If he gets closed down it means one of the two other central midfielders is open. If nobody comes to him he can see the whole pitch and has time. It starts with Makelele, who is between the lines. That’s because I will always have an extra man. In the very words of the man himself, 'Look, if I have a triangle in midfield – Claude Makelele behind and two others just in front – I will always have an advantage against a pure 4-4-2 where the central midfielders are side by side. Before arriving, Mourinho had just won his first Champions League trophy as a manager with Porto. Mourinho played a 4-3-3 system that worked so well because most English teams were still fixated on playing 4-4-2, which Chelsea’s system worked brilliantly against. In the very words of Mike Basset, That was until José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix came to the England during the 04/05 season.
For many years in the Premier League, a certain formation was KING.
