John Terry reveals Mourinho’s tricks that gave Chelsea mental edge

If there is one thing that cannot be denied, it is former Chelsea boss, Jose Mourinho’s mentality as a winner, and for Chelsea legend, John Terry, it was one of his tricks that helped the Blues to develop a mental edge over its opponents.

The Former Chelsea captain John Terry has revealed the unique tactic used by Jose Mourinho to gain a mental edge over opponents during his time as Chelsea manager.

Terry, who won 14 trophies during his time at the club, made over 700 appearances for Chelsea and was managed by Mourinho on two separate occasions, from 2004 to 2007 and 2013 to 2015. Speaking on Stephen Hendry’s Cue Tips, Terry revealed the extent to which Mourinho pushed his players.

“When Mourinho came in he brought a completely different mentality to the training ground,” Terry said.

“For home games, we used to walk in with our clothes for the night out after. So you know when you see players getting off the bus – we’d get off the bus with our gear to go on a night out. And he’d be like: ‘don’t mind as long as you win’.”

Terry went on to explain that Mourinho was obsessed with winning and would do anything to gain an edge over his opponents. He recalled a specific incident in which Mourinho exploited a little-known rule to gain an advantage.

“I remember, the rule was, if we were 1-0 up and the ball got delivered into the box…if two defenders went up together and both went down on the floor after, you didn’t have to go off the field of play,” Terry said.

“So last 10 or 15 minutes, he would sit me and Gary Cahill down and go: ‘when the ball comes in the box, make sure you both go down – bump into each other and both go down because you can’t both go off.'”

Terry said that he and Cahill had never heard of the rule before and that Mourinho’s attention to detail gave him a significant advantage over other managers.

“Mourinho was so far ahead with those little bits and you’re talking small margins and the best managers find those little margins,” Terry said. “Incredible.”

Terry also spoke highly of Mourinho’s man-management skills and his ability to make players feel like the best in the world.

“Oh he was the best by a mile, just from everything – from man management, from the training perspective… from day one he was unbelievable,” Terry said.

“He made you feel like I was the best defender in the world. Whether he thought it or not, he went and told the press that, he told me that, he’d message me at night that; he’d push me every day in training.”