• Club captain praises new manager's methods • 'Everyone understands the way he wants us to play'

John Terry has given a ringing endorsement of André Villas-Boas after almost a month working under the new Chelsea manager. The 33-year-old's methods have made a huge impression on Chelsea's seasoned professionals after five victorious pre-season matches, according to Terry, the club's captain.

Villas-Boas was renowned for his attention to detail when he worked as a scout at Stamford Bridge under José Mourinho. Terry, widely regarded as the most influential figure in the Chelsea dressing room, said that was only one of the former Porto manager's many qualities.

"He's come in and, really, from day one, he's been on the ball and on the button with us all," said the defender, who is on his 10th manager, including caretakers, at Stamford Bridge. "So we're all intrigued to see what he can bring over the next few weeks and the forthcoming season."

Describing Villas-Boas's style of communication, the England captain told Chelsea TV: "He won't mumble on for 20, 30 minutes at a time. It's quite short, quite brief, but he covers everything, whether that be in training or in the team meetings.

"One thing I've really been impressed with is the training side of things. There's a real emphasis – whether that's because it's pre-season at the moment – on the way he wants us to play, individually, collectively.

"We've done an awful lot of ball work, but I've been really impressed and everyone seems to finally understand the way he wants us to play. Naturally, that's going to take a few more games to get it where we want to be but certainly we're implementing that every day."

Villas-Boas may be on track to improve the quality of Chelsea's football but the manager will live and die by results, and has admitted that he needs to win something in his maiden season.

The Portuguese could, therefore, be forgiven for cracking the whip in training to ensure there is no complacency from his new side when the Premier League season kicks off. But Terry said Villas-Boas was far from a slave driver and revealed that he had compared notes with Aston Villa and Blackburn players during the recent Barclays Asia Cup in Hong Kong, which Chelsea won.

"André is a modern manager," Terry said. "The thing that impresses me, he understands the players. He's not old school. I've been speaking to a couple of the other lads at Villa and Blackburn. They're on double sessions and they're busting their guts basically every day.

"Whereas I think football has moved on a bit from a few years back, and he certainly understands that, and listens, and takes on board what we say."