On Reflection: John Terry vs Jose Mourinho round two - this time 'The Special One' has the edge

It’s one thing being turned to jelly by Sergio Aguero, as John Terry was last week before Jose Mourinho subbed him off at half-time in Chelsea’s loss at Manchester City. It’s quite another to be caught out by a ball over the top and be turned by Salomon Rondon who, for all the good impression on his Premier League debut, is not quite Aguero.

That’s what happened to Terry on Sunday, and the result seemed inevitable: a second yellow card and a three-match ban.

Even the manner in which Terry received his marching-orders, with barely a quibble, spoke of an unlikely meekness in the Chelsea skipper. In the past, he has been the first to make his views known to any referee. These days, he traipses off as though he realises that his influence is on the wane.

Terry is not the only who has suffered in Chelsea’s stuttering start to the season: Branislav Ivanovic has had a wretched time against Jefferson Montero, Raheem Sterling and Callum McManaman while Nemanja Matic looks far removed from the enforcer who was one of the best players of last season.

The Terry dilemma is likely to dominate the final week of the transfer window or, at least, “the opportunity window” as Mourinho called it last week. Chelsea are expected to up their bid for John Stones, who has proved an exception to most players wanted by other clubs, in that he is still happy and able to play his normal game. That cannot be said for the likes of David de Gea or Saido Berahino.

Terry’s next available match is against Everton on September 12, but the big question will be for whom Stones will be playing then. The comparison is not like for like but the table below looks at the defensive performances of Chelsea’s centre-backs, as well as Stones and Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane, a favourite of Mourinho, last season.

The chances of Varane moving seem slimmer after Rafa Benitez picked the Frenchman to start ahead of Pepe in Real Madrid’s opening game. The fact that Terry’s duel success – and aerial duel success – goes some way to explaining why he has retained the support of his coach.

Gary Neville pointed out in his Daily Telegraph column that the mishandling of players aged between 32 and 34 is nothing new, citing Steven Gerrard and Didier Drogba as examples. The speed of the Premier League has increased by 20 per cent over the last ten years, which might explain why so few outfield players over 34 are first-team regulars today.

Gareth Barry and Damien Delaney, along with Terry, are the only outfield players to have started all three league matches this season. Compare this to ten years ago when the likes of Alan Shearer, Dennis Bergkamp, Arjan de Zeeuw, Gareth Southgate and David Weir were all still playing in their first team.

If the knock on Mourinho is that he rarely gives chances to younger players – although Varane is an exception, and it must be hoped that Zouma and Ruben Loftus-Cheek buck that trend – then the opposite is also true. At Inter, he proved a master of managing older players.

Okay, so it was lucky that he had Javier Zanetti on his books: the Inter captain was a one-off who played until he was 40 and in Inter’s treble-winning season of 2009-10, aged 35, made an astonishing 55 appearances in all competitions.

Mourinho’s preferred centre-backs in that side were Lucio and Walter Samuel, both 31, who played 48 and 42 games respectively. But perhaps the player who had most respect for him was Marco Materazzi, then 36, who made 20 appearances. It was Materazzi who embraced Mourinho in a tearful hug after the Portuguese announced he was leaving for Real Madrid.

“He is a true person, a 100 percent true person and that for me is the first quality you must have if you want to be a manager,” said Materazzi of Mourinho. “He never lied to the guys while he was at Inter. If something needed to be said he would tell the players to their faces.

"He’s an excellent motivator, a good strategist and a great manager. He creates empathy with the players and that is so important because when you have 25 players in a squad it can be difficult to keep them together as one every day.”

It’s too early to write off Terry although it’s interesting to note how the dynamic between the two men has changed since 2007, when it was a row over Terry’s form and fitness that reportedly led to Mourinho’s departure in his first spell at Stamford Bridge.

“I asked Rui Faria [Mourinho assistant] why [Mourinho had been fired] and he explained a lot of players had complained about him, notably John Terry,” wrote Claude Makelele in his 2009 biography Tout Simplement.

“I then learnt Mourinho had told the club's captain that he was going to be left on the bench for a few matches to give him enough time to recover from a back operation he'd undergone in the middle of the previous season. John let it be known that he was OK to play on but Mourinho insisted… Mourinho had provoked a 'clash' too far.

"Had it been me, [Michael] Ballack or [Andriy] Shevchenko it might have passed but, if there is one person who is untouchable at Chelsea, then it is John. And Mourinho knew.

“As it was always, when John Terry let his unhappiness be known to [the chief executive Peter] Kenyon and asked him for a transfer, Abramovich reacted immediately.

"The departure of Terry was unimaginable from the point of view of the supporters, the players or the owners. Mourinho was asked to pack his bags.”

This time around, there can only be one winner. Terry has kept a dignified silence, and Mourinho has, as much as he can, backed his captain. But in this spell at Chelsea, Mourinho and not Terry, has the power.

Terry can still be an important figure this season. But he will have to allow Mourinho to manage his game-time. It has only taken three matches of this season, but Terry is no longer Chelsea’s main man.