It is often tempting to assume Chelsea's motives are not pure. They have cultivated a reputation as cynical winners. Jose Mourinho was asked in a recent interview if Machiavelli is an influence in his management style.
So when John Terry announced he had voted for Philippe Coutinho for the PFA Player of the Year award, his choice invited suspicion.
Was the Chelsea captain really such an admirer of Liverpool’s Brazilian who, though terrific since the middle of December, was nonetheless a surprise presence on the six-man shortlist?
Or, with players unable to vote for their teammates, was this a way of indirectly helping Eden Hazard’s candidature by depriving his principal rival, Harry Kane, of more support?
If it was a case of tactical voting, it worked. Hazard was duly anointed his peers' choice on Sunday. He is officially the Premier League's finest.
It amounted to recognition of the Belgian’s talent, his greater consistency and his capacity to make telling contributions in a title run-in when Diego Costa has either been injured or ineffective.
Terry’s own recent form has prompted suggestions he should have been a contender. Instead, no defender has won the PFA award since Terry himself in 2005; none has been named the Footballer Writers’ Footballer of the Year since Steve Nicol in 1988/89. None is likely to this year, either.
But this vote has been cast for a Chelsea defender. It was done in the uncomplaining assumption that Hazard will be the winner and in the knowledge that, having plumped for Robin van Persie in 2013 and Yaya Toure last year, rather than Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez, respectively, this observer is often in the minority.
Still more so this year, in all probability, especially as the Chelsea defender in question is not Terry but Branislav Ivanovic. Terry has indeed been excellent, a player who performs his tasks with such masterly assurance that he seems to have eliminated errors.
Yet Mourinho has devised a system and style of play where his captain has to patrol only a comparatively small area. He is shielded by the division’s best defensive midfielder, Nemanja Matic, and has a left-back, in Cesar Azpilicueta, who tucks in close to him.
In contrast, Ivanovic assumes a huge responsibility. He can be a buccaneering, barnstorming presence, almost a one-man right flank.
While Chelsea have Hazard to create on the left, Ivanovic has more assists than the right winger Willian. No defender scores more vital goals, either, and the Serbian’s extra-time winner in the League Cup semi-final against Liverpool was the most significant strike in ending Mourinho’s three-year title drought.
Goals tend to be the headline contributions, but Ivanovic has forged a deserved reputation as a big-game player. No defender, arguably, is such an important presence on the major occasions.
Consider Chelsea’s past two matches, against Manchester United and Arsenal. Often a marauding attacker, Ivanovic became a dogged defender, exhibiting great positional discipline.
United had enjoyed great success on their left flank in previous games. Arsenal had Alexis Sanchez. Ivanovic snuffed out both threats.
It felt as though Mourinho, with a lead to protect in the title race, had simply decided he would keep a clean sheet in both games. Ivanovic was a major reason why he did.
Those shutouts amounted to demonstrations of authority. A redoubtable team will be crowned champions because they have lost only two of 33 league games.
Ivanovic epitomises that consistency: an ever-present in the division, his blip lasted one game – last month’s win at Hull City – and Chelsea are defined by their defiance.
While Hazard sprinkles fantasy at the other end of the pitch, the core of the team, including Matic, are essentially defensively minded.
Ivanovic embodies them, with his steel and resolve, his physical power and mental strength, his ruthlessness and determination to will at all costs.
His capacity to contribute in the final third is a sign defenders have often proved Chelsea’s best form of attack.
He is a player of such distinction that, if deployed infield, he could challenge Terry for the title of the Premier League’s best centre-back. Instead, he is its outstanding right-back.
The job description almost debars him from the individual honours. It should not.
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