Jose Mourinho has his notepad open and his attention on a screen showing the Carabao Cup final in a small room in a television studio in west London, where later he will step in front of the cameras to explain to a Spanish audience the tactical approach of the two managers.

Mourinho always had strong views on punditry, and how it should be done and that has not changed now he is working for DAZN, which broadcasts English football in Spain. His belief is that rather than present what they would have done instead, a pundit’s job is to explain the tactics and intentions of a coach. He says that he loves to watch tennis or Formula One when he finds himself fascinated by the details of a game, or a race, in sports he knows little about. “Annabel Croft, what a pundit,” he says. “Wow, Martin Brundle. I learn a lot when I listen to them.”

There has been time to do this since he parted company with Manchester United on December 18, the end of the first 18-month period of his career, he says, when he did not win a trophy. The on-screen graphics that run on the studio feed as Mourinho talks remind us he has won the League Cup four times, as many as any other manager in history. His total, if you include Community Shields and Super Cups, is 25 major honours and there were more as an assistant to Bobby Robson and Louis Van Gaal before that.