The Special One Title winning tactics

Mourinho at Chelsea, Twice Over

How I rebuilt both title-winners in FM26

Mourinho’s Chelsea is the clearest example I know of control without noise. Not control in the “have the ball and look pretty” sense — control in the sense that the opponent is always playing the match you’ve designed for them. They can keep possession for long spells and still feel like they’re doing it in a corridor with the doors locked. No central access. No clean turns. No transition runway. Just a slow build into a trap.

That’s the feeling I wanted in FM26. I wasn’t trying to recreate a formation label or write a history piece. I wanted the same behaviours to show up every match, the same pictures to repeat, and the same inevitability to creep in that moment where the opponent realises they’re not playing their game anymore.

So I rebuilt both title eras using the retro database: the 2004/05 fortress and the 2014/15 evolved machine. Same manager. Same club. Two different Premier Leagues and the same fingerprints.

The idea that links both spells

When I strip Mourinho down to the essentials, it always comes back to the same thing: protect the middle, kill transitions, and force the opponent into predictable areas where you can win duels and reset the game on your terms. The difference between the two spells isn’t the philosophy; it’s where the control begins.

In the first spell, control starts with the block and the reset. In the second spell, control starts higher up the pitch, with the forwards pressing more aggressively, and the whole thing only stays stable because there’s a plug behind them.

2004/05: the fortress

If there’s one image that sums up Mourinho’s first Chelsea, it’s the shape screen. In possession, it’s functional and calm. But the identity shows up when the ball is lost. The team collapses into a compact defensive picture that makes the pitch feel small, with the centre shut and the opponent gently guided into wide areas that look safe until they aren’t.

That’s what you see in here. It’s not a team built to chase. It’s a team built to compress.



What I love about this version is how little it needs to look dramatic. The control comes from spacing. From connected lines. From the opponent constantly seeing the same picture and slowly realising there isn’t a clean route through it.

This is the screen that captures that mentality. It isn’t frantic. It’s measured. The key is how quickly the team resets after turnovers, because that reset is what makes transitions feel like they don’t exist. The opponent wins the ball and still doesn’t feel free.



With the ball, the first spell version isn’t about showing off. It’s about building safely enough that you don’t open yourself up to the one thing that can damage a control team: chaos.

The idea is to stay calm, draw pressure, and then attack with intent when the moment is real not when it’s forced. Even the direct moments are controlled moments. They aren’t desperate. They’re deliberate.



And then you get to the bit that makes this whole recreation worth doing: the numbers reflecting the identity.



Everyone still talks about 2004/05. Not just winning, but dominating in a way that feels cold. It’s a season built on repeatable pictures and predictable outcomes for everyone except the opponent.

2014/15: the evolved machine

The second spell is where Mourinho gets simplified unfairly. People talk about him like he’s one rigid idea. He isn’t. The league he returned to was more tactically aware, more press-resistant, more comfortable playing through pressure. So the Chelsea he built in 2014/15 kept the same defensive DNA, but added sharper teeth.





This is the version where the front line presses more aggressively. It doesn’t abandon the block, it just starts the fight a phase earlier. You can see the in-possession side of that evolution in It still looks like a Mourinho side: structured, controlled, never reckless for the sake of it. But it has more gears. More ways to decide whether the game should be slow or sharp, whether the next phase should be managed or accelerated.



The key evolution shows up without the ball, the above screenshot, which ties the whole “twice over” concept together. This is not the same defensive approach as 2004/05. The intent is more aggressive from the front. The forwards jump more often, the pressure is applied earlier, and the whole team looks a bit more ready to pounce when the opponent tries to build.

But the important part, the Mourinho part, is that the aggression doesn’t come with chaos. It’s protected by the gap-plugger behind it. This is the detail that defines the second spell: the forwards can press because the space behind them is secured. That’s why it works. That’s why it isn’t just running around. It’s aggressive control.

And then the evidence is there. The numbers aren’t trying to mimic 2005 because the league and the game-state of 2015 are different — but it still looks like a Mourinho title win. Strong points, high output, and a defensive record that reflects control rather than survival. It’s “managed dominance” instead of “mythic fortress”, but it’s still the same manager leaving the same fingerprints on the match.













Final thoughts

Putting both recreations side-by-side makes the story obvious: Mourinho didn’t repeat a system; he repeated principles. The first spell wins by shrinking the game and suffocating you after the ball turns over. The second spell wins by doing the same thing, but starting the control a phase earlier, pressing higher with the forwards, while still protecting the space that pressing naturally exposes.