If there was one word that appeared more than any other in professional analysis of Euro 2004, what was it?
Defence?
Plenty of people used that word, but Mourinho thought it missed the larger point.
The real answer was teamwork.
France had arrived in Portugal with an extraordinary collection of talent. Zidane, Henry, Vieira, and several others were among the finest players in European football, yet the team never truly became greater than the individuals within it. Too much depended on Zidane. When he was tightly marked, pushed away from his preferred areas, or simply became tired, France often lost its direction.
England had a similar problem. Their structure at the European Championship never developed enough cohesion to make full use of the quality available to them. Spain, under Iñaki Sáez, leaned too heavily on Raúl, with much of their attacking play revolving around one man. Italy had their own version of the same problem, with Trapattoni persisting with Vieri even when the striker was clearly struggling for form.
To Mourinho, all of it pointed towards the same conclusion.
The age when a manager could simply gather famous players, hand the team to one superstar, and hope individual brilliance would decide everything was disappearing.
"Look at the two teams that reached the final," Mourinho said, pacing slowly in front of the players and coaching staff. "Did Greece have a superstar? No. Even now, how many of you could give me the background and tactical profile of five Greek players without looking it up?"
He raised one finger and smiled.
Nobody answered.
For a group made up entirely of professional footballers and coaches, that said everything about just how extraordinary Greece's tournament had been.
"And Portugal?" Mourinho continued. "We had famous players, yes, but not all of them were at their best. Figo, for example, only really produced his finest moments late in the tournament. So who kept deciding matches? Who became indispensable?"
Several people around the room were already thinking of the same names.
"Cristiano. Maniche. Ricardo. Miguel. Before this tournament, how many supporters outside Portugal would have recognised all of them immediately?"
Cristiano Ronaldo was already known because of his performances for New Manchester United, but players such as Maniche had emerged on a much wider stage during the European Championship. Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira had also seen their reputations soar, helping earn major moves to Chelsea.
Mourinho stopped in front of the group.
"Teamwork. That's modern football. This isn't Pelé's era, and it isn't Maradona's era. Eleven players have to move with the same idea, defend with the same idea, attack with the same idea, and believe in the same objective. If you have that, then individual brilliance becomes devastating. If you don't, eleven great players can still become a poor team."
Mourinho did not dislike stars. Quite the opposite. If he could have an elite player in every position and still persuade all eleven to work within one structure, he would happily take them.
But talent without collective discipline meant very little.
Real Madrid's improvement the previous season had shown the other side of the argument. Juninho Paulista had given them greater intelligence and control in midfield, while Samuel had strengthened the defence. Without those changes, would they really have won the Champions League?
Inter offered the opposite lesson. Their squad was packed with famous names year after year, yet the results rarely matched the individual talent because the team so often lacked cohesion.
"My system does not suppress individual ability," Mourinho said. "I want players to dribble. I want them to create. I want them to do things other players cannot do. But there is one condition: what you do must help the team. If your individual performance damages the structure, then I don't care how famous you are. You will not start."
Several players immediately understood who those words were partly aimed at.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Palacio.
Neither was in the room yet, having only recently finished international duty, but both had just produced tournaments that dramatically increased their reputations.
Mourinho had warned Cristiano repeatedly during the previous season about overplaying and trying to solve too much by himself. To the manager's satisfaction, Euro 2004 had shown real progress. Cristiano still dribbled, still attacked defenders, and still produced moments of individual brilliance, but he had become more connected to Portugal's collective game. That was a major reason he had performed so well and why Portugal had reached the final, even if Greece ultimately denied them the trophy.
Palacio was different. Mourinho had not yet had the opportunity to speak with him properly after the Copa América. He wanted the Argentine to continue following New Manchester United's tactical structure rather than become obsessed with reproducing the complete attacking freedom Bielsa had given him.
That did not mean Mourinho intended to ignore Palacio's strengths. He was already considering adjustments that could give Palacio, Kaká, Cristiano Ronaldo, and the rest of the attacking players more opportunities to exploit their individual qualities.
But one principle would not change.
No player stood above the team.
...
Ethan saw the issue exactly the same way.
He and Mourinho spent an entire morning discussing the players who had raised their profiles at Euro 2004 and the Copa América, particularly Cristiano Ronaldo and Palacio.
Mourinho loved both players. Their individual ability was obvious, and both could decide matches almost by themselves. The question was whether their growing reputations would affect their willingness to keep working within the collective.
As manager, Mourinho would never permit that.
In that respect, his philosophy was similar to Ferguson's. The difference was mainly in method. Ferguson's authority often came from a more traditional, almost paternal form of control, whereas Mourinho preferred to build a dressing room culture adapted to younger modern players and make them feel responsible for the structure themselves.
Robben and Philipp Lahm had also attracted enormous attention after the European Championship, but neither worried Mourinho in quite the same way.
Robben in particular had changed significantly after several years at Newton Heath. He no longer played like the isolated winger he had once been, constantly putting his head down and trying to beat defenders alone. His combination play had improved, his passing choices were better, and he had learned to use his technique rather than relying exclusively on explosive changes of pace and direction.
The Lab had encouraged that development deliberately.
Repeated acceleration, deceleration, and violent changes of direction placed enormous stress on muscles and joints, which was one reason explosive wide players were often so vulnerable to injury. Robben's history made the issue even more important, so the staff had pushed him to improve his first touch, body positioning, combination play, and close control, allowing him to beat defenders without always asking his body for maximum acceleration.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Palacio were now among the most fashionable young attackers in world football. Cristiano had at times overshadowed even Figo during Euro 2004, while Palacio's Copa América had made him every bit as prominent as Adriano.
But Ethan knew individual brilliance alone could only take a team so far.
His memories of later football only reinforced the point.
Kaká's extraordinary 2007 Champions League run with AC Milan would later be remembered as one of the finest individual campaigns of the era, but that Milan team also contained Pirlo, Nesta, Seedorf, Gattuso, and several other elite players working within an established structure.
Cristiano Ronaldo's success in 2008 came inside a Manchester United side with an exceptionally balanced tactical framework. Messi's rise the following year would be supported by a Barcelona team built around collective movement, pressing, and control.
Even Cannavaro's individual honours in 2006 would be inseparable from Italy's World Cup success. A defender could perform brilliantly, but without the team winning, the award would never carry the same weight.
The same principle explained why simply assembling stars did not guarantee anything. Real Madrid's Galácticos could field extraordinary individual talent and still lose to a better organised collective. The problem was not that the players lacked chemistry in some vague sense. It was that modern football had evolved to the point where coordinated pressing, spacing, transitions, and positional discipline could neutralise even the most gifted individuals.
No single player, no matter how brilliant, could recreate the conditions of an earlier era by himself.
That was why Ethan agreed with Mourinho completely.
The team came first.
...
Mourinho returned to work in early July and took the squad to Ireland for pre-season. Players involved in Euro 2004 were granted additional leave, but several declined to use all of it. Cristiano Ronaldo, Čech, Evra, Curtis, and Terry all returned ahead of schedule.
Cristiano was the most determined of them.
Rather than taking a holiday after Portugal's exhausting run to the final, he travelled to Ireland with the rest of the squad and threw himself into training from the first day. His intensity throughout the camp made a strong impression on Mourinho.
The players who had been involved in the European Championship still needed careful management. Their bodies had not fully recovered from the previous season before international competition began, and there had been almost no genuine break afterwards. The Lab therefore designed individual programmes to restore fitness gradually without pushing them into another cycle of fatigue.
Despite New Manchester United making no major signings, there was no sense of comfort inside the squad. Everyone understood that competition was fierce and that almost nobody's place was guaranteed.
After two weeks in Ireland, the team returned to England and travelled south for a series of friendlies around London, including a match against AFC Wimbledon and three other local opponents.
New Manchester United won all four.
The performances themselves were less convincing. In one match they looked particularly disjointed and escaped with victory only after a difficult second half. Mourinho was not overly concerned. The players were clearly short of rhythm, especially those returning from international tournaments.
The Lab described it as a normal post-tournament effect and expected it to fade as the season approached. Additional recovery work was introduced for the players who had gone deepest at Euro 2004.
Once the London friendlies were finished, the squad returned to Newton Heath and Mourinho began refining his plans for the opening weeks of the season.
Up front, Drogba and Villa would continue competing for the starting position, with Ishmael increasingly capable of challenging both.
On the left, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robben remained the primary options.
The right side would be contested by Palacio and Messi once Palacio returned from the Copa América. Ribéry could operate on either wing or centrally, giving Mourinho another flexible option across the attacking line.
Kaká was still the first-choice attacking midfielder. Agüero would begin as his understudy. The young Argentine had settled surprisingly quickly and possessed the sort of mischievous confidence that made him popular within the dressing room almost immediately.
In deeper midfield, Beckham remained the main organiser, with Fàbregas continuing his development behind him. Essien and De Rossi would compete for the more energetic central role, with Yaya Touré offering another high-level alternative. Michael Johnson and Mikel would continue receiving minutes from the bench and starts in selected cup matches.
At left-back, Evra and Lahm would resume their competition from the previous season. Lahm's performances had become strong enough to put genuine pressure on Evra, and that competition had improved the Frenchman's defensive concentration without reducing his attacking contribution.
On the right, Mourinho still trusted Kolo Touré, particularly because of his understanding of the system. Maicon's excellent Copa América, however, meant the position was no longer secure. The Brazilian had returned with confidence and was clearly ready to challenge for regular starts.
At centre-back, Curtis, Terry, and Vidić were the main contenders, while Chiellini remained the fourth option and would continue developing.
Čech was the undisputed number one in goal, Almunia remained his deputy, and Mourinho promoted a goalkeeper from the academy to serve as third choice after Joe Hart's loan move.
Every position had competition.
Every role had depth.
That was exactly why Mourinho had rejected Ethan's attempts to give him more transfer money. He believed the squad was already strong enough to challenge for the Premier League again and make a serious impact in the Champions League.
Then, just as pre-season began to settle into a rhythm, an offer arrived from AC Milan.
(To be continued.)
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