JOHN TERRY'S contract stand-off with Chelsea clouded the joy of the stoppage-time equaliser by Diego Costa which secured a 1-1 draw with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
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| John Terry is waiting on Chelsea about his contract, while Kurt Zouma suffered a horror leg injury |
The club captain claimed that he still had not heard from the club despite making clear last week his frustration that negotiations have not started over a new contract.
"It's a difficult one," he said. "The club is the most important thing but there's no communication at the moment. I said what I had to say, that's how it is. I've made it very clear I want to stay, but more important is getting up to where we should be in the table."
But manager Guus Hiddink hinted at an impasse by insisting the matter was closed as far as he was concerned.
"We have dealt with this issue last week," he said. "Let's wait and see what happens. We're all focusing on the games in the tough weeks coming up, not the decision."
Terry's importance in the run-in could be magnified with Hiddink concerned that Kurt Zouma may be ruled out for the rest of the season after he was carried off on a stretcher following an awkward fall.
"The rest of the season is hopefully too much, but tomorrow he will have an examination," he said. "If you've seen the images and have experience of hyperextensions of the knee joint, it's very bad when you land with a hyperextension of your leg.
When it's like that, it's very bad, but tomorrow we'll know." If anything, the clock is ticking even louder for Louis Van Gaal, who remonstrated with the fourth official at the end after the referee blew time on both halves with Manchester United on the counter-attack.
"It was simple," he said. When you whistle for the end of the match, then you have to whistle either on the sixth minute of added time and not let the corner be taken.
"Otherwise you have to let go that event of the game.
"We were on a counter-attack, and then he whistles. He did it also in the first half - so, twice against Manchester United.
"I don't think it's fair. When you decide, as the referee, that after six minutes they can take the corner kick, then you have to let us take the counter-attack when the space is like that. I think."
Overall, though, he saw a draw as a step in the right direction after last year's 1-0 defeat here, but charmlessly continued his feud with the media, rounding on a journalist who put to him reports that the club are actively seeking his successor by saying the reporter should be sacked.
And in assessing United's performance, Van Gaal added: "I think it was not a 'boring' match, so for the third time in a row it was sparkling. So I also hope to get the support of the media this week."
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