[ad_1]
Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Manchester City on Saturday suggests that the Premier League could, after all, witness a genuine rivalry between José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.
When Mourinho returned to England to manage Manchester United in 2016, the script was written for the Portuguese to resume hostilities with perhaps his most staunch rival, aside from Arsene Wenger, when Guardiola arrived across town in the same summer.
– Stream ESPN FC daily on ESPN + (US only)
– ESPN + Spectator Guide: Bundesliga, Serie A, MLS, FA Cup and more
Although Mourinho hailed finishing second behind Guardiola in the 2017-18 campaign as “one of his greatest achievements in the game,” that was a comment framed in terms of the weaknesses of United’s squad and not the product of a close fight. After all, City won the title by 19 points that year and retained the trophy a year later when Liverpool emerged as City’s strongest rival while United faded, fired Mourinho and named Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Subsequently, Mourinho was declared a “broken blush”, passed out of fashion by more elegant progressives like Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. And so, in a week in which Guardiola signed a contract extension to stay at City until 2023, Mourinho will have been delighted with the moment when Spurs rise to the top of the table with a triumph that represents a victory for the essence of his dogmatic discipline. style over Guardiola’s zeitgeist.
Featured
- Guardiola: Too old to train with Mourinho Mourinho’s first year with Tottenham shows signs of success Mourinho: Now I am ‘The Experienced’
2 Related
After accepting the Spurs job, Mourinho argued that he had changed as manager, using an 11-month hiatus from management as a period of introspection to alter his perspective. There are signs that he has somewhat softened, certainly if you take his Instagram account at face value, and gamers often speak of a more approachable man than his reputation suggested.
But in the big games that matter most, Mourinho rewrites like this: defensive, disciplined, combative and with the aim of being clinical in the counterattack. The Spurs may not be trading Mourinho, but he is trading the Spurs.
The surprise is not an indication that Mourinho’s methods have radically changed. It’s that his supposed old-school tactics could still be effective for a period long enough to fight for the Premier League title.
The sterilized environment necessary for soccer to continue amid the coronavirus pandemic is likely to help any team establish itself that way. Imagine, for example, the ire of Newcastle fans was that 55,000 of them crowded into St James’ Park watching them barely try to attack early Saturday.
And here at 0-0 and even 1-0 up, while fans would undoubtedly have bought the spirit and commitment the Spurs displayed, the atmosphere would inevitably have been mixed with a mixture of apprehension and frustration at seeing the house. The team camped on the edge of their own box for long periods. As it stood, the only sound reverberating in this wonderful arena was that of two groups of players, staff and entourage disputing every decision made by referee Mike Dean, starting at an extreme stroke level and working up from there.
José Mourinho and Tottenham have been the surprise package in England and seem to be true contenders for the title. Photo Neil Hall – by Pool / Getty Images
Mourinho was at his finest when the Spurs fumbled, particularly in the City half, yelling at their players to regroup and close the gap for Kevin De Bruyne to conjure up a chance.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was excellent in this regard, epitomizing the positional intelligence and tenacity that Spurs needed to keep City at bay.
Son Heung-min cunningly deployed to the right instead of his usual position on the left flank to avoid a close-paced race with Kyle Walker. That tactical change led to the opening goal when City shut down, allowing Tanguy Ndombele to make a floating pass to Son, who watched Ederson run off his line before sliding a shot through the City goalkeeper’s legs.
Both sides had a correctly disallowed goal (Harry Kane for offside and Aymeric Laporte for a hand from Gabriel Jesus in preparation), but City created very shortly after halftime, Ruben Dias forced Hugo Lloris to make a save in discount time. with a header from a free-kick by De Bruyne.
This was a performance that will raise questions about the depth of rebuilding work Guardiola has on his hands to reestablish his national superiority and win the Champions League crown he yearns for.
Kane was everything Jesus wasn’t, fighting tirelessly to keep the ball and providing more examples of his eye for a pass, sliding in Giovani Lo Celso to double Tottenham’s lead in 65 minutes. Lo Celso had been introduced as a substitute for Ndombele moments before. This was a day when everything Mourinho tried went wrong. The only downside for Tottenham was a muscle injury to Toby Alderweireld, who limped off with nine minutes to go, with Mourinho later admitting that the first signs were not promising.
Of course, this is not the first time that Mourinho’s Spurs beat City. They achieved a victory by the same score in February, but finished last season battling for sixth place with City, a shadow of what they were before, still 22 points better. This time it was not an aberration, but a continuation of a good start, the club fusing tireless defense with a clinical shot to take them to the top of the table and eight points ahead of City, albeit one more game.
It will be fascinating to see how far you can take them. City are sure to flex their financial muscles in January now that Guardiola has committed to the club. Liverpool are still the team to beat, while Chelsea’s £ 220 million summer spree also has them aiming high.
While Spurs and Mourinho were told their best days could be behind us, together now they seem to be right on the title mix again.
Source: espn.co.uk
[ad_2]
