The contracts of both John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic expire at the end of the season and the Daily Mail reports that they have been told their performances must improve if they want to secure new deals.
With the team enduring its worst start to a season in nearly thirty years, it has not gone unnoticed that the team kept a clean sheet on Wednesday against Maccabi Tel Aviv with near player in the back four after nine consecutive games without one going back to the end of last season.
Against the Israeli champions, Cesar Azpilicueta switched to right back to replace Ivanovic while French international centreback Kurt Zouma earned his fourth consecutive start covering for Terry. It is not certain whether the more-experienced players will return against Arsenal on Saturday, or whether Azpilicueta and Zouma will remain in the back line for this must-win game.
It is expected that the pair will have until early 2016 to prove they still have what it takes to compete at the highest level for Chelsea before Jose Mourinho speaks to the board regarding any recommendations. As the most senior players in the squad they are both key, influential members of the dressing room and there may be a general feeling of unease until their futures are assured.
With the team currently underperforming, Mourinho will need his captain to use his experience to unite the team, keep them together and turn the results around. On the other hand, the manager may see the end of the season as a chance for a fresh start for the team now that other experienced stars like Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech have left Stamford Bridge.
Terry, 34, joined Chelsea as a youth player in 1995 and made his first team debut as long ago as 1998 in the League Cup against Aston Villa. Since then he has starred in over 670 games for the Blues winning four Premier League titles, five F A Cup winners medals, three League Cups, a Europa League and, of course, was a part of the team that won the Champions League in 2012 although he missed the final itself through suspension.
Over the past few seasons though he’s lost his pace and the team have adapted by playing deeper in order to prevent exposure to pacey strikers. Mourinho may feel the time is right to permanently replace his captain and has made no secret of the fact that 21 year-old Everton centreback John Stones is seen as the future of the Chelsea back line.
Ivanovic, 31, was purchased from Lokomotiv Moscow in 2008 for a fee in the region of £9 million primarily as a centre back although the Serbia international has played more at right back since he joined. He has made over 300 appearances for the team and won two of our Premier League titles, three F A Cup winners medals, one League Cup, the Europa League but like Terry he missed the 2012 Champions League final.
Despite weighing in with some vital goals last season, his positioning was exposed in the 5-3 loss to Spurs in the first game of 2015 and since then he has been targeted more and more by attacking left sided players. The last straw came in last weekend’s 3-1 defeat by Everton and it remains to be seen whether he will be back in the starting eleven on Saturday. Mourinho has reportedly instructed the clubs scouts to locate a long term replacement as he still sees Azpilicueta as the team’s regular left back.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail also reports that the team’s Brazilian attacking midfielder Oscar has spoken out about the squad’s lack of confidence in recent matches.
Everyone has been sad before the games before we haven’t won and we need to win. Everyone has not been confident before the games (and) because of our run we changed a little bit. The team won the Premier League last year, now we need to take confidence from that. We have won against Maccabi but we haven’t played well in the Premier League … we need to win against Arsenal as well. Now we have won and we are happy. Everyone has changed and everyone is confident now.
Chelsea are currently six points behind Arsenal and eleven points behind leaders Manchester City, meaning that defeat on Saturday is unthinkable.
