John Terry praises Chelsea character, rues penalty no-call against Manchester United

Chelsea extended the somewhat impressive unbeaten run to eleven games yesterday, but also had to settle, somewhat less impressively, for yet another draw, the second against Manchester United in a little over a month, this time on our turf. Captain John Terry looked for positives after the match, praising the team's "great character" for fighting back and getting a draw out of the whole affair, despite being, at times, dominated by the visitors.

"A draw is probably a fair result. They started well in the first half but as the game went on in the second half we grew into it. It was disappointing to go a goal behind but it was a great response again."

"We have shown that great character since the manager has come in and that is good to see. Man United are a good side and they're in good form as well so it's not a bad result, but ideally we need to start winning."

"We're in that mid-table area and teams around us are dropping points. We need to start winning and getting out of it. We were on a good early run but we've been drawing too many games of late."

"We need to start getting up the table to where we should be. We are disappointed to be where we are in the league but the fans have been brilliant and stuck with us through thick and thin. The Champions League kicks in as well soon so the games are coming thick and fast and we must improve."

-John Terry; source: Chelsea FC

It's unclear what "good early run" JT's referring to; Chelsea have been alternating back-to-back draws with back-to-back wins ever since Hiddink came in.  The eleven games unbeaten sounds great, but 12 points out of 24 possible (2 wins and 6 draws in Hiddink's 8 Premier League matches) do not.  So once again, as we have since the very beginning of the season, we are left to talk about improving and winning as opposed to actually improving and winning.

And getting unlucky.  On another day, Daley Blind gets called for stopping JT's shot with his hand.  Then again, on another day he doesn't slip to allow Fabregas's pass to reach Diego Costa in stoppage time.

"It was going in. He's put his hands out. They're difficult ones for the referee but inside the box, it's going in, so it's got to be a pen for me."

-John Terry; source: Chelsea FC

The reality of the situation could be that this is the best we can do and, unfortunately, as Hiddink's team proved in 2009, not losing is still no guarantee of advancing in Europe.  Winning is not only key for Chelsea not only to move up the Premier League table, but also to build up momentum going into the knockout phases of the Champions League.  Paris beckons in 10 days.  Newcastle first.  Let's see some wins!