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Ex-Chelsea captain Terry: I was too hard on De Bruyne and Salah

Former Chelsea captain John Terry admits he could've supported Kevin de Bruyne and Mohamed Salah during their time at the club.

Both players struggled with the Blues before De Bruyne made his name with Manchester City and Salah with Liverpool.

Terry recalled on the Obi One Podcast: "They were both wingers, wide men. I think us as central defenders [Terry] and holding midfielders [John Obi Mikel] are very robust - you do your job and give it to the better players.

"I think as wingers you go from being in the team for five weeks running and scoring to all of a sudden you don't score and your confidence goes. It happened to Joe Cole for example.

"Wingers and forwards are definitely up and down throughout the season and they definitely need that little bit of care, comfort and reassurance.

"When all foreign players arrived and didn't speak much English, I always did a 20-word document that would translate the football terms for them. Simple ones like 'man on', 'let it go' and 'one-two' etc so that when they were on the training pitch they understood the football terminology.

"From that side of it I think I did all that I could for when boys arrived to help them settle. Once we crossed the white line I was probably a little bit too hard on them as well.

"Listen, we learn and since I've gone into coaching it makes you a better all-rounder. I was 24-25 when Mourinho came in as manager and you kind of follow suit."

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Paul Vegas

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