Source: These Football Times
By Gary Thacker
Sometimes it's hard to tell what kind of historical status a pair of court duos should have.
For example, Vieira and Petit, who were in arsenal's heyday, were both important members of the midfield of that team, but to what extent? After all, during that period, Bergkamp, Henry, Seaman, Dixon, Adams and others were also important components in that victory machine...
Also, how do you evaluate Roy Keane and Scholes in United's heyday? Have they contributed more to the team than Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs or David Beckham?
But in some places on the pitch — especially on the offensive or defensive ends — it's not particularly difficult to identify a "golden pair" and celebrate their historical standing, after all, you can always use relatively objective statistics to get the answers you want.
Mourinho's two centre-backs in charge of Chelsea for the first time, John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho, are a clear example.
Terry was already an important member of Chelsea before Mourinho joined Stamford Bridge, and the club's former manager has seen him as a cornerstone of defence. However, the shrewd Portuguese recognized Terry's personal ability and found that he lacked a reliable assistant at his side, and if he could find a new teammate for Terry with complementary abilities, Chelsea's defence would be equivalent to directly installing two bolts.
In the 2003–04 season, Mourinho led Porto to great success in the Champions League. Like the manager, who planned to move to West London in advance, many of the main players in that team planned to leave the Dragons stadium in the summer of 2004.
Among these hot players, Carvalho is one of the most sought after by the major European clubs.
After following Porto to the club's ultimate honours, Portugal international Carvalho shined at Euro 2004 and managed to enter the tournament's best squad. Such outstanding performances also allow him to get crazy pursuits from top giants such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Manchester United.
Mourinho also believed that his former lover would be able to spark with Terry at Chelsea, so he persuaded the Chelsea boss to pay the £25 million that contributed to the transfer. From today's point of view, this is definitely a very good value for money transaction.
However, the Portuguese's first impression at Stamford Bridge was not good – like many foreign players who made their first time in the Premier League, the black-eyed Carvalho had a difficult period of adaptation.
In the days when Carvalho had not yet found the rhythm of the game, many reporters left many vicious comments about his performance, such as "it is unacceptable to introduce such a parallel cargo", "Carvalho seems to have a barrier to understanding, he should probably test his IQ"...
Mourinho had punished Carvalho and even excluded him from the squad at one point. This "proper knocking" later proved to work, and from September 2004 onwards, we met a reinvented Carvalho.
With the return of competitive form, Carvalho naturally became Terry's number one partner, and Chelsea's defence began to become perfect.
From many successful teams, we can find that the secret of the success of a good pair of central defenders is actually "complementary" rather than "similar".
In addition to Chelsea, another pair of successful centre-backs in the Early 21st Century Premier League, Manchester United's Vidic and Ferdinand, also falls into this category. The ruthless Serbian strongman Vidic, who will act as an interceptor in the game, this kind of player is good at physical confrontation on the ground and in air combat, belonging to the tough guy role in old football; Ferdinand's physical fitness is also very good, but compared to Vidic, he is better at reading and analyzing the game, and making up positions and assisting defense is his best play.
In the Chelsea squad, it was naturally Captain Terry who played the role of Vidic.
The slogan "Captain, Leader and Legend" hanging from Stamford Bridge highly encapsulates Terry's place in the club's history. On the pitch, Terry showed domineering like a lion. We found that his dedication actually came from the heart – he really enjoyed defending.
In addition, he and Vidic are the kind of players who "make their own fans love to death, and make the opposing fans hate to death".
Although in terms of height and body shape, Carvalho is at a disadvantage compared to Ferdinand. But Carvalho has always been able to use the "street intelligence" and "dark art" he has accumulated to limit the performance of the opposing strikers.
Moreover, the Portuguese's movement speed is also significantly faster, always in front of the opposing striker to snatch the ball, and even can plan a quick counterattack from the backcourt at the first time. In the 2005-06 home win over Manchester United 3-0 in the game that set the stage for the league victory, Carvalho's third goal was very representative.
In addition, whether the two centre-back players can be in tune with each other and rub a tacit spark is also one of the important factors that determine success or failure.
In an interview with the club's official magazine, Carvalho said of his first impression when he first joined Chelsea: "In my first year of play, I did have a lot of trouble. Because I came to a whole new club, a whole new country and a whole new league, it was far more intense than the Portuguese league I had adapted to," he admitted, "and JT (Terry's abbreviation) quickly discovered the problem and he helped me a lot both on and off the pitch." He made me feel more at ease. Not only is he one of the best players I've ever worked with, he's also a great leader. ”
Carvalho then spoke of the importance of his and Terry's complementarity.
"He's stronger than me, he's better at air combat, and I prefer to keep the ball on the ground. That's why we're a good defensive pair. As a centre-back, no matter which teammate you partner with, you have to be very familiar with him and be able to understand each other very well. I would instinctively foresee his next move, and he would do the same to me. This tacit understanding is very critical. ”
In fact, in that Chelsea team at the time, Carvalho was not the only centre-back partner ThatTri could find. The Frenchman Galla's performance in the early days of Stamford Bridge was also highly praised by the outside world, but with the rise of Carvalho, Gala had to move his position to the flank. When a British newspaper asked Terry to list what he thought was Chelsea's best squad a few years ago, he didn't hesitate to write Carvalho's name on the centre-back position.
As I've seen above, statistics tend to be the most effective tool when evaluating a defensive duo. The numbers that Terry and Carvalho have achieved at their peak also seem to be enough proof that they are one of the most successful centre-back pairs in the history of the Premier League. In all 38 premier league games of the 2004-05 season, Chelsea retained their "innocence" in 25 of them, while in 19 games at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea conceded only 6 goals in total!
That season, whether it was Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool or Manchester City, Arsenal, Everton, they never tore through the defense guarded by Terry and Carvalho at Stamford Bridge.
On the contrary, the middle and lower teams of Birmingham, Bolton, Crystal Palace and Fulham have achieved some windfalls in the game, and even so, the gifts from the two are as stingy as "scrooges". Thanks to their calculations, Chelsea eventually won the long-lost league title with a record 95 points.
In the following 2005-06 season, Chelsea, who was not willing to "dream a day", continued to continue its hegemonic rule in the Premier League. During the period when Terry and Carvalho were on the rise, a newspaper even issued a £10,000 bounty order for the first player to knock on Chelsea's city that season.
As a result, from August until the end of September, the money was securely locked in the newspaper's safe. But in the final league round in September, Aston Villa player Luke Moore finally took the prize money. But by this time, Chelsea's total game time in the 05/06 season had accumulated to 10 hours.
Of course, some people will jump out and say that this should be the credit of Chelsea's entire backline, and even the entire team, and should not push Terry and Carvalho on the altar alone. This is naturally a stand-up point of view, after all, who can ignore the existence of super goalkeeper Petr Cech? The contribution of Ferreira and Gala on both flanks cannot be ignored. Also, how can we forget that there is a player named Makelele in front of the entire defense?
Yes, every link in this team affects each other. And the more you analyze this, the more you tend to fall into a cycle.
As discussed at the beginning of this article, how much is the value of a midfielder? On the one hand, all striker players must rely on the support of midfielders, but on the other hand, their value needs to be shown by the results of the game.
What makes football so appealing is its controversial nature.
But when discussing the value of Terry and Carvalho," we might be able to do something "simple and crude." In addition to having data as a support, we can also see with the naked eye how much of a capability advantage they have at their peak (compared to other peers). That's enough for the two to establish a lofty historical place in Chelsea's team history.
Last year, Liverpool star Carragher also listed what he thought of as the "Top Ten Central Defenders in the Premier League" in the Daily Mail column, and he not only put Terry in the first place, but Carvalho's name also appeared in the fifth place.
The recognition from high-level peers is also the most authoritative recognition of the career of this defensive fighter.