José Mourinho believes discipline and imagination can coexist, a conviction that runs through everything he does at Real Madrid. A team needs mechanisms to make sure the play unfolds the way it should. It also needs players capable of breaking from their assigned roles, exploiting space and turning a seemingly ordinary attack into a chance on goal.
Out of that balance between structure and individual talent, the Portuguese is building an attacking identity for Real Madrid.
According to Spanish newspaper "Marca", Arda Güler, Bellingham and Bernardo Silva are the players best equipped to apply this idea. They can receive the ball between the lines, change the rhythm, link up in tight spaces and find solutions when a match looks closed.
The point is not to rein in their creativity but to channel it into the collective, letting the team keep attacking without upsetting its balance.
Real Madrid have a thousand ways to cause harm
Marca note that Real Madrid have countless ways to hurt an opponent, thanks to the variety that runs through their attacking play.
The numbers at the Santiago Bernabéu back this up. Real Madrid have won all seven home matches, scoring 23 goals at a rate of 3.29 per game. Those figures reflect a team that can threaten and find the net in all sorts of ways.
Seven wins from seven is the clearest proof that the fortress is back. For several seasons they lost that reliability at home. Now they have restored it.
No single method brings these goals. They have scored through quick transitions, individual brilliance, set pieces, organised build-up, crosses, second balls and shots from outside the box.
That variety doubles the problem for defences and gives the creative players the conditions to show what they can do.
The real test
You have to go back to the 2011-2012 season to find a better scoring record across Real Madrid's first seven home games, when they hit 26 goals.
That was the Real Madrid that smashed records with 100 points in LaLiga.
There is still room to grow, though. The team keeps wasting chances, and its attacking output does not always translate fully into results. Creating plenty of openings is a strength. The next step is turning that volume into a decisive edge.
Mourinho wants to keep Real Madrid direct and ambitious going forward, while sharpening the accuracy of their attacks and managing better the spells when they have to protect their own goal.
That is where the biggest challenge arrives on Sunday. Barcelona host Real Madrid at the Camp Nou, a clash that forces the Royal team to export their attacking game to different conditions, away from the comfort of the Bernabéu and against an opponent that will test how well their players make decisions.
The Clásico will do more than test the individual talents in Mourinho's squad. It will measure whether the tactical system can support that talent in a match at the very highest level.
So Mourinho wants to give his creative players the freedom to innovate and decide games. That freedom, though, needs a structure around it to turn creativity into end product on the pitch.