The former defender said the Portuguese revolutionised Chelsea with his attention to detail in training
Jose Mourinho has been labeled an ‘amazing’ manager by his former player Robert Huth.
Huth played under Mourinho during his time at Chelsea and said his training techniques were revolutionary, but the Portuguese has come under intense scrutiny at Manchester United this season.
The Reds have had a poor start to the campaign, losing three of their opening seven league matches and getting knocked out of the EFL Cup by Derby County, which has led to speculation Mourinho could be sacked.
However, Huth was full of praise for his former boss who won two Premier League titles in his first spell at Chelsea between 2004-07.
“You’d heard him, you’d seen him win the Champions League, so you thought, ‘He knows what he’s doing’ but then he just stepped in, he owned the room, he got players on board straight away,” the German told The Sunday Times.
“For two years that team was amazing. His attention to detail and preparation . . . I’d never seen anything like that.
“We got notepads before games with statistics: how many times the right-back passes to the centre-back. There were preparation sheets about the opposition. Weaknesses, strengths, set-pieces. In training, every exercise was timed. There were ball boys.
“I completely bought into whatever Mourinho said. If he said, ‘Play left wing,’ you’d say, ‘Give me the shirt.’”
Huth also hailed N’Golo Kante, who he played with at Leicester City, and said the midfielder is underated.
“He’s the best player I played with. Of course in skill Hazard is better, gets people off their feet. Ronaldo, Messi… I get all that, I really do. But in terms of impact on a game it’s Kante,” the former defender added.
“I get annoyed. ‘Oh he just wins the ball back’. Which he does. But watch him. He reads three passes ahead. He’ll run 15 yards, then have a burst of acceleration to take the ball off somebody’s feet in a position where he has 30 yards of pitch to drive into.
“His brain works completely different to other footballers.”