Terry demands reaction

SOCCER:JOHN TERRY has demanded an immediate reaction from his Chelsea team-mates as they seek to recover from their defeat at Liverpool, a result that saw the champions' lead at the top of the Premier League trimmed to two points.

Chelsea’s recent sluggishness away from Stamford Bridge was maintained at Anfield on Sunday, their sloppy first-half display condemning them to a second league defeat of the season and a third scoreless performance in four away games.

“I don’t think we ever take things for granted but maybe this is the kick up the backside we all needed,” Terry said. “We haven’t been playing too well but have been grinding out results.

“We have another gear to find and we’re still at the top, so we have to be encouraged by that but we can’t forget what has got us there in the first place. In the last couple of away games, we have started the game very slowly and we did the same at Liverpool. I am disappointed to lose in the manner we did. We lost it in the first half. I just think the tempo was missing early on.

“We obviously knew Liverpool hadn’t had the best of starts, but they were up for it from the word go. We tried to take the sting out of the game but it backfired on us. That wasn’t a tactical thing, it just seemed to happen. 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.”

Didier Drogba’s introduction at the interval – the striker had suffered a fever the night before – did offer more focus and thrust, yet Chelsea’s midfield continued to struggle to impose themselves on the contest as Liverpool sat on the advantage provided by Fernando Torres’s two goals.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti is hopeful Michael Essien will be fit to return against Fulham tomorrow, having been troubled by a toe injury, with Frank Lampard in line for some involvement against Sunderland on Sunday, though there is an acceptance that lessons must be learned ahead of their next away fixture, at Birmingham on November 20th.

“When you suffer a defeat people always look at the players missing but we still had a good enough squad to win (at Liverpool),” Terry said.

“We have to bounce back and move on. I’m thankful we had a five-point cushion going in but it would have been nice to keep that. Unfortunately we’ve lost three points with Manchester United winning late on. But the games come thick and fast now so we have to pick ourselves up quickly.”

Meanwhile, Cesc Fabregas has expressed frustration over his recurring hamstring trouble. The Spaniard suggested that despite extensive investigation, the Arsenal medical department had not solved the problem.

Arsenal’s club captain (23) worries over the effect on his body of the high number of matches he has played. Fabregas has played 277 times for Arsenal and has won 57 caps for Spain. In his last but one game for his club, a victory over West Ham United, he played through pain. He later said that his performance had been dreadful. He was some way below his best in the 1-0 home defeat by Newcastle United on Sunday.

“The good news is there’s no tear on the hamstring, nothing,” Fabregas said. “It’s just a little bit of fluid but it keeps coming back and it’s very annoying. We are working on it, looking at my hips because they are always very tight. We have to work on it but also understand that I am 23 and I’ve played many, many games. It’s a lot of games for my age and I have to take care of myself.

“I struggled with the injury quite a lot against West Ham. In my head and my body, I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t finish the shot properly when Bac (Bacary Sagna) set me up. I knew that had I been free in my head, the shot would have been stronger.”

Arsenal have appealed against Laurent Koscielny’s sending off against Newcastle, which was given for a professional foul on Nile Ranger. The centre-half faces a two-game ban – one for the offence and another for a second red card this season. The Football Association could extend the ban to three matches if it deems the appeal to have had no prospect of success.