Gary Cahill: Jose Mourinho is a top-quality manager

Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has heaped praise on manager Jose Mourinho’s tactical masterclass that helped the West Londoners defeat Manchester City and move to within two points of league leaders Arsenal.

The 28 year-old, who was one of the Blues’ top three performers in the crucial 1-0 victory is adamant that Mourinho’s presence has instilled a new sense of belief in Chelsea’s contingent of talent.

“When you’ve got a massive club, with massive players, and you add a massive manager – it combines really well. He knows – not necessarily egos – but he knows how to manage big players, and everything else that comes with it. He has experience.

“He’s got the CV for a reason. He’s obviously a top-quality manager. We worked on a few things the last couple of days, which he was adamant we would put into practice. It paid off for us and we managed to defend solidly. But we did have our fair share of the ball, and our attacking players went and created — which he asked of them. Overall, I’m sure he’ll be buzzing with it, and the lads go away from here really happy.

“It’s new for me – I’ve obviously not played under him before. It’s working well and at the minute we’re playing well. We’re doing what he’s asked of us at the minute,” Cahill told The Evening Standard.

While free-scoring City and high flying Arsenal have stolen the headlines for the majority of the campaign, Cahill is happy for his side to slip under the radar if they continue to deliver in the big games.

“We go about our business quietly.The draw with West Ham put us a couple of points behind and made this game even bigger. To come here and to get a win is very, very difficult. But I thought we came here with a game plan; it worked and everyone put in a shift.

“Just before we left the hotel, it came on Sky saying they hadn’t failed to score at home since 2010. So we were buzzing with that when we left! I think they were talking about how many it was going to be but we defended really well,” he declared.

The former Bolton man, who has developed an excellent understanding with defensive partner John Terry, also delivered a ringing endorsement of his Portuguese manager’s ability to tweak his squad and cope with the departure of players such as Juan Mata.

“Football is a results business – when you’re winning people don’t tend to say too much, when you’re losing everyone is adding their two pennies’ worth. A fantastic, world-class player has left the club – no doubt about that. But we’ve added another great player (Nemanja Matic); he’s started two matches for us, and I think he’s been fantastic in both of them.

“Juan and him are totally different players so we can’t really compare them. But against City, Matic brought that strength. He played against Stoke [in the FA Cup] and he brought strength, power, in the middle of the field. He breaks play up, and he can drive forward with it as well. He looks like the all-round player,” insisted Cahill.

Although Mourinho has continued his minds game by claiming his side are not ready to challenge for the title despite sitting in third place, Cahill and his team mates are in excellent position to kick on and claim the trophy after such a morale boosting victory at the expense of their rivals.