John Terry defends José Mourinho, claims players are 'prepared to fight'

Chelsea captain John Terry was chosen to accompany José Mourinho in today's press conference ahead of our Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev. Unsurprisingly, the Blues' captain came prepared to defend his manager with his words:

"We need to stay together in the dressing room. [We are] 100 percent behind [Mourinho]."

Terry continued his defense on Mourinho by tackling the issues regarding Chelsea player performances as a whole, claiming it's time for them to pick up the manager's tab from all his effort in shielding the squad and taking responsibility for himself:

"José's under pressure because of the way we're performing. He can do all the work he can on the training field and team meeting, but once we step over the white line it's on us."

"We know we need to be better, collectively, for this club and for him. He will take a lot of the responsibility on his shoulders, and that's unfair."

"It's on all of us, collectively, not just on him. We are prepared to fight."

Regarding the unrest rumours, John Terry made himself very clear on how they would deal with the situation:

"If any player said that [they would rather lose than win for Mourinho], they wouldn't get out of the dressing room."

-John Terry; Source: The Telegraph

Terry also spoke on the importance of keeping not only José Mourinho but also Eden Hazard at Chelsea, praising both for being some of the best at their jobs and asserting how confident he is in Mourinho's competence to turn things around for the club:

JT says the manager is good at protecting his players. He says Jose is the best manager he's seen at Chelsea. #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) 3 novembro 2015

JT says Eden Hazard is one of the best players he has ever played alongside and it's important he and the manager stay at Chelsea. #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) 3 novembro 2015

JT: 'In all aspects he is by far the best manager I have worked with. I'm sure we will turn this around.' #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) 3 novembro 2015

And to close the interview, our captain felt the need to criticize former player Robbie Savage, who had previously written in a column to the Daily Mirror about Terry's downfall this season:

JT says can take criticism from top ex-players like Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville, but not ones like Robbie Savage. #CFC

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) 3 novembro 2015

Most of the media are already focusing on Terry's jab at Robbie Savage, which is unfortunate given the strong support he's shown to José Mourinho throughout the press conference in true "captain, leader, legend" fashion. But we shouldn't fool ourselves as John Terry's words probably won't hold the same weight in the board's process of deciding whether or not the Portuguese manager should be kept at the club if the results remain the same.