Jose Mourinho says his Chelsea squad have grown up this season and he no longer has to use confrontational leadership techniques to motivate them.
The Special One freely admits last season he was forced to criticise his players publicly in the media in order to prompt a response on the pitch.
Those days are gone though and the Blues are flying high at the top of the Premier League as they prepare to resume their title tilt at Hull on Sunday lunchtime.
They lead Manchester City by six points and Mourinho is confident his table-toppers are ready to go the distance this term and pinch the crown from Manchester City.
He said: “Confrontational leadership is when you are ready to provoke your players to try to create some confidence.
“Criticise a player in the media. Criticise a player in front of you and try to provoke a reaction from him of of anger, of not being happy with his manager, of trying to show I’m not right.
“The intention is to bring out the best in them. At this moment, I don’t think I need to do that because things are going in the direction I want.
“This season I don’t need confrontational leadership. Last season I felt I needed it at times. I didn't think there were many of them that were ready.
“This season I don’t need that because everything is going in relation to the team and players. On motivational terms and responsibility terms, I am happy with them.
“Obviously, you can say you lost in the Champions League or you lost to Bradford City.
“But generally the way they work and behave, their motivations, the way they react to negative or positive moments, it is all going well.
“I just need to be present. I don’t need to be the big leader or even try to find strategies as a leader. Everything goes normal.”
Mourinho clashed with Eden Hazard following Chelsea’s Champions League exit last May when the Special One claimed he wasn’t ready to sacrifice himself for the team.
It seems a prime example of the Portuguese boss using his confrontational method and Hazard’s performances on the field improved in the wake of the criticism.
However, the Blues manager isn’t so sure it was his comments that did the trick in the case of the Belgian forward.
Mourinho added: “Maybe it was just his maturity coming. His level of ambition coming. I don’t think it was me with that particular episode.
“When he was young player of the year it was not a big thing for him. He was not emotional with that.
“He doesn’t want to be the best young player of the year, he want to be the player of the year. He wants to win titles, he wants to improve his game, he wants everything.
“I think it was an accumulation of feelings, of feedbacks from everybody, that made him go in a certain direction. I still call him a kid but he is a man.
“He can be better and reach a fantastic level in stability, not up and down, but even his bad is never bad. Good evolution from him.”
John Obi Mikel is Chelsea’s only injury concern ahead of the trip to Yorkshire to take on Steve Bruce’s Tigers.
Who would you pick against the Tigers? Have your say below.
