Mourinho the pragmatist left to savour the joy of six

Westminster City Council's dog warden and Sir Alex Ferguson have just one thing in common: both of them were outmanoeuvred this week by the Premiership's most fiendishly brilliant mind. If you can forgive Jose Mourinho his dramatic rush down the tunnel at full-time, then you can appreciate another triumph for the man who collected the FA Cup and then stuck his fingers up at Roman Abramovich and the rest of the world. Not two, but six - one for every trophy he has won at Chelsea.

The long season, the occasion, the stadium - it all seemed to take its toll. This was no classic but at the end Ferguson blamed Mourinho for intimidating referee Steve Bennett in the build-up to the match and conceded it may have worked. Once you could see through the fug of self-righteous indignation, you remembered that it was ever thus: managers influence referees and, in his time, Ferguson has proved himself one of the very best at that particular black art. Just not this time.

Instead this time it was Mourinho who won the day with an unapologetic pragmatism that stifled Cristiano Ronaldo's influence, made the very most of his injury-ravaged squad and supposedly got inside the referee's head. "On Tuesday, I asked the players 'Do you want to enjoy the game? Or do you want to enjoy yourselves after the game?'"Mourinho said. "The players said they wanted to enjoy after the game." And in that was the Mourinho manifesto abridged: tight tactical discipline, emotions controlled, football matches won.

It was not beautiful to watch but with Mourinho, the drama happens off-stage. At full-time he headed to the dressing rooms with the urgency of a man who had been told his beloved Yorkshire terrier had just wandered through the door of Ji-Sung Park's favourite Korean restaurant. Later he took stock of three years at Chelsea and said that his friends had told him to leave after two. "But I told them 'No, I love the job so why shouldn't I carry on?'" he said. "This season we lost the Premiership but had many, many problems. So [from that] I learned that it's very difficult to kill me - very, very difficult." Again he hinted at the great political undercurrents at Chelsea, the court of Abramovich and again he stopped just short of naming the forces that he believes are ranged against him. It has been Mourinho's extraordinary ability, despite managing the richest club in the history of football to portray himself and his players as - no pun intended - the underdogs that seems to sustain Chelsea. Most managers use the hostility of the rest of the football world to motivate their team; Mourinho seems to invoke the chaotic politics of his own club to achieve the same.

He laid out his wishlist for the summer - a defender, midfielder and a striker - which could be bought, he said, "calmly and wisely and keeping the money in the bank" although that might not be easy if they buy Carlos Tevez. The new signings will also have to bow to the Chelsea way, a selfless approach which is similar, you imagine, to joining a religious cult. Only once you completely give yourself up to the prophet can you really see the light.

Mourinho described his approach as "a minimum of six players behind the ball line, so that if you lose the ball, you have six players to stop them"and "double-marking"on the wings. "People say they [United] are a very dominant team in games but I disagree,"he added. "I think they are a team that kills opponents on the counter-attack so, first of all, don't let them counter-attack." It sounded beautifully simple but it needed some of the true believers in the Mourinho faith to make it work. John Obi Mikel's development this season has been extraordinary because the 20-year-old plays a man's game of patience and control, the kind of style that it can take some footballers a whole career to learn. Petr Cech was outstanding again and Didier Drogba proved the crucial difference as a finisher when it mattered the most.

Was referee Bennett really acting subconsciously on Mourinho's instructions when he did not give Ryan Giggs' goal in the fourth minute of extra-time? Some of United's players later argued it was over the line, which it undoubtedly was but only after Giggs slid into Cech and forced him over. Ferguson claimed that Michael Essien had tripped the United man a second earlier which replays did not determine one way or another. In truth the game was woefully short on controversy to launch conspiracy theories.

The winning goal was a sumptuous exchange of passes between Mikel, Frank Lampard and Drogba that opened United up in the way that Paul Scholes had tried to do to Chelsea all game. The deciding factor was not Rio Ferdinand's brief lapse in concentration but Edwin Van der Sar's disastrous split-second delay as he came off his line. The Dutchman hesitated as he crossed the six-yard line, a pause that was long enough to ensure that he got to the ball after Drogba.

It is a weakness that has become dangerously prevalent in Van der Sar - he did the same against Tevez at Old Trafford - and it further strengthens the case for Ben Foster being United's No 1 goalkeeper next season. Otherwise it is difficult to find much at fault with United. Rooney did his best in a formation that seems to isolate him and Patrice Evra would surely have given more flair but then Scholes was the most imaginative attacking player on the pitch. "To be honest, I don't know who was the best team or who deserved to win," Ferguson said.

United had already got the Premiership trophy that they craved the most; now it seems Mourinho has enough cups to make himself unsackable for another summer at least. There was one unintentionally funny moment on the pitch when Mourinho found himself in an embrace with Khalid Boulahrouz, not his favourite player, and the Dutchman responded with the enthusiasm of a child asked to hug an overbearing great-aunt. It was a reminder that not everyone at Chelsea loves Mourinho, but those whose opinions matter still do not have reason to dismiss him.

Goal: Drogba (116) 1-0.

Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Ferreira, Essien, Terry, Bridge; Makelele; Wright-Phillips (Kalou 93), Mikel, Lampard, J Cole (Robben h-t (A Cole 108)); Drogba. Substitutes not used: Cudicini (gk), Diarra.

Manchester United (4-4-1-1): Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Heinze; Fletcher (Smith 92), Scholes, Carrick (O'Shea 112), Ronaldo; Giggs (Solskjaer 112); Rooney. Substitutes not used: Evra, Kuszczak (gk).

Booked: Chelsea Makelele, Kalou, Ferreira, A Cole. Manchester United Scholes, Vidic, Smith.

Referee: S Bennett (Kent).

Man of the match: Mikel.

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