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What we learned this weekend: Terry might not make England better



Ralph Ellis runs you through what we learned from the weekend's football... with some star turns and a look through the leagues, too. This week includes the debate on John Terry's possible England return, Everton's new found passing game and West Brom are on the way to their best ever season.


1 John Terry’s desire to play for England again has sparked debate over whether Chelsea’s 'captain, leader, legend' is still at the top of his game.

Rafa Benitez has been rotating the 32-year-old but picked him for the 2-0 win over Swansea as well as the 2-1 win in Basle just to prove he can still play two games in three days.

Across the season Chelsea’s results are only marginally better when their club captain plays. With him they’ve won 13 of 22 games and lost four, without him it’s 21 wins of 41 with 11 defeats.



England call up? John Terry (left) has sparked debate with the announcement that he may return to the England fold

2 Terry has been for several seasons the only home grown player in Chelsea’s team and their big spending power makes it tough for their own Academy kids to break through.

With 22 players out on loan at one time this season it seems the club’s youth development scheme is turning into more of a lending library for Football League sides.

Their midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah scored one of the goals of the weekend with a 25-yard piledriver at Leicester on Friday night that kept Watford in the hunt for automatic promotion.

Then two more Chelsea kids played a huge part in keeping Colchester safe from relegation from League One – Billy Clifford’s free kick hit the woodwork and the scramble that followed provided the first goal in their 2-0 win at Carlisle and then goalkeeper Sam Walker made brilliant saves to secure the result.



Youth product: Chelsea youngster Nathaniel Chalobah (left) scored a stunning goal for Watford on Friday night

3 Jermaine Jenas has been one of the few players to emerge from the wreckage of Queens Park Rangers’ season with any credit.

The former England midfielder, 30 in February, has lost the best part of two seasons through serious injuries including his last attempt at returning to the Premier League on loan at Aston Villa being cut short by a freak Achilles injury.

Jenas was the one positive influence during the miserable 0-0 draw at Reading which confirmed relegation with a near 93 per cent completion rate for his 26 attacking passes.

That’s typical of the ten games since he signed an 18 month deal at Loftus Road in which Opta’s stats show his passing accuracy at 90 per cent.



Credit: Jermaine Jenas has been one of very few bright spots for QPR this season

4 Steve Clarke has struck a blow for the legions of coaches who never get a chance to step up to management with his achievements at West Bromwich Albion this season.

Plenty sniffed at his appointment and said he could only go backwards on the top ten finish that Roy Hodgson achieved before taking the England job.

Instead the 3-0 win at Southampton on Saturday means the Baggies have already reached 48 points – their best ever Premier League total – and one more win from the last four matches will guarantee them ending up at least a place higher than last season.



On the up: Steve Clarke could lead West Brom to their highest Premier League finish

5 James Vaughan still has the record for the youngest player to get a goal in the Premier League – he was 16 years and 271 days when he scored for Everton against Crystal Palace back in 2005.

The two previous holders of that record, Wayne Rooney and James Milner, both went on to play for England but a series of injuries meant Vaughan never quite lived up to that.

So his hat-trick in the 3-0 win at Bristol City that all but secured Huddersfield’s Championship status was a reminder of an untapped talent.

Vaughan has scored 13 in 30 games during a season long loan spell from Norwich. Terriers boss Mark Robins wants to sign him permanently in the summer, but other clubs might think a probable £1.5million fee represents a bargain.



Triple threat: James Vaughan (centre) scored all three goals as Huddersfield beat Bristol City



At his best: playing for Team GB hasn't affected Craig Bellamy's fitness this season

6 When Craig Bellamy chose to play for Team GB in the Olympics last summer there were fears it could affect his fitness for the season ahead.

Instead the 33-year-old Welsh star must be looking around to see if he can find a similar tournament to take part in this July.

Bellamy, who has had to deal for years with a persistent knee problem, got through his 37th game of the season in the 1-1 draw with Bolton before collecting the Championship trophy.

7 Steven Pienaar’s winning goal for Everton against Fulham finished off a flowing passing move that was typical of how David Moyes side has developed his team this season.

With three games to go the Toffees have strung together a total of 14,447 passes, already a total they have only beaten in three campaigns since Moyes took over in 2002.

If they maintain the current rate in the last three games they will finish up with 522 more than last season’s record of 15,063.



Expansive: Everton are on course to pass more times in a season than they have done since David Moyes took over in 2002


8 Crazy Gang legend Dave ‘Harry’ Bassett was recruited by the directors of AFC Wimbledon back in October to help choose the next boss after they had sacked Terry Brown.

His theory in selecting Neal Ardley, at the time working as Cardiff’s Academy director, was to use his expertise for the long term bringing through the Dons’ own young players.

It turned out Ardley was a pretty good choice for the short term, too. The 40-year-old, faced with having to win on the final day to keep the club in the League, put a poster on the dressing room wall to tell them that if anything went wrong to remember it was just “in the script” and they were sure to survive in the end.

That kept the players positive when Andy Mangan equalised Gary Alexander’s goal – and a Jack Midson penalty duly delivered the happy ending Ardley promised.

9 Wimbledon have been an inspiration for other clubs who have to go back to the bottom of the pyramid and start again – such as Darlington who were relegated four divisions last summer as punishment for going bust.

They completed the first step of the journey back by beating Team Northumbria 3-1 to clinch the Northern League title.

Managed by former Sunderland midfielder Martin Gray, Darlington have won 39 of 45 games so far and have a goal difference of plus 107. But success, even when it is their first promotion since 1991, comes at a price. The club have already announced that admission charges will go up by a pound a game to £9 in the Evo Stik First Division North next season.






Staying up: Neal Ardley's (left) Wimbledon are staying in League two thanks to a late penalty from Jack Midson


10 On loan Fulham youngster Marcello Trotta took all the flak for the dramatic last minute penalty miss that cost Brentford promotion before Doncaster instead went up the other end to score.
The 20-year-old stepped up hoping to grab the glory even though he wasn’t the designated penalty taker.

Bees boss Uwe Rossler refused to say who should have taken it. But two players who didn’t push the youngster out the way were Sam Saunders and Clayton Donaldson. A year ago they both took – and missed – spot kicks against Stevenage in a game where defeat cost Brentford a place in the play-offs.



Big miss: Marcello Trotta's missed penalty in the last minute of the game against Doncaster cost Brentford automatic promotion

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