EXCLUSIVE: Jermaine Jenas - JT is still Mourinho's main man but Ivanovic's form is alarming

The former England, Tottenham and Newcastle midfielder writes exclusively for Yahoo as our Football Ambassador

I've got some deflating news for all those queuing up to proclaim the demise of John Terry today. He's not finished, and he'll be starting Chelsea's next game.

The Blues captain's half-time substitution at Manchester City yesterday would have hurt him like hell, but Terry is still Jose Mourinho's guy. I believe the manager's decision to take off Terry was the correct one. Mourinho knew his team would have to play high up the pitch in the second half at the Etihad, leaving them susceptible to the counter-attack. Chelsea needed Kurt Zouma's pace on the pitch and Terry, as the slowest player in that Blues back four, was the obvious fall guy.  

But that's not John Terry dropped; it was just a tactical choice for one game. Mourinho still trusts his captain, who will continue to be one of the first names on his teamsheet.

Not that Terry's pride won't have taken an almighty knock. It's the kind of thing that just doesn't happen to him. Ever. Win, lose or draw, Terry has been the focal point of Chelsea's team for a long time. Even when he's made mistakes in the past, he has taken it on the chin and carried on. But he's never had to deal with being dragged off at half-time. It's something he's seen Mourinho do to the likes of Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips in the past, and now it's happened to him. But John is a team player, and if he accepts that Mourinho made the decision for the good of Chelsea, he will suck it up and respect it.

The season was always going to come where Terry would no longer be invincible at Chelsea, and this is it. There are young players knocking on the door, and Terry will have to get used to more rotation in his position, regardless of whether he is playing well or not. Mourinho is looking to the future.

It's the place of Branislav Ivanovic that could be in more imminent danger. The Serbian has been Chelsea's most consistent player over the past five years, but he looks totally out of sorts. I've never seen Ivanoic beaten for pace and power before, but it's happened two weeks running - first up against Swansea's Jefferson Montero and then yesterday against Raheem Sterling.

Chelsea were in the ascendancy in the second half at the Etihad, when they were 1-0 down, but it was Ivanovic who cost his side a goal at a crucial time when Vincent Kompany easily beat him to a header to score City's second.  It has been alarming to watch, not least for Mourinho, because we haven't seen Ivanovic get bullied before.

Promising signs from Sterling

In Ivanovic's defence, he had the misfortune of coming up against a Manchester City left side that looked unplayable. The combination of Silva, Sterling and Kolarov was lethal, and they are going to terrorise most right-backs this season.

Sterling's start to the season perhaps hasn't been as eye-catching of some of City's other star performers, but I like the fact that he has slotted into a position and already started to build relationships on the pitch.

One of the hardest things when you get to a new club is getting to know how your team-mates play. For example, when I played with Robbie Keane at Tottenham, I'd always know exactly where he was on the pitch, even if I was looking in the opposite direction. I was perfectly attuned to how Keane and Dimitar Berbatov operated, which meant I could make runs behind defences for balls that hadn't even come yet, purely because I knew those two strikers would drop deep to get the ball and those passes would eventually come.   

Sterling still has to go through that learning process at City, but the signs are there that it's already started. As he gets to know the likes of Silva and Kolarov better, he will improve and become more instinctive. It will take half a second off a lot of his decisions and give him an extra edge. I think he can get a lot of goals from that position for City this season.

Chelsea look stale, City look angry

Jose Mourinho got his team selection wrong yesterday because Chelsea's defence didn't have enough protection. It wasn't just Ivanovic on the right-hand side who needed help, but Ramires and Cesc Fabregas also needed to do more in central midfield. City seemed tactically prepared for Chelsea sitting back, like Mourinho's sides do in these big games, and Manuel Pellegrini combated it by overloading areas, such as the left side.  

But there may be more to Chelsea's lacklustre display. When a team has been together a while things can get stale, especially after you've reached a peak like they did last season. Chelsea look like they are in a comfort zone and Mourinho may need to make a big signing this month to snap them out of it.

City, on the other hand, look incredibly focused. Whereas last season there was a tendency to complain and feel sorry for themselves, this season they look angry. Their players had a look in their eye yesterday that Mourinho will hope - and need - to see in his players next weekend.