Frank Lampard says that Rafael Benitez got it wrong about John Terry
John Terry has played in every single one of the Premier League games this season at the age of 34 and Frank Lampard has spoken out against Rafa Benitez's attempts to put an end to his Chelsea career!
Like many Chelsea fans around the world, I'd rather forget Rafa Benitez was ever associated with our club despite the Europa League win. I've never liked the bloke, hated what he said about us back in the day and believe him to be a manager who does well when he inherits a good squad, but not equipped at building one of his own (You may well see it over the next few seasons at Real Madrid!).
Anyway, back to the point. Ask any Chelsea fan and they will tell you that JT has been immense this season and our best defender by a stretch. If anything, his retirement from international football with England has prolonged his career.
So back to Rafa's reign and what he tried to do at the club. It became clear that he never favoured John Terry and with just 14 appearances that season, Terry even admitted himself that he was considering his Chelsea future.
There were many times under Rafa that Chelsea conceded late goals that cost us points, or late goals when we had our noses in front and Terry remained sitting on the bench or had been warming up. Rafa never had any intention of getting him involved.
Jose Mourinho turned up again, spoke to the defender and promised him the same chance as everyone else and look what has happened to our Captain, Leader, Legend! Back to Rafa and Frank Lampard has been speaking about his mate and revealed that he personally believes that Benitez got it wrong about John.
Lampard not surprised
Frank Lampard said that under Benitez, the club was a bit unstable and Terry took the whack for it. He said that Terry still had a lot to offer for Chelsea. This is what the former Chelsea man had to say:
“I’m not that shocked that John is still playing every week.
I know Rafa Benitez didn’t think he could when he managed the team for a while but he was wrong - simple as that. There were some politics there though - and not on John’s part. I know John really well.
He puts himself on the line, he looks after himself, trains hard and he’s not stupid, he eases back when he needs to. The manager respects him whereas, when Benitez was there, the club were a bit unstable generally and maybe John took the whack for that.”
Underappreciated legend
It's simple, John Terry does not get the credit he deserves for his performances over the last two seasons. Unfortunately, other supporters would rather focus on life outside of football in the past and that clouds their biased views about him.
The fact that he has been one of our best players this season speaks volumes about the player and about the man. You look at him, hear his interviews and you still see the same hunger and desire for trophies as we did ten years ago. He has won everything there is to win in this country and Europe but still he trains just as hard as the next person.
Captain, Leader, Legend despite what Benitez thinks!