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Don't let this loss wreck our season, Terry tells Chelsea
Leo Spall, Evening Standard25 Feb 2008
John Terry has told his Chelsea team-mates to get over their Wembley disappointment or watch their season fall apart.
The captain insists they cannot afford to dwell on the 2-1 defeat by Tottenham with three more trophies to fight for.
He started the recovery process in the dressing room after the game and warned there can be no excuses for the way Chelsea performed.
Terry was kept guessing whether he would play all last week and admitted the squad would have to get used to manager Avram Grant's selection mind games, but said it did them no harm.
The defender said: "The Premier League is not over, we have the Champions League next week and the FA Cup after that.
"We can do one of two things: we can dwell on it and get knocked out of another competition or we take this defeat and pick ourselves up and go again.
"That is what we have got to do and was the message to the lads - saying we have to pick ourselves up now and it is hard. We are still in three massive competitions." Terry responded to his recall after being left out at Olympiacos last week by becoming the team's key motivational figure again, delivering team talks as the game went into extra-time.
He is confident Chelsea have the character to bounce back, but was disappointed by the sluggish display.
Terry said: "I don't think the preparations had any impact. Since the manager took over he has kept the teams very close to his chest and none of us knew who was playing until yesterday.
"He keeps everyone guessing and on their toes and as a group of players we have to deal with that."
