As predictable as Chelsea’s flying start to the season against Hull City on Sunday, was the widespread reaction to the goalless 65 minutes which followed Oscar’s and Frank Lampard’s early strikes.

This, we were told, was typical of the ‘what we have, we hold’ approach of any Jose Mourinho team.  It is a perception that has followed the Portuguese since his remarkable spell in charge at FC Porto, in what was only his third managerial post.

Mourinho’s team averaged more than two goals a game on the way to securing the first of two consecutive domestic titles in 2003.  En route to lifting that campaign’s UEFA Cup, Porto followed up scoring 12 times across their first three two-legged ties with a 6-1 thumping on home turf of the Turks, Denizlispor, rendering the return clash superfluous.

Later in the same competition, Lazio were recipients of a 4-1 semi-final hammering in Portugal, before a memorable final, which ended in a 3-2 victory against Celtic in Seville.  The Mourinho legend was in its infancy.  A Porto team which contained the attacking ingenuity of Deco and Derlei, along with the creative minds of Maniche and Dimitri Alenichev, were denied the credit due to them – the win against the Scottish side being overshadowed by accusations against the Portuguese outfit of diving and gamesmanship.

A year on, and in what arguably remains the finest achievement of Mourinho’s storied career to date, Porto were crowned as the champions of Europe.  With a one goal lead at half-time in the continental football calendar’s showpiece match, – the Champions League final – there are many coaches, understandably, who would caution against further adventure.  Conversely, Porto continued on the front-foot and completed a one-sided affair having scored twice more without reply against AS Monaco.

This reputation with which Mourinho has been tarred – that of arch-pragmatist – is largely inspired by his first period at Chelsea, and an ensuing two years spent with Inter Milan.

It has become accepted wisdom that the Blues’ championship winning teams of 2005 and 2006 were masters of establishing an early advantage, before going on to exploit their undoubted power and organisation to guard against allowing their opponents any route back.

Yes, John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho formed what was surely one of the finest central-defensive pairings English football has witnessed.  Claude Makelele excelled in the holding midfield role, to the extent that that particular position has since been christened in his honour.  Peter Cech was one of the foremost goalkeeper’s in the world game.

There was more, however, much more, to this swashbuckling, ground-breaking Chelsea team.  Those supporters, lucky enough to be regulars at Stamford Bridge during two glorious years were treated to the terrific, direct wing-play of Damien Duff and Arjen Robben, the evolving midfield goal-scoring prowess of Frank Lampard, and the blend of striking dominance, ingenuity and savvy, provided by Didier Drogba and the sublime Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Chelsea finished the 2004/2005 Premier League season with a 12 point advantage over nearest rivals, Manchester United.  Folklore has it, that this was achieved by virtue of a string of efficient, but dull, 1-0 victories.

Closer inspection of the reality reveals a different story.  Take the period between 23rd October and 18^th December 2004.  The Blues opponents, in order, were; Blackburn Rovers (h), West Bromwich Albion (a), Everton (h), Fulham (a), Bolton Wanderers (h), Charlton Athletic (a), Newcastle United (h), Arsenal (a), and Norwich City (h).

The score-lines, respectively, read; 4-0, 4-1, 1-0, 4-1, 2-2, 4-0, 4-0, 2-2, 4-0.

That wasn’t an aberration in an otherwise prosaic campaign.  Three and four goal triumphs were all part of the routine, rather than being the exception.  The delicious coup de grace was a swaggering performance at Old Trafford when, with the club’s first English title for 50 years safely wrapped up, Mourinho’s side contemptuously brushed aside a bewitched home team 3-1.

For good measure, Barcelona and Bayern Munich both shipped four goals at the Bridge on the way to being eliminated from the Champions League.

From hunter to hunted, did the defence of their newly-won crown stimulate a less enterprising approach to Chelsea’s football?  Not if the 72 goals they scored – matching exactly the previous year’s number – is used as a guide.

With the world-class midfield talent of Michael Essien an effervescent addition to the ranks, Mourinho’s men were no less ruthless in dismantling myriad league counterparts than had been the case a year earlier.

West Brom, Liverpool, Blackburn, and West Ham United were all hit for four.  Bolton were beaten to the tune of 5-1.  A further six games ended with Chelsea scoring three, including against Everton and Manchester United, both vanquished late in the term at Stamford Bridge.

To Inter Milan, then, where, in 2010, Mourinho won an unprecedented treble of League, Cup, and Champions League.  Perhaps the most readily recalled encounter of that wondrous campaign is that which the Italian’s played out against Barcelona in a bitterly contested European semi-final.

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