‘Why does he do this to people?’ – Ex-Chelsea man on working under ‘brutal’ Mourinho

Former Chelsea winger, Andre Schurrle has opened up on the difficulties he faced while working under  Jose Mourinho and admitted that he found the Portuguese coach’s criticism too difficult to handle at the time.

Mourinho has a reputation for being rather ruthless and that is arguably what has given him so much success during his coaching career.

However, those qualities have also seen him fall out of favour with some of the players he has managed.

It appears that Schurrle is one of those who could not quite live up to the scrutiny of the 57-year-old during his time at Stamford Bridge.

The German international, who announced his retirement at the age of 29 back in July, has revealed that he had a difficult time understanding some of Mourinho’s criticisms at the time.

However, he admitted that he looks back on his former manager’s words differently now.

In a YouTube interview with German presenter Joko Ein Gesprach (as relayed by Football.London), Schurrle said: “He’s (Mourinho) a brutal guy.

“I always thought to myself: What does he do anyway? Why does he treat me like this? Why does he do this to people?

“In retrospect, I realise what he wanted and what resources he was working with. At the time, I couldn’t really deal with the things he wanted from me because of all the harshness and the psychological pressure.

“Back then, it was extremely difficult. I would often drive home after conversations with him and just thought I couldn’t do it anymore. What could I do? He was building up such extreme pressure.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Mourinho is a man who seems to thrive under pressure and it is a known fact that he likes his teams to have the same personality as him while on the pitch. So, he does challenge a lot of his players and while some rise to the challenge, others, like Schurrle, end up crumbling. The Spurs boss hashed out similar treatment to Ndombele, and thankfully for Tottenham, it seems to have bought the best out of the Frenchman.

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