Dir Wangem
New Member
If you were to ask someone who the two best managers in the game who's currently active are, then there's a high chance they'd answer Pep and Mourinho. There is no secret that these two are very different, both in terms of personality and playstyle. Mourinho may have his teams play attacking and entertaining football for the majority of the season, but it's in the tough games that a coach shows his true colors. And when he's faced with a tough game, Mourinho will always have his teams sit deep and counter, preferably with very physical players in midfield. There is of course nothing wrong with that, and when it works it can be beautiful to watch.
Pep on the other hand, is utterly uncompromising. Whether the opponent is Crystal Palace or Real Madrid, he will always go for an attacking approach. He'll stifle his opponents with high pressure and attack after attack. You'd think that this would have a clear defensive downside, especially seeing as City's defense on paper is 4th best in the league at best(in my opinion). But this has not been the case at all. His team has only conceded 2 more goals than defensive mastermind Mourinho, and no other team has given their opponents less shots/chances.
It is clear that if you attack with high quality, then you ultimately push your opponent back which in return makes it very hard for them to counter properly. But what if you lack the quality? Klopp is another example of an uncompromising coach who will attack no matter who the opponent is. Because of this, he has suffered. Against teams that park the bus, he lacks the top players to create something out of thin air, and against equally strong(or stronger) opponents his teams will concede many goals.
For an uncompromising attack to work out well defensively, you need top quality players and a top quality coach. But does it ultimately work better than a careful approach?
Right now the answer seems to be 'yes', but Mourinho has been pretty damn successful with his philosophy too. Fergie is the best manager of all time so perhaps it would be wise to look at his football, but honestly, he was just special. Just out of this world. And besides: his style was somewhere between Mourinho and Pep, so we're not gonna get the answer there.
If you had the best or second best team in the league on paper, which approach do you think you would have gone for if you were the manager?
Pep on the other hand, is utterly uncompromising. Whether the opponent is Crystal Palace or Real Madrid, he will always go for an attacking approach. He'll stifle his opponents with high pressure and attack after attack. You'd think that this would have a clear defensive downside, especially seeing as City's defense on paper is 4th best in the league at best(in my opinion). But this has not been the case at all. His team has only conceded 2 more goals than defensive mastermind Mourinho, and no other team has given their opponents less shots/chances.
It is clear that if you attack with high quality, then you ultimately push your opponent back which in return makes it very hard for them to counter properly. But what if you lack the quality? Klopp is another example of an uncompromising coach who will attack no matter who the opponent is. Because of this, he has suffered. Against teams that park the bus, he lacks the top players to create something out of thin air, and against equally strong(or stronger) opponents his teams will concede many goals.
For an uncompromising attack to work out well defensively, you need top quality players and a top quality coach. But does it ultimately work better than a careful approach?
Right now the answer seems to be 'yes', but Mourinho has been pretty damn successful with his philosophy too. Fergie is the best manager of all time so perhaps it would be wise to look at his football, but honestly, he was just special. Just out of this world. And besides: his style was somewhere between Mourinho and Pep, so we're not gonna get the answer there.
If you had the best or second best team in the league on paper, which approach do you think you would have gone for if you were the manager?