Jose Mourinho And The Key Bit His Successors Have Missed Out

I think we would all agree that watching recent Chelsea games has been difficult  and although yesterday’s result at Blackburn saw a clean sheet and three points, I am sure I’m not alone in finding it as unconvincing a performance as the defeats (and draw) which preceded it.

Reviewing recent events it occurred to me that an element of coaching last seen under Jose Mourinho and which I expected to see return under AVB is still absent. It could be it is too early for it to be showing under our new Manager but nonetheless I feel it is worth highlighting.

The Special One was indeed special in many ways but to me one of the most exceptional aspects of his coaching was in his development of ‘the thinking player’. The thinking player was developed by posing tactical problems to the team in training and facilitating their ability to solve those problems themselves without coaching intervention during matches.

We saw its benefits most clearly during Mourinho’s Champions League touch line ban but it was at work in every game and was incredibly frustrating for opposition managers who had got used to changing their own sides tactics and then having at least a short window in which to exploit the unpreparedness of the opposition before their coaching staff could relay instructions. Not so with Jose’s Chelsea, they thought as a team and reacted swiftly to opposition changes.

Perhaps the greatest triumph of this part of Mourinho’s coaching philosophy came after he had gone. Uncle Fester (aka Avram Grant) was in charge as we faced Liverpool in the Champions League semi final and were looking in danger of blowing it. Grant made some inexplicable substitutions; JT was seen gesticulating to the bench apparently seeking explanation which was not forthcoming. Never mind, the thinking player coaching of Mourinho kicked in and the team arranged its own tactics accordingly. I know others agree with my view that the run to Moscow was a triumph of Mourinho’s not of Grant’s and this example demonstrates why.

As with all things coaching, you use it or you lose it and, as managers came and went those players who had starred under Mourinho gradually forgot the thinking player and returned to the classic need for instruction from the bench.

I had hoped that as he had worked under Mourinho, AVB might bring the thinking player back to the Bridge. Maybe he still will? The signs are not good and the defensive frailties of this season only serve to highlight this fact. We had defensive lapses under the Special One but they were very quickly sorted out ON the pitch and hence were rarities.

Of all the Special One’s special gifts, to me the thinking player was the best. I hope we see its return before too much longer.

KTBFFH