'He's a genius' - Jose Mourinho's 'spoil' tactics explained as former Benfica star questions whether ex-Chelsea boss has been forced to change style due to player power

Mourinho, who is now 62 years of age, finds himself back where it all began. Having cut his coaching teeth with Benfica, he retraced steps to Lisbon in September 2025. He headed home after enduring a testing time in Turkey with Fenerbahce.

Tangible success on the silverware front has proved elusive since guiding Roma to Conference League glory in 2022. Mourinho is, however, one of the most decorated bosses in history - having enjoyed considerable success at Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid, while also landing three trophies with Manchester United.

The enigmatic Portuguese has never been afraid of talking himself up, but has seen the odd question asked of whether his powers are now on the wane. Ex-Benfica frontman Saunders, speaking in association with William Hill, told GOAL when asked if 'special' qualities remain: “Jose Mourinho, in my opinion - I’ve been in the dugout at Newcastle and Blackburn against him, I was assistant manager, and I could hear everything he is shouting. He doesn’t really care how his team plays. He looks at a game in the opposite way of - he’s just come into my head - Russell Martin at Southampton. Martin was saying, ‘we’re going to play the way we want to play’. Jose looks at the opposition and thinks, ‘which of their players can hurt us?’ He will play two players just to stop them and sacrifice the way they play just to get a result. He doesn’t care.

“Tactically, he looks at the opposition and thinks: ‘I’m going to spoil this game. This is a dangerous team with dangerous strikers and I’m going to try and nick this game - John Terry header with 15 minutes to go’. He scored seven winners in the season they [Chelsea] won the league from corners, John Terry. They won loads of games 1-0 - defend, defend, defend, [Didier] Drogba, [Frank] Lampard catches the game up, tap in, win 1-0. He’s a genius. He knows how to win football matches. He knows how to stop good teams playing well against him. People would say ‘that was a bad game to watch’, and it’s because he has spoiled the game.”

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Mourinho was once famed for his man-management skills, as he often forged 'us against the world' mentalities in his squads. His methods did not always sit well with some, though, and there is plenty that he could not get away with now.

Saunders, who has worked in management himself at the likes of Wrexham and Wolves, added: “He [Mourinho] knows how to deal with top players. In this day and age, I think anybody would find it hard to manage footballers now. They are earning that much money, they are in that much of a bubble, no-one ever says no to them. When you do say no to a Premier League footballer now, they can get you the sack - just for saying no to them. ‘You’re not playing Saturday - what do you mean I’m not playing?’ They go round the houses to the owner - ‘the lads don’t like the manager, none of us’. You get three of them doing it and the owner starts believing it.

“What do you say to them? To give them a rollicking now is dangerous. You have to say ‘please lads, work hard today, please do it’. Everyone thinks man-management is ‘come on, you can do it, I know you’re a good player’. Sometimes, managing players like that, if that’s the best you can give me, get your boots and go and play for someone else. That’s man-management. But that’s a dangerous statement to make now. You do it to Paul Pogba, he might look back at you and say: ‘How long do you want to be here? I’ll be here longer than you if you start talking to me like that.’ It’s hard. I don’t know if Jose has had to curb his ways or change his attack on how to get a group of players onside.”

Mourinho is tied to a contract at Benfica through to 2027, but those terms are said to include a break clause that can be activated next summer. A return to English football has been mooted for the ex-Chelsea, United and Tottenham manager, while it is considered to be only a matter of time before he takes charge of the Portugal national team - with 40-year-old GOAT Cristiano Ronaldo still going strong for them ahead of the 2026 World Cup.