Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho
Chelsea Manager - Jose Mourinho has challenged his players to handle the pressure of competing for the Premier League title like Didier Drogba did in England and Zlatan Ibrahimovic did in Italy, according to Goal.
The Portuguese manager, who was very successful at Stamford Bridge in his first spell, effected the best from Drogba; as Ibrahimovic was also forceful in his Serie A team glory.
And with the Premier League being very challenging this December, Mourinho has urged his squad to handle whatever pressure like Didier and Zlatan.
"I like to put pressure on them, yes, but you have to analyse the players you're working with. I gave Didier as an example. When I put real pressure on him, the animal was always coming out," Mourinho said."Ibrahimovic at Inter - exactly the same. When I put real pressure on him, I knew that the answer was coming. It depends on the players' profiles. Some react in a very good way. Some don't.
"I have players who have told me not to criticise them in front of the other guys because, 'It's not good for my self-esteem'. I've had everything.
"One of the things is to make the pressure of fighting for the title to be something natural, something that players accept in a positive way, not in a negative way. We have here some people who won the title before, but they've not won it for quite a long time. When you don't do that for quite a long time, you forget it.
"We've also got players who were playing in clubs not used to fighting for titles, clubs who'd do fantastic one day and see what would happen the next. That pressure to try and be top of the league, knowing that every little detail and every point can make a difference."
The Blues currently occupy second place in the Premier League table.