Why Jose Mourinho is always the master in his second season

It was a mantra Jose Mourinho repeated more than any other last season, arguably making him more consistent than his Chelsea team. He said it after big wins over Manchester City, big defeats against Atletico Madrid and at many more mundane press conferences in between.

"Next season will be better," Mourinho claimed.

"Everything is coming to us. I can imagine – more than imagine, believe, really – that we are going to have a really strong team, starting from day one with everybody."

The problem with endlessly repeating it then is that it now creates real pressure to actually prove it. That will have only increased because of the nature of Chelsea's transfer business, transforming them into clear title favourites. There is also the fact another failure would make it five years without a league title for Roman Abramovich, and three for Mourinho. Both periods would represent the longest barren spans of their spells in the game, so time is against them.

It is also time, however, that may be with Mourinho.

The positive for Chelsea is that there is plenty of proof his second season at clubs is always his best. At FC Porto and Internazionale, it was then that he won those landmark Champions Leagues. At Real Madrid, he finally beat Pep Guardiola's Barcelona to the Spanish title, while breaking points and scoring records.

The only exception was Chelsea in 2005-06, when they didn't claim any extra cups and won the league with four fewer points than 2004-05, but Mourinho even has an explanation for that.

"In our second season, we killed it from day one." That is the expectation for this campaign.

The entire idea of the second season being better has become another repeated mantra from the manager's career, with Mourinho emphasising that too. Ricardo Carvalho is one of many of his former players to echo the words.

"With him you learn every day," the former Porto, Chelsea and Real Madrid defender has said. "His second years are better than his first because the players know each other better."

**Mourinho also knows his squad better, as he has explained.

"After one season, we can analyse in a cold way, look at 12 months, 60 matches."**

That is what Mourinho has done, having handed in a forensic review of Chelsea's 2013-14 campaign in the week after it finished, outlining transfer suggestions. There has been surprise at the extent of the comings and goings, especially given the departures of supposed Mourinho stalwarts like Frank Lampard, but it is in keeping with the manager's career. Virtually every second summer has seen a statement, in which Mourinho finalised his best squads. At Porto in 2003, he secured a rare promise from the president that they would for once not sell "one single player". At Inter in 2009, he someway got lucky in selling Zlatan Ibrahimovic for so much, before being able to bring in Samuel Eto'o, Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder. Even at Real Madrid in 2011, Mourinho brought in a host of his own men, but crucially formed a temporary entente with some of the untouchable players not so open to him.

This Chelsea close season is more along the lines of Inter's, but is designed to have the same effect as the others: a team that better fits his tactical demands, and more readily buys into his approach.

That, after all, tends to be the difference with those second seasons: the rabid intensity you associate with Mourinho's best teams. Former goalkeeper Vitor Baia describes it as a "unique drive". It was present in Porto and Inter when they won the Champions League. There were hints of it with Chelsea last season, not least in that 1-0 win over Manchester City, but the team often looked too loose.

This is where Carvalho's comment about "learning" from Mourinho is key. Over a year, he conditions the team to a certain level of conviction, with those unwilling or unable either sidelined or exiled. It creates that conspicuous common thrust.

"The mentality is important," Deco says of Porto 2003-04. "The teams are the face of the coach, the spirit of the coach. We knew what we could do."

Now, everyone has seen what Chelsea have done in the market. The defence has been solidified with Filipe Luis, the central midfield is now more complete with Cesc Fabregas's nuance alongside the more settled muscle of Nemanja Matic, while Mourinho finally has his ideal type of striker in the all-action Diego Costa.

He has put the pieces in place. All that remains is the emotional response. First may well come after second, or else the third season will bring even more pressure.

Round two at the Bridge

Jose Mourinho's second seasons at clubs have always been his most spectacular, with one exception: his first stint at Chelsea. He can now rectify that.

FC Porto

First season: Portuguese League, Portuguese Cup, Uefa Cup

Second season: Portuguese League, Champions League

Chelsea

First season: Premier League, League Cup

Second season: Premier League

Internazionale

First season: Italian League

Second season: ltalian League, Italian Cup, Champions League

Real Madrid

First season: Spanish Cup

Second season: Spanish league

Thoughts?

• we've already heard jose use similar language when referencing next season

• he has also made it known that he will be active in the transfer window, as he has always been during his second seasons

• in classic jose fashion we have already seen him implement his no famous "my way or the highway" approach - throwing daggers at noncommittals while showering the committed with praise

link to article: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/why-jose-mourinho-is-always-the-master-in-his-second-season-9659527.html