John Terry says Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has made Blues title favourites by turning them into long distance runners

JOHN Terry has revealed the most significant change that manager Antonio Conte has introduced during his time at Chelsea – “proper running”.

Club captain Terry, 36, said Conte’s decision to force his players to run for miles and miles in pre-season came as a shock to his experienced squad when the Italian took charge at Stamford Bridge last summer.

Getty Images

Terry – who has been at Chelsea since signing as a 14-year-old apprentice – said Conte’s emphasis on fitness first was totally different to the approaches of his predecessors like Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti.

---

Keep up to date with ALL the CHELSEA news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club page plus fixtures, results and live match commentary

---

But the former England defender admits the squad have been reaping the rewards of manager’s strict demands, as Chelsea are running away with the Premier League title.

Speaking to BT Sport, Terry said: “In all my years playing, I’ve had Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Robbie di Matteo, I’ve never done the kind of running, you know like proper running.

Getty Images

Getty Images

“Everything’s been with the ball. So in the past, under Mourinho, from day one pre-season, you get the balls out.

“But Conte has come in and from the start of pre-season we have done running.

“This is a group that hasn’t done that for seven, eight, nine years

“A shock? Yeah, it was a little bit yeah but after two, three weeks of doing it the lads were going, ‘Physically we feel much better’.”

Terry also said Conte has more emphasis on tactics than any of the other former Chelsea managers, which has been a massive eye-opener for the Blues veteran as he takes his coaching badges.

The team has been transformed since Conte changed to a 3-4-3 formation, and goes into tonight’s game at West Ham with a seven-point lead over Tottenham in second place, with a game in hand.

News Group Newspapers Ltd

Eden Hazard takes on the Swansea defence[/caption]

News Group Newspapers Ltd

Cesc Fabregas of Chelsea ease past Swansea star Tom Carroll[/caption]

Terry is grateful he has seen Conte’s work at first hand and says the rest of the team have taken to the boss’s more technical approach.

“We do a lot more tactically now,” Terry said.

“If I would have said to you I’m going to stop playing last year, and hadn’t had this experience with Conte, I would have gone into my management with the mindset of ‘Im not running my players, not too many tactics because the players don't enjoy it too much’ but that’s the exact opposite.

Getty Images

John Terry says Antonio Conte is more tactical than former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho[/caption]

Getty Images

John Terry lifts the Premier League trophy in 2015[/caption]

Times Newspapers Ltd

John Terry was Chelsea skipper when they won the title in 2010[/caption]

“I have seen a completely different side of it.”

Terry has made 711 appearances for Chelsea since making his debut for the club in October 1998, and has won the Premier League four times.

However his contract is up at the end of the season and he has been sounded out about making a move to the MLS in America – with Steven Gerrard’s former club LA Galaxy favourites to sign him.

Terry and his wife Toni, 35, were left shaken last week after their Surrey home was raided while they were on a family ski trip.