The José Mourinho-Pep Guardiola show began this week as Manchester City staged a meet-and-greet with their new Spanish head coach, and Manchester United unveiled the Special/Happy/Different One to the media.
Guardiola’s first public appearance was on Sunday at his club’s Cityzens Weekend where he spoke but did not field journalists’ questions while on Tuesday, at Old Trafford’s Europa Suite, Mourinho did answer inquiries during a half-hour press conference.
They were two disparate events but it still gives us a chance to assess which one of these two managerial alpha males won the opening bout of their season-long joust.
1. Sartorial elegance
Guardiola arrived at the City Football Academy in super-cool Hoxton Hipster garb. This consisted of skinny black jeans, a spanking new pair of Converse-like sneakers, distressed cotton T-shirt and tailored blazer. Guardiola’s entrance on to stage may have been over-produced but once on it the man from Catalonia dazzled before the supporters.
By contrast Mourinho was draped in a black United shell-suit that featured shiny pants and a polo shirt which was open-necked and showed the collar up. Given how buff the Portuguese can look in a tailored suit this seemed faintly disappointing. And in entering from a side door there was zero pomp and circumstance.
There is no doubt who scored the opening tap-in: Pep 1 José 0
2. Sense of humour
Mourinho may have only been in second gear but the display featured a running joke regarding whether his third new signing was “official” or not. The player in question is Borussia Dortmund’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan and the answer from Karen Shotbolt, the press officer, was a please-don’t-ask “no”.
For laughs the Pep-fest 5,800-strong crowd was shown inside the manager’s office which featured, among other things, a box of PG Tips. Get it? No? Wait for it: P(ep) G(uardiola) Tips.
For this alone, Mourinho nets the equaliser: Pep 1 José 1
3. News lines
Each of these supremely successful men are intrigue-machines who need only cough for it to be tweeted, Instagrammed and Facebooked.
Despite having none of the fourth estate quizzing him Guardiola still showered stories around like confetti. He declared a willingness to “kick arse” if required, stated he is at City to prove himself, and confessed that buying Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is impossible.
Mourinho did face interrogation from the press and his discourse proved a stream of zingers. There was a tough-luck stance on the departed Ryan Giggs (the Welshman wanted his job so it was not his “responsibility”). There was a defence of Mourinho’s youth-policy: a list of “49” academy and/or Under-21 players he claims to have given debuts to was produced to do so. And there were constant barbs at Louis van Gaal, his predecessor who, he inferred, hid behind “philosophies“, was “negative”, and only played home-grown talent due to “injuries”.
Mourinho takes the lead: Pep 1 José 2
4. Sense of ease
Mourinho was in his element – finally at the club he has wanted to manage for a long time. His opening utterance described this eloquently: “It is not a dream job, it is reality, and I’m the Manchester United manager. The reality is that I think it is a job everyone wants.”
Guardiola is equally articulate and once he spoke this was borne out. However, the awkward nature of City’s pre-Pep-appears presentation left the 45-year-old looking like he wanted the whole thing over.
Mourinho surges ahead: Pep 1 José 3
5. Blue sky thinking
Mourinho’s best bit of I-am-renaissance-man was when he killed the idea Wayne Rooney was a “No6 or even a No8”, as he will be a No10 or “9 and a-half”. Yet this was no staggering feat of creative pondering as the captain has 245 United goals and started last season as the centre-forward.
Guardiola displayed his ability to view events laterally by simply saying he has “no preconceptions” about English football and has an open mind about how City will play despite his gilded success having basically followed the same blueprint.
Guardiola pulls one back: Pep 2 José 3
6. Club bingo
Mourinho’s briefing mentioned “Ryan Giggs”, “Sir Alex”, the Red Devils ethos – “win everything”, “Manchester United is more important than me”, and that by “July 2017 this club is where it has to be – in the Champions League”.
Guardiola made several mentions of the “passion” of City and making the club “proud”, along with winning “titles”, creating “team spirit”, and offering “something special” to fans.
And, unlike his United counterpart with whom he shares an unsavoury rivalry, Guardiola dared to mention Mourinho by name.
Deep into added time the equaliser is secured and the final score in this pre-season derby is: Pep 3 José 3
