Mourinho’s anti-football tactics makes Liverpool vs Manchester United a drab affair
Modern football is defined by those that inherited the Barcelona legacy of Johan Cryuff. As current Manchester City and former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola put it: “Cruyff painted the chapel, and Barcelona coaches since merely restore and improve it.” And yet from those group of angels emerged Mourinho, a man who would nuke the chapel if it helped him win. Like Milton’s Satan he would rather ‘reign in hell’.
Throughout his career Mourinho has stood firm as the man holding up the anti-Barcelona flag, a man obsessed with the results, aesthetics be dammed.
His tactics, often criticised by pundits, have earned him plaudits, even helping him land up at Old Trafford but a lot of Manchester United fans had misgivings from Mourinho. That when the going gets tough, the bus comes out, and we saw it epitomised at Anfield.
Despite the fact that Manchester United have been playing exhilarating football, while Liverpool have been dire, Mourinho decided to play with precautionary tactics that gave new meaning to the old Italian style of Catenaccio (or doorbolt).
While Mourinho’s ultra-defensive tactics have paid dividends, most famously against Barcelona in the Champions League two-leg semi-finals in 2010, it’s hard to understand why he would do …read more
