Rosenior channels Mourinho at Chelsea as three ‘bests’ expose Tottenham joke Tudor | OneFootball

As Chelsea fans the world over delighted in Reece James committing his future to the club having battled through the physical and mental torment of horrific injury lay-offs, Liam Rosenior “can’t stop smiling” as the Blues boss channels the very best of club hero Jose Mourinho and exposes Igor Tudor as the Tottenham joke prepares his downcast troops for a trip to Anfield.

James put pen to paper on a new six-year deal on Friday which will keep him at Stamford Bridge until 2032 after joining the academy in 2006 as a seven-year-old.

“I can’t stop smiling because we’ve secured the best player in world football in his position,” Rosenior said before smiling when asked why he thought no right-back was a match for James.

“Do I have to explain that when you’ve seen him play? He’s top. When you meet him or see him from afar, you admire him. He can play many different positions, technically, he can score goals, he defends, his athleticism, has tactical understanding.

“The thing that impresses me most is his humility and him as a person. You realise why he has had the career he’s had and will continue to have the career he has as the captain of Chelsea. As long as I’m here, he will be my leader.”

Imagine hearing that as a player – wonderful. And while we may squirm when Rosenior goes full Rosenior – turning common words into portmanteaus and the like – the glimpses we’re afforded of him interacting with the players as well as these public declarations of admiration and love for them paints him as an expert man manager.

There’s no-one better to explain the effect of hearing you’re the world’s best, whether the player or manager actually believe that to be the case, than Frank Lampard, whose first interaction with Mourinho when the Portuguese boss bulldozed his way into English football left him little option but to become the most prolific midfielder in Premier League history.

Lampard said: “Jose said that [I was the best in the world] to me. I certainly didn’t believe it at the time and I don’t know how much he did – but it was great man management.

“I took it at face value and thought ‘if my manager I’m working for is saying that, I’m going to have to show him that he’s right’. I didn’t want to be that player who let him down. I was quite conscientious and wanted to make him happy.”

Last week Rosenior was putting Joao Pedro in the same “category” as Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe, claiming he “wouldn’t swap Joao for anyone at the moment”.

And while that’s not quite as absurd as it sounds given the Brazilian’s 11 goals and five assists in just 14 games under him, nor is Rosenior’s claim that he “wouldn’t want to sit next to anybody else in world football” other than Moises Caicedo in defensive midfield, unequivocal affirmation of superiority over all others is a hugely powerful motivator.

We concede that a suggestion from Tudor that any of his Tottenham players are the world’s best might come across as a tad too insincere in the current climate but as has become abundantly clear in the longest month of his and many Spurs fans’ lives, tearing strips off despondent footballers isn’t the best method of lifting their spirits in a relegation battle.

While Tudor responded to an Antonin Kinsky mistake (and it was only one – he slipped for the first Atletico Madrid goal) by hooking him after 17 minutes and refusing to acknowledge him as he walked off the pitch, Rosenior said after Chelsea’s defeat to PSG that Filip Jorgensen’s very similar error was on him before refuting claims the Dane doesn’t have the quality to perform at the highest level.

Again, whether Rosenior believes it or not is besides the point. He presumably knows as well as anybody that Chelsea need a better goalkeeper. But that knowledge is no use to him, Jorgensen or Robert Sanchez in what remains of the season.

If he says they’re good enough, they’ll believe they are and work to prove that’s the case, just as James, Pedro and Caicedo will believe they’re the “best in the world”, like Lampard under Mourinho, and that turned out alright.