Avram Grant believes Antonio Conte arrived at Chelsea at the perfect time, while insisting Jose Mourinho is no genius.
Conte took over at Stamford Bridge ahead of this season and has helped the club to an eight-point lead atop the Premier League table.
"Conte came at the right time. The players were ready for the change and wanted the change," the Ghana boss said via The Guardian.
"With a lot of respect to Jose, I didn't like that the media said he was the king of the world and a genius — he was not — and he's not so useless like they are saying about him now.
"He's a good coach, with problems like any other person."
"I think he started to please the supporters. He played 4-4-2 and he'd never played like this in his life — I've followed his whole career," he said.
"He played three at the back with Juventus and had very good results in Italy. He came to Chelsea and changed. Don't change your personality.
"There are coaches who can play different systems, like Alex Ferguson. Conte, [Arsene] Wenger, their style of play will not change and it's not good for them to change because maybe they don't know another system.
"I think the best thing to happen to Chelsea was that they lost 3-0 to Arsenal — then he came back to his roots and they play a system that is also good for their players."
