Manchester City: Guardiola vs Mourinho

Manchester City’s incoming manager Pep Guardiola will see a revival of his heated rivalry with Jose Mourinho, set to be installed as United manager. How does this affect City’s chances?

By now, you’ve probably learned that one of football’s worst kept secrets has actually become official and that Louis Van Gaal has been given the boot from the hot seat over there at almost-Manchester United. We mourn his passing. Surely we will all miss his boring style of football coupled with outlandishly embarrassing off-the-park antics, including being nicknamed Daisy by his own players and talking about being horny. Fun times indeed.

Still, if lifeless play and insane personal behaviour are the barometer for what serves as a suitable heir apparent to Sir Alex “Whisky Nose” Ferguson, then I believe United have hit the motherload with Van Gaal’s replacement. One Jose Mourinho, famous for just about everything bad with football that you can imagine, will be taking the reins at Old Trafford after being sacked by Chelsea in December of last year.

Mourinho goes without introduction. He’s made it his business to become a household name through dirtying the nest with fans, players, owners and even medical staff alike. One thing he is though, is successful. Undeniably, Mourinho can bring success and has built a career of it, at least at first. His first year he builds the bus, the second he parks it, the third he throws everyone under it. Rinse and repeat, but then clearly United were only ever prioritising short term gains in the first place here.

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A marked drop from contention for United since Ferguson’s departure has the club reeling, however, it could also be argued their choice of Mourinho is somewhat reactionary. Manchester City themselves are ready to welcome incoming manager Pep Guardiola and the two are as much polar opposites as they are vying for best manager on Earth.

Guardiola plays a very attack orientated style of football, flowing, passing, pressing. He, whether he admits to it or not, is one of the leading proponents of tiki taka, that style of short passes and movement that became synonymous with his Barcelona side between 2008-2012. Mourinho meanwhile starts from the back, a solid, wall-like defence that relies heavily on the break. Mourinho, too, is far less trusting of younger players than Pep, as evidenced by his moving on of now Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne to Wolfsburg. Thanks for that, Jose.

Both have their style of management and both are as good at it is it comes. Pep is a players’ man, hands on, who can motivate, rally and encourage the team to exceed their potential. Mourinho is removed, infallible, an elusive tactical genius in whom the players can put their trust. Beyond that though, there’s undoubtedly bad blood between the two that will spill over when they meet.

Mourinho, of course, had his stint at Real Madrid during Pep’s tenure with Barcelona. Jose’s taunting of Guardiola, through constant derision and accusations of foul play and fraud, caused the latter to go off the deep end in a now infamous 45 minute press conference rant. El Classicos were never more heated and the relationship between the two boiled over until Pep took his leave of the Nou Camp.

Citizens can be confident that they are getting the real deal with Pep, he takes over a club and transforms them into winners, from the bottom up. How does United’s snapping up Mourinho impact that, however? Not much, in my opinion. There’s a plethora of talented managers in the league right now as competition for Guardiola’s City and, arguably, many start off at a more advantageous situation than United will.

Undoubtedly the top brass at Old Trafford will furnish their new 2-3 year headache with a healthy bank balance, rumoured to be in the region of £200M, for signings this summer. This may well pose a threat to Manchester City, but not directly. City’s targets and requirements are different and Pep, for better or worse, has far greater pulling power than Mourinho ever could. Further, you could argue City are starting at a stronger position. Yes, the back four are woeful, but there’s a stronger side in there somewhere and when they actually turned up this year they didn’t look like they could be beaten.

That, ultimately, was Manuel Pellegrini’s greatest fall this season, vis-à-vis he couldn’t motivate or get the most out of the talent that was available. Van Gaal had an awful lot less to work with, in the end. My gut feeling is that Manchester City will come out on top over their rivals regardless, Pep just doesn’t have a knack for losing. Look at his win rate as a manager, it’s a staggering 74%. Jose’s 66% may well impress, but it’s not even close to such an elite figure. Guardiola has literally won 19 trophies in 6 years of management, including 14 in 4 years at Barcelona. He’s the best.

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With that in mind, I think we can all look forward to what lies in wait at the Etihad this year and in the years to come without peeking over our shoulders at what United are up to. One thing is for absolute certain, the Manchester derbies are going to be even more electric than ever.