The title race is over. Chelsea moved 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League table with victory at the weekend and even the most optimistic of Arsenal fans will concede that the leaders cannot be caught now. But the Gunners’ recent revival, coupled with Manchester United's performance at Stamford Bridge, suggests next season could be a different story.
Louis van Gaal’s side laid down the biggest marker for their future title aspirations with a display of bravery on the ball that restricted the west London hosts to just 29.7 per cent possession – their lowest tally at home since Opta began recording statistics almost a decade ago. Chelsea were penned in, pegged back and starved of the ball, yet, in typical Jose Mourinho fashion, still emerged victorious.
Nevertheless, the purposeful nature of United’s play hints that the players are finally believing they are as good as their top-of-the-table rivals again. No matter what he goes on to achieve, the rebuilding of a psyche that had been ripped apart under David Moyes could be Van Gaal’s lasting legacy with the 20-time champions, the Dutchman’s authority and arrogance now mirrored in a side that had become tame and meek.
But, despite the obvious positives, there is a nagging fear that Van Gaal is already lurching towards a style of play that ultimately proved his undoing at Bayern Munich. Despite the control United exerted, they mustered just two shots on target against Chelsea and failed to create a single clear chance. Their stand-out performers were two teenagers in the back-line; and the attack wavered between anonymous and ineffective.
Five years ago, at the Santiago Bernabeu, Van Gaal also faced off against his former protégé, Mourinho, in the Champions League final. The story of the game was much the same. Bayern had 66% possession but only three shots on target and were undone twice on the break. It was peak Mourinho, but also peak Van Gaal: all bark and no bite. The next season, his final in Bavaria, he would average two-thirds possession home and away against Borussia Dortmund, but pick up zero points.
It is interesting that both Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, two of the Dutchman’s most distinguished apprentices, have chosen to take different approaches to the old master in terms of their sides’ attacking dynamic. Assuming Van Gaal’s philosophy is not so hard wired, there is plenty he could learn from the managers he once nurtured.
Guardiola, for example, borrows from Johann Cruyff – not Van Gaal – in his use of attackers, and specifically wingers, bestowing them with the freedom to think for themselves. Mourinho, similarly, shunned the rigidity of Van Gaal’s attacking play and was influenced instead by Sir Bobby Robson.
"Van Gaal repeats and repeats and repeats," said Mourinho in 2003. "He wants the players to play his way automatically, from defence to attack. So the working week is always very much the same. He seeks to ensure that each player knows what to do, and when. Robson loves more creative football people. He gives more freedom to the players.
"I like to have the spine of the week clearly defined, repeating exercises that are crucial to the playing style so you achieve certain habits and learn to think as a team. So, in defence, I follow more the model of Louis van Gaal. But in attack I favour more the approach of Bobby, who likes to give freedom to certain players to play their own way, outside the team's system – those two or three players who on their own can make a difference."
A difference-maker was the very ingredient United missed on Saturday, but no so for Chelsea who could call on their Player of the Year-elect. It was Eden Hazard, one of the players Mourinho allows to operate outside of the team's tight, rigid shape and is instead given license to roam without any defensive shackles, who produced the one moment of genuine class in the contest.
The fear is that such moments, and such players, are restricted and hindered by Van Gaal's system. At Stamford Bridge, United averaged 1.32 touches per pass. For Hazard, that figure was 1.84 – 39% higher. For Angel Di Maria, in his short cameo, it was 1.91, while he also attempted 20% of his side's total dribbles despite only playing 20 minutes.
Given Van Gaal's philosophy, therefore, it is no surprise that Di Maria is not part of the starting XI – Ander Herrera, once ostracised himself but so impressive now, explained that the side are instructed not to run with the ball at all – but can United really afford to do away with spontaneity entirely? Fans might question where the sides' match-winners and outside-the-box thinkers were on Saturday and the answer is on the bench. And, in all likelihood, that is where they will stay under Van Gaal.
Look up insanity in the dictionary and it may well cite Manchester City passing on Jurgen Klopp as an example. The German coach was immediately linked with the soon-to-be-dethroned champions upon announcing his decision to leave Borussia Dortmund last week, but club sources have so far distanced themselves from any potential move. The assumption is that Klopp is too brash for City and their "holistic" approach.
But teams are always built in the image of their manager, and at present City look like a withered, depleted, energy-sapped side. Klopp, boisterous and engaging, offers a fresh lease of life and club officials ought to embrace a manager with such charisma and charm. The notion that they might find a line-towing 'yes man' is folly, especially when their No.1 target, Pep Guardiola, is a cult of personality himself and currently embroiled in a power struggle at Bayern.
There is a fear, too, that Klopp is too unsuited to City's squad. Under Manuel Pellegrini they have been drilled to play a methodical, possession-based style which sits at odds with the explosive pressing game the younger legs of BVB have entertained with.
The planned summer overhaul, though, only makes Klopp and his swashbuckling tempo all the more alluring. City are set to cull the older players, such as Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri, who are less suited to the football Klopp advocates. But their potential replacements, the likes of Paul Pogba and Raheem Sterling, are perfect for the German's style and could herald an exciting new phase for a City side at the end of their current cycle.
Klopp has built sides from scratch before, both at Mainz and Dortmund, and City – with their average age of 28.8 (the oldest in the Premier League) – are ripe for ripping up and starting again. Moreover, City are far better on the counter-attack than they are given credit for. No side in England’s top-flight has managed more goals on the break than City (35 since 2009 – BVB scored 47 over the same period) and they added another against West Ham. How Sergio Aguero, Jesus Navas & co. would love to be let off the lease permanently.
Jose Mourinho is running the risk of having an asterisk attached to his career: why has he nurtured so few young talents? The Portuguese has scarcely been in one place long enough to help navigate a prodigy from the academy to the first team, but the fact he cites two French centre-backs who had racked up 86 combined Ligue 1 appearances before ever even meeting the manager who takes credit for their emergence speaks volumes.
Of current elite coaches, Mourinho must surely have dished out the fewest debuts. This is especially problematic now, with Chelsea's clutch of young, exciting talents – victors in the Under-19s European Cup and FA Youth Cup finalists – sitting on the sidelines as the self-proclaimed Special One sticks to his older, seasoned campaigners.
On Saturday, it was Didier Drogba who started in attack while Dominic Solanke watched on from the bench – and presumably he would not have made the squad had Loic Remy or Diego Costa been fit. Drogba, though, was abject to the extreme. Incredibly, the 37-year-old lost possession with 25 of his 48 touches – his every other involvement giving the ball back to Manchester United – while his passing in the opposition’s half was a miserable 33%, lower even than Thibaut Courtois.
The Ivorian hopes to continue playing next season, but he should not do so at Chelsea – and especially not at the expense of one of the Blues’ next generation of starlets. Players under the age of 21, namely Kurt Zouma, have racked up just 598 minutes of top-flight action under Mourinho this season and that cannot continue. The older players themselves, visibly fatigued, are crying out to be rested and rotated more often.
Mourinho’s win-at-all-costs mentality, and lack of faith in players outside his best XI, is stunting the potential of the most gifted academy in the country. The Portuguese says he will have failed if he does not produce a first Chelsea youth star since John Terry 15 years ago, but his actions so far suggest it is not a major priority. Mourinho, one suspects, is much more aligned with that mantra that "you win nothing with kids" – but sometimes it is a risk you are obliged to take.
Louis van Gaal’s side laid down the biggest marker for their future title aspirations with a display of bravery on the ball that restricted the west London hosts to just 29.7 per cent possession – their lowest tally at home since Opta began recording statistics almost a decade ago. Chelsea were penned in, pegged back and starved of the ball, yet, in typical Jose Mourinho fashion, still emerged victorious.
Nevertheless, the purposeful nature of United’s play hints that the players are finally believing they are as good as their top-of-the-table rivals again. No matter what he goes on to achieve, the rebuilding of a psyche that had been ripped apart under David Moyes could be Van Gaal’s lasting legacy with the 20-time champions, the Dutchman’s authority and arrogance now mirrored in a side that had become tame and meek.
But, despite the obvious positives, there is a nagging fear that Van Gaal is already lurching towards a style of play that ultimately proved his undoing at Bayern Munich. Despite the control United exerted, they mustered just two shots on target against Chelsea and failed to create a single clear chance. Their stand-out performers were two teenagers in the back-line; and the attack wavered between anonymous and ineffective.
Five years ago, at the Santiago Bernabeu, Van Gaal also faced off against his former protégé, Mourinho, in the Champions League final. The story of the game was much the same. Bayern had 66% possession but only three shots on target and were undone twice on the break. It was peak Mourinho, but also peak Van Gaal: all bark and no bite. The next season, his final in Bavaria, he would average two-thirds possession home and away against Borussia Dortmund, but pick up zero points.
It is interesting that both Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, two of the Dutchman’s most distinguished apprentices, have chosen to take different approaches to the old master in terms of their sides’ attacking dynamic. Assuming Van Gaal’s philosophy is not so hard wired, there is plenty he could learn from the managers he once nurtured.
Guardiola, for example, borrows from Johann Cruyff – not Van Gaal – in his use of attackers, and specifically wingers, bestowing them with the freedom to think for themselves. Mourinho, similarly, shunned the rigidity of Van Gaal’s attacking play and was influenced instead by Sir Bobby Robson.
"Van Gaal repeats and repeats and repeats," said Mourinho in 2003. "He wants the players to play his way automatically, from defence to attack. So the working week is always very much the same. He seeks to ensure that each player knows what to do, and when. Robson loves more creative football people. He gives more freedom to the players.
"I like to have the spine of the week clearly defined, repeating exercises that are crucial to the playing style so you achieve certain habits and learn to think as a team. So, in defence, I follow more the model of Louis van Gaal. But in attack I favour more the approach of Bobby, who likes to give freedom to certain players to play their own way, outside the team's system – those two or three players who on their own can make a difference."
A difference-maker was the very ingredient United missed on Saturday, but no so for Chelsea who could call on their Player of the Year-elect. It was Eden Hazard, one of the players Mourinho allows to operate outside of the team's tight, rigid shape and is instead given license to roam without any defensive shackles, who produced the one moment of genuine class in the contest.
The fear is that such moments, and such players, are restricted and hindered by Van Gaal's system. At Stamford Bridge, United averaged 1.32 touches per pass. For Hazard, that figure was 1.84 – 39% higher. For Angel Di Maria, in his short cameo, it was 1.91, while he also attempted 20% of his side's total dribbles despite only playing 20 minutes.
Given Van Gaal's philosophy, therefore, it is no surprise that Di Maria is not part of the starting XI – Ander Herrera, once ostracised himself but so impressive now, explained that the side are instructed not to run with the ball at all – but can United really afford to do away with spontaneity entirely? Fans might question where the sides' match-winners and outside-the-box thinkers were on Saturday and the answer is on the bench. And, in all likelihood, that is where they will stay under Van Gaal.
| TOP OF THE KLOPPS |
Look up insanity in the dictionary and it may well cite Manchester City passing on Jurgen Klopp as an example. The German coach was immediately linked with the soon-to-be-dethroned champions upon announcing his decision to leave Borussia Dortmund last week, but club sources have so far distanced themselves from any potential move. The assumption is that Klopp is too brash for City and their "holistic" approach.
But teams are always built in the image of their manager, and at present City look like a withered, depleted, energy-sapped side. Klopp, boisterous and engaging, offers a fresh lease of life and club officials ought to embrace a manager with such charisma and charm. The notion that they might find a line-towing 'yes man' is folly, especially when their No.1 target, Pep Guardiola, is a cult of personality himself and currently embroiled in a power struggle at Bayern.
There is a fear, too, that Klopp is too unsuited to City's squad. Under Manuel Pellegrini they have been drilled to play a methodical, possession-based style which sits at odds with the explosive pressing game the younger legs of BVB have entertained with.
The planned summer overhaul, though, only makes Klopp and his swashbuckling tempo all the more alluring. City are set to cull the older players, such as Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri, who are less suited to the football Klopp advocates. But their potential replacements, the likes of Paul Pogba and Raheem Sterling, are perfect for the German's style and could herald an exciting new phase for a City side at the end of their current cycle.
Klopp has built sides from scratch before, both at Mainz and Dortmund, and City – with their average age of 28.8 (the oldest in the Premier League) – are ripe for ripping up and starting again. Moreover, City are far better on the counter-attack than they are given credit for. No side in England’s top-flight has managed more goals on the break than City (35 since 2009 – BVB scored 47 over the same period) and they added another against West Ham. How Sergio Aguero, Jesus Navas & co. would love to be let off the lease permanently.
| YOU CAN'T TEACH AN OLD DROG NEW TRICKS |
Jose Mourinho is running the risk of having an asterisk attached to his career: why has he nurtured so few young talents? The Portuguese has scarcely been in one place long enough to help navigate a prodigy from the academy to the first team, but the fact he cites two French centre-backs who had racked up 86 combined Ligue 1 appearances before ever even meeting the manager who takes credit for their emergence speaks volumes.
Of current elite coaches, Mourinho must surely have dished out the fewest debuts. This is especially problematic now, with Chelsea's clutch of young, exciting talents – victors in the Under-19s European Cup and FA Youth Cup finalists – sitting on the sidelines as the self-proclaimed Special One sticks to his older, seasoned campaigners.
On Saturday, it was Didier Drogba who started in attack while Dominic Solanke watched on from the bench – and presumably he would not have made the squad had Loic Remy or Diego Costa been fit. Drogba, though, was abject to the extreme. Incredibly, the 37-year-old lost possession with 25 of his 48 touches – his every other involvement giving the ball back to Manchester United – while his passing in the opposition’s half was a miserable 33%, lower even than Thibaut Courtois.
The Ivorian hopes to continue playing next season, but he should not do so at Chelsea – and especially not at the expense of one of the Blues’ next generation of starlets. Players under the age of 21, namely Kurt Zouma, have racked up just 598 minutes of top-flight action under Mourinho this season and that cannot continue. The older players themselves, visibly fatigued, are crying out to be rested and rotated more often.
Mourinho’s win-at-all-costs mentality, and lack of faith in players outside his best XI, is stunting the potential of the most gifted academy in the country. The Portuguese says he will have failed if he does not produce a first Chelsea youth star since John Terry 15 years ago, but his actions so far suggest it is not a major priority. Mourinho, one suspects, is much more aligned with that mantra that "you win nothing with kids" – but sometimes it is a risk you are obliged to take.
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