Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
John Terry has delivered his analysis of Chelsea’s 3-0 hammering at Brentford on Friday night, and the role given to Valentin Barco during set-pieces has left the Chelsea legend “baffled”.
Having only lost once in Alonso’s first six matches in charge, and that was away at Arsenal, Alonso’s men were soundly beaten by West London rivals Brentford. Chelsea were missing some of their best players.
Reece James, Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro were all missing as Chelsea travelled the short distance to the G-Tech. Luckily for Chelsea, Caicedo has not been called up to Ecuador’s squad by Marcelo Gallardo.
Alonso handed four full Premier League debuts to Jordan Henderson, Valentin Barco, Danny Welbeck and Pep Chavarria, and perhaps that was too many in one go. Chelsea were unorganised from start to finish.
John Terry stunned by what Valentin Barco was doing
Brentford’s first goal came from a set-piece. Jaidon Anthony got on the end of Jannik Schuster’s first contact, who got above Barco to head the ball back across Chelsea’s six-yard box for Anthony to score.
John Terry spoke on his YouTube channel on Sunday evening, explaining how the decision to allow Barco to mark Brentford defender Schuster left him stunned. He said Barco was never going to win the header.
“It baffles me. The corner comes over, Schuster gets a free header at the back post being marked by probably our smallest man on the pitch, Barco. The header comes back and Anthony heads it in.
“Really disappointing. I’m old school, I like man for man, not this zonal or front-post marking. I think Brentford identified this at half-time, that our smallest man are picking up their biggest players.
“Basically, we’re allowing Brentford to win those headers. Barco is never winning those headers. You could put 100 balls into the box, he’s not beating Schuster [in the air], absolutely no chance,” Terry said.
Brentford v Chelsea FC - Premier League 2026/27
Photo by Harvey Murphy/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Chelsea would be smart to listen to John Terry’s advice
There is some thinking in keeping your biggest players free to attack the ball. But what is the point when the first contact is a player standing at a lofty 6ft 3in, being marked by Barco – who is a mere 5ft 6in?
Terry has suggested that Austin MacPhee has his players adopt a man-to-man marking style, and not a zonal formation. Chelsea are currently worst-ranked in the Premier League for set-piece goals conceded.
Given the money spent to bring MacPhee to the club from Aston Villa, it is clearly not working. MacPhee could do a lot worse than flicking on Terry’s YouTube channel and adopting some of his set-piece ideas.