to be and when, causing him to throw his arms up in exasperation towards Victor Moses, Fabregas or Hazard.
“If you’re beating a team 5-0 don’t worry about taking the mickey…Never just try to keep the ball and humiliate the other side; always try and punish them even more by continuing to score goals,” Terry said in his final point.
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Obviously, leading a team 5-0 would be a nice start. Ironically, Chelsea’s largest wins in the Premier League era include 8-0 over Aston Villa in 2012. This season, though, the Blues rarely tried to punish a team. Some of this was tactical, as they focussed on defending their leads rather than expanding them. But even when Chelsea had the lead and possession in the final third, they did not have the urge to go forward and score more. They played like a team protecting a thin lead rather than a team gluttonous for goal-scoring.
This was one area where Olivier Giroud was such an asset in the second half of the season. He always wanted the ball at his feet or on his head so he could pummel it into the net. Giroud is a natural born goalscorer. It’s all he wants to do. That was at the root of his frustrations over the lack of rhythm and rapport in the passing. If he could instill that mentality into his teammates, Chelsea would be much more dangerous going forward.
Aston Villa know what Chelsea knew and perhaps took for granted for two decades: John Terry is a true leader. He would be a leader in whatever line of work he chose to do. It’s just who he is.
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The Blues – and many teams, to be fair – do not have someone like him anymore. The least the players could do is learn from him and follow his advice.