Chelsea FC defender Kurt Zouma has come out in defence of Blues boss Jose Mourinho.
Chelsea slipped back into their poor form this weekend as they made the long trip to Newcastle United only to come away with a 2-2 draw. Furthermore, the Blues deserved to lose the game until they were saved by substitutes Willian and Ramires who bagged a goal each to rescue a point.
With Jose Mourinho’s executive decisions coming for criticism, centre-back Kurt Zouma has defended the Portuguese manager in an interview with Telefoot (via the Evening Standard).
"He has taught me a lot. He does not like losing and expects a lot from me…For me, he is the best coach in the world."
There is little denying that Mourinho has been one of the greatest tacticians in recent times, if not in history, but he will certainly take comfort in Zouma’s comments as he comes under fire for Chelsea’s poor performances.
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While the players have certainly been terrible, the fact that Mourinho has continued to roll out the under-performers in a starting role has called some to question his decision-making. Loyalty is a big part of football and the boss understandably would find it difficult to drop the likes of Nemanja Matic, Cesc Fabregas and Branislav Ivanovic.
Having said that, their potential replacements (Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Abdul Baba Rahman) have impressed in their little playing time and changes are needed to shake up this stagnant squad.
However, while Mourinho is liable to criticism at the moment, his overall track-record supports Zouma’s statement. Interestingly, the Frenchman mentioned that Raphael Varane was cited as a case study during one of the conversations that he had with the boss.
"Last year he spoke to me a lot about Real Madrid centre-back Raphael Varane. He told me I was making the same mistakes as him."
Real Madrid’s Varane did in fact come out earlier in the season to speak about the positive impact that Mourinho had on his career. As he failed to put in sufficient effort during training, Jose took him aside to remind him that great players are made on the training field. Or as he put it, the boss gave him a ‘kick up the backside’.
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The key to a truly great manager is their ability to manage the often wide variety of personalities within a squad. Sir Alex Ferguson always found a way to not just get the best out of his players, but have them playing on a level that shouldn’t have been possible.
Mourinho, in all fairness, has often headed a squad full of stars but sometimes those are the hardest to motivate. With the often abrasive, brash and arrogant personalities, Mourinho has been king in dealing with them.
Consequently, a statement such as Zouma’s should not come as too much of a surprise to those familiar with how Mourinho works. Nonetheless, this will be a welcome bit of praise in a difficult time for the boss.
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