Video: Jose Mourinho ridicules Chelsea’s Willy Caballero prior to Croatia blunder

Jose Mourinho may have a habit of sucking the life out of teams – and indeed the universe itself – but nobody can ever fault his football brain.

The 55-year-old, speaking soon after Argentina’s 1-1 draw with Iceland, pointed out how he would do a better job than Chelsea second choice Willy Caballero.

Sure enough, Caballero, with a scuffed kick that Ante Rebić calmly powered home on the volley, setting in motion an Argentina collapse which leaves them on the brink of World Cup elimination.

The initial video came out soon after Caballero’s horrendous mistake, giving the impression that Mourinho was just piling on the derision in the game’s aftermath, but the Portuguese was in fact saying this long before a ball was kicked by Argentina or Caballero.

He has been working for RT, a Moscow based broadcaster, for the first week of the World Cup and seeing how he speaks about the game has shed light on his own football brain, how he perceives the game.

With Mourinho there is always emphasis on control – control of emotions, control of certain areas of the pitch, control of the ball and control without the ball. There is little tactical nuance aside from making points about the positioning of players, where they start with the ball and how best they can effect games with their qualities.

He has clearly been impressed by Russia and their running power, speaking highly of Croatia and Mexico as well. Both were teams who applied a high tempo and solid work rate – two things he will clearly want to ram home over pre-season to his squad.