INTERVIEW

Red cards getting too much for Wise
By Adrian Curtis
Monday, February 8, 1999

Dennis Wise has finally admitted his season is being ruined by his disciplinary problems.

The Chelsea captain, sent off for the fourth time this season in the FA Cup victory over Oxford last week, faces another trip to Lancaster Gate to explain a disciplinary record which, when the latest ban takes effect, will have forced him out of 14 games this season.

Wise led a below-par Chelsea to a 1-0 Premiership victory over unlucky Southampton on Saturday then talked about his four red cards this season.

'I've wanted us to win things so much since I've been here and now we're doing that,' said the 32-year-old midfielder, 'but this red card thing is just killing me this season.

'It was all going perfectly against Oxford and then I didn't clear a cross very well. Dean Windass shot and I just palmed the ball away.

'I don't know why. Well I do know why, I thought it was going in. It was instinct. I know the rules and all that but I honestly think I was unlucky.

'If I say sorry again I don't want it to sound empty. But you can't believe how sorry I feel.'

While Manchester United slammed in eight and Arsenal four, Chelsea had to be content with Gianfranco Zola's third free-kick strike of the season to keep them in touch at the top.

But their confidence seems to have deserted them and assistant manager Graham Rix said: 'We don't want to bleat on about it but we are missing key players like Gustavo Poyet, Pierluigi Casiraghi and Tore Andre Flo.'

Chelsea expect to have Flo, who is recovering from an ankle injury, back in a fortnight and Rix added: 'I don't think we could have signed a replacement as good as Flo on loan from anywhere in the world.

'We have scraped through the last few weeks. But Flo will be back in contention soon and he'll be like a new signing to us.

'We've maybe lost a bit of confidence in the way we're playing and we are not really as fluent as we can be. We tell them to go out and enjoy themselves but when you're playing against a team that's well organised, very motivated and physically fit, it's always going to be tough.

'If things are not happening off the cuff then doubts do set in. The important thing is when that is the case you have to have a period where you dig in and grind out results as we have done for the past three or four weeks.'