In Tottenham versus Manchester City Coaching Rivalry Renewed

It is Guardiola Not Manchester City

Just to make sure there was not a club thing going on here, one must quickly look at Mourinho’s record against Manchester City. Mourinho has faced Manchester City 21 times and has won 10 and dropped only six. While that win percentage is not as high – 48% – as it might be against others, Jose still clearly has the upper hand on City overall.

However, as you investigate that record you see that before Pep arrived in Manchester in 2016, Jose had 7 wins in 14 matches against only 3 defeats. Since Guardiola arrived at City, Jose is 3-1-3 against him, a far cry from the 7-4-3 record before Guardiola took charge of City. What this tells us is Manchester City is not the problem it is Guardiola.

Of course, this is somewhat unfair as for 15 of the 23 total meetings Guardiola oversaw Barcelona and had the best footballer on the planet in his side. Lionel Messi tends to unbalance things, although Mourinho did have Ronaldo for part of that stretch as he coached Real Madrid. However, even at Madrid Mourinho only went 2-4-5 in 11 matches against Barcelona.

While the two victories were sweet and delivered a Copa del Rey in 2011 and the La Liga crown in 2012, those other losses had to sting. In fact, in Mourinho’s first game in charge of Madrid against Barcelona Guardiola and company gave Mourinho his worst career loss 5-0 on November 29, 2010. If anyone thinks for even half-a-second Mourinho has forgotten that day, you do not know Jose Mourinho.

Tottenham and Mourinho Matching-up

However, as Pep’s reign in Barcelona was coming to an end and he no longer coached a team with one Leo Messi in it, the records have started to even out. In the last nine meetings between the two men they have split 4-1-4. Only one of those matches featured Messi and it was a victory for Mourinho. In the years since then, things have started to even out.

This all brings us to the current situation, where Jose Mourinho is now 1-0 against Guardiola as coach of Tottenham Hotspur. Last season’s 2-0 victory was huge in the team qualifying for Europe and gave as a Steven Bergwijn moment most will not forget. While a red card certainly aided Spurs, Tottenham were and are the better side.  Tottenham are finally the stronger team, although City is very stout defensively, they are not the same offensive force they were over the past couple seasons with David Silva now retired from City.

Now, Jose Mourinho has Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son, and Gareth Bale on his side while Guardiola waits another season for Messi to join him. With the edge on paper – for once – on Mourinho’s side, expect the edge on the field to tilt that way too. In most things in life eventually everything slips back towards the mean and the mean with Jose Mourinho is winning more than not and we should expect that to continue this weekend as Mourinho looks to get one back on his old rival.