Mourinho Denies Player Unrest

Jose Mourinho last night took the highly unusual step of denying reports that he had been subjected to player pressure to drop Michael Ballack. Reports had claimed that Didier Drogba and Claude Makelele had to be restrained from confronting the Chelsea manager over the German's poor form and Mourinho addressed the subject yesterday in an interview with his club's in-house television station.

"I have read a few articles like this but I know nothing about it," Mourinho said. "Reports about problems in the dressing room are not correct. Do we want more from him [Ballack] in terms of performance? Not from him, from everybody. And if the objective is to put some kind of pressure on me, then no chance because I pick the team, nobody else does it."

In a separate interview with a German channel he said: "Michael has not done anything amazing yet but he is a team player and sacrifices himself for the team. That is another reason why he plays." Mourinho will select him for today's Carling Cup semi-final against Wycombe.

John Terry yesterday escaped suspension for comments about the referee Graham Poll after he was sent off in November's defeat at Tottenham, but the Chelsea and England captain was fined for improper conduct. The £10,000 penalty is unlikely to trouble him unduly and, although the Football Association issued a strong reprimand, the 26-year-old is likely to be relieved at being free to return for Saturday's home match against Wigan.