Jose Mourinho: Pressure from me released the "animal" in Drogba

Didier Drogba

Jose Mourinho has revealed some of his man-management secrets, saying that the pressure that he puts upon some of his players leads to them releasing “the animal.”

The Chelsea manager conceded that such tactics don’t work for all players, but cited Didier Drogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as examples of players who responded well to pressure.

In what could be cited as an example of the Portuguese’s infamous mind-games, he continued his press conference by asserting that Manchester City should be the favourites for the league over his team due to their “absolutely amazing” squad.

On his players, the Chelsea manager said: “I like to put pressure on them, yes, but you have to analyse the players you’re working with.”

“I gave Didier [Drogba] as an example”, he continued. “When I put real pressure on him, the animal was always coming out.”

“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.”

Mourinho moved on to talk about title rivals Manchester City, playing down his own side’s chances.

“The squad is absolutely amazing. They have solutions and solutions and solutions.

“If you ask me which team has more ammunition, I have to try and be honest. I have to apologise to the others in case they’re not happy with what I say, but City are the team with more ammunition.”

Out of Champions League strikers, only Porto’s Jackson Martinez has won more headed duels than Drogba.

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