How Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho will assemble his 'deadly machine' to win back the Premier League title Midfield steel The most striking threads to any Jose Mourinho team are a cast-iron spine and the importance of his midfield triangle of players. When Mourinho arrived in England in 2004, most teams were still playing a variation of 4-4-2 but were soon overrun by what Andre Villas-Boas, his former analyst, calls the "deadly machine" that was Chelsea. Whether it was Costinha, Pedro Mendes and Maniche at Porto, Frank Lampard, Claude Makélélé and Tiago at Chelsea, Esteban Cambiasso, Javier Zanetti and Wesley Sneijder at Inter Milan or then Sami Khedira, Xabi Alonso and Mesut Özil at Real Madrid, his best teams have had a well-ordered midfield base. Ramires" energy and versatility will remind Mourinho of Tiago or a young Michael Essien and he is also likely to retain faith in Lampard, although John Obi-Mikel and the old Essien continue to provide other options. One of only two signings so far has been Marco van Ginkel, a player Mourinho has likened to Lampard. Quick breaks Mourinho's priority with his midfield triangle has been not only to outnumber the opposition in that area of the pitch but also drag in opposing wingers or defenders to create space for what he calls the "offensive transitions." And it is with incisive and sudden counter-attacks that Mourinho's teams have extracted most of their damage. At Porto, Deco would generally play behind either Derlei, Carlos Alberto or Benni McCarthy. Similarly, Sneijder at Inter and Ozil at Real Madrid were given the attacking licence that Lampard enjoyed at Chelsea to support a trio of attacking players. A combination of strikers or wingers then generally feed off a centre-forward who is not only a regular goalscorer but skilled at holding the ball up - think Diego Milito, Didier Drogba or Gonzalo Higuaín. Fernando Torres or Demba Ba hardly fit that role and that is why Chelsea continue to target a deal for Wayne Rooney. Romelu Lukaku, a striker Mourinho wanted to sign at Real Madrid and who has modelled his game on Drogba, will now get his chance. Mourinho has said that he intends to build his new Chelsea around the three creative players who will play behind his main central striker. He loves players in those areas who can function in a variety of positions and is satisfied with the options that Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, Oscar, Kevin de Bruyne, Andre Schürrle and Victor Moses will offer. Defensive discipline Mourinho's defensive decisions will also intrigue. At Chelsea previously, it was clear that his first expectation was for his back four to do their defensive jobs and he would frequently play centre-backs, such as William Gallas, at full-back. Despite them playing in other positions for large parts of last season, he regards Branislav Ivanovic as a full-back and David Luiz as a centre-back. John Terry will also be given the chance to show that he is still physically capable of leading the team on a regular basis. Style of play The big unanswered question is whether Mourinho's renowned ability to construct winning teams will be compatible with the adventurous style that owner Roman Abramovich so obviously craves. Mourinho's most successful sides were not peppered with superstar "name" players. Indeed, his two biggest struggles in management, both at Chelsea during 2007 and Real Madrid over this past year, have actually been when he has had more obviously established world-class players to manage. Even so, the irony of Mourinho's supposed failure in Madrid was that he oversaw arguably the most thrilling football of his career with a team that scored 224 goals during the past two seasons. Mourinho has emphasised that he would be returning as a more complete manager and has described his experiences in Spain and Italy as the "last step of my formation." As he again tries to satisfy Abramovich's exacting standards, such confidence must be backed up by the deeds of his players.