EPL: What happened to Jose Mourinho v Pep Guardiola for the title?

In Manchester, confusion abounds.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, left, and City manager Pep Guardiola shake hands at the Manchetster derby at Old Trafford in September.

In Manchester, confusion abounds. This was supposed to be the season when two fierce rivals were invigorated and illuminated by the two greatest managerial minds of their generation. It was going to be Pep versus Jose, City versus United, philosophy versus pragmatism. Nobody imagined that, at this stage of the EPL campaign, the city would be united only in bewilderment.

Since winning their first 10 matches in all competitions under Pep Guardiola, Manchester City have won four, drawn five and lost four out of 13, their latest setback a bad-tempered 3-1 home defeat by Chelsea on Saturday.

Manchester United’s struggles under Jose Mourinho have been even more stark; since winning their first three Premier League matches of the season, they have won only two of the past 11, taking just 12 points. The form table since the start of September puts United below Stoke City, Bournemouth, Watford, West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace. As for the table that matters, they lie 13 points behind Chelsea, the leaders, and nine points behind fourth place, which is occupied by their neighbours in sky blue.

Already you can hear Mourinho preparing the case for the defence, telling anyone who will listen that United are the “unluckiest team in the Premier League this season” and, yes, he is entitled to cite hard luck stories as Stoke, Burnley and Arsenal earned flattering draws at Old Trafford in matches that United dominated. He is deluded, though, if he thinks their play has seen a dramatic improvement on the mediocre fare served up under Louis van Gaal over the past two seasons.

There have been some noticeable changes in approach, with the defensive line more advanced and a greater emphasis on playing in the opponents’ half of the pitch, but what progress they have made would seem to have owed more to the injection of attacking quality via the transfer market — Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and, fleetingly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan — than to any enlightenment experienced on the training pitch.

The Guardiola effect has been more noticeable, but City’s recent form has forced the focus away from their high-tempo approach and their creativity, which brought improvements in the form of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Raheem Sterling, to the porousness of their defence.

Guardiola’s philosophy should be treasured by English soccer and encouraged, but it is not without flaws when defending looks like an afterthought for some of the individuals involved, let alone for the collective. The narrative would have been a little different had City converted their chances in a dominant first hour against Chelsea on Saturday, but Antonio Conte’s team underlined what had already been apparent — that City, so impressive in possession, are alarmingly vulnerable when they lose it. The focus will remain on the cohesion of the team, but, either way, that back line needs serious work.

Time on the training ground is something neither Guardiola nor Mourinho has had in abundance. The weekend brought the 23rd matches of the season in all competitions for both United and City. United have not had an uninterrupted week, without international commitments or a midweek fixture, since August. Last week was City’s first since August, whereas Chelsea and Liverpool, with no European engagements, have played just 17 and 18 matches respectively. The performances of those two teams, with the exception of Liverpool’s spectacular ­capitulation away to Bournemouth, broadly reflect the work of Conte and Jurgen Klopp respectively. Guardiola and Mourinho have so far found it much harder to get their messages across.

Under Guardiola, that message is obvious, such is the evangelical zeal with which he spreads it. United’s intentions are a little harder to work out. Mourinho is right when he talks about them playing much higher up the pitch than under Van Gaal, but when he talks about having “never had a team with so much ball possession or creating so many chances”, he can only be referring to those three matches which, through errant finishing, were drawn. Their victories have seldom been inspirational. If you were watching a Premier League game, hoping to witness a masterclass in attacking soccer, this United team, who on paper appear to contain a wealth of creative riches, are unlikely to be your first port of call.

Mourinho is right, though, when he suggests that his previous teams have not always been known for playing on the front foot, dominating possession and creating chance after chance. He is trying a different approach at United — just as he did at Real Madrid — and while that seems to be the right thing to do, given that there is a certain expectation in terms of playing style at Old Trafford, it does invite the question of whether Mourinho can be as successful when operating beyond his usual parameters. His greatest successes were always built around a robust and highly disciplined defensive system and a win at all costs mentality. At United, the system seems not yet to have emerged in his own mind, let alone on the pitch.

The difficulty of having reduced time on the training ground should not be underestimated, but considerable improvement was, and still is, to be expected after both Manchester clubs underperformed to a fairly pitiful degree in the Premier League last season. As well as making high-level upgrades in the dugout, both spent £150 million ($257m) net on transfer fees in the off-season. The strange thing is that, having flown out of the blocks at the start of the season, both City and United have faltered so badly since then. Guardiola and Mourinho, for once united by more than mutual loathing, have much to ponder.

The Times