There was an interesting article in the Guardian by Jack Pitt-Brooke, about the difference between Mourinho and Pep + Klopp in terms of football approaches, and why the latter may have surpassed Mourinho in terms of practical ability to build successful teams.
Essentially, Pitt-Brooke highlights what Klopp and Pep do to take randomness out of football - every conceivable scenario, attacking and defensive, is drilled endlessly, until there are no surprises in football for either of their teams. In other words, 'periodization' - every scenario is broken down into its base elements (which 'square' of the pitch it starts in, speed of action, supporting movements, time in the game, and so on), and drilled again and again until football becomes predictable - or at least, more so.
He essentially argues that while Mourinho does that for the defensive side of the game, he sort of lets his players figure out the attacking side of it, trusting them to play to the general ethos - which is more random, and thus inferior, to Klopp and Pep's drilled approach to the game, which is why they end up with 100+ points on a regular basis.
Now, I think Pitt-Brooke's analysis is unfair on Mourinho - because it was Mourinho who brought periodization to English shores in the first place. Prior to him, English football was dominated by two very different coaches.
- Ferguson, who focused on game management in terms of mentality, with his team able to switch up the tempo at will (their strongest weapon), and
- Wenger, who focused on fitness management (resulting in the fittest team in the league) and a free-flowing, unpredictable, unstructured style of play.
Mourinho was the first coach who arrived in England and showed that, with drilling and organization, every defensive phase and action can be anticipated and controlled - and in doing so, he created his Chelsea machines of 04-05 and 05-06. So, he was the originator of today's all-aspect periodization by Klopp and Pep - unfair to say he doesn't have that in his locker.
However, I think Pitt-Brooke is right in a broader sense - coaches relying on randomness and the instincts of their players are increasingly failing, across football. The game is growing more structured, and fitness management and free-flowing instinct are both actually becoming secondary to periodization and relentless drill.
I think it's a major reason why Wenger failed at the end - the era of drilling allowed even ordinary teams with tactical coaches to regularly beat his free-flowing, 'random' sides.
And, sadly, I think it's a reason why Poch may have struggled towards the end of his time with us - he spent so, so much energy on fitness and mentality (the latter possibly inspired by Fergie), but his tactical approach was fairly basic through it all, relying on quick transitions into the final third, but largely leaving it up to the players to score from there. The times when Poch drilled a specific approach are memorable - the tigerish close pressing against City in one of Guardiola's first games, the back post headers by Dele against Conte's Chelsea, the straight balls over Lovren for Kane against Liverpool in 2017. But they're memorable precisely because they weren't the norm.
And that approach came up short against teams that practised periodization more than we did - Chelsea, City, Liverpool. And, in time, the players let Poch down, their mentalities turned out to be weak crap, and Poch fell on his sword.
The thing to take away from that article, in reflection, is that randomization is on its way out - in this phase of the game. There are too many tactical and technological tools (from drones and training cameras to xG and statistical analysis), and football is far too much of a business, to allow for the level of randomness in attacking and defensive play that existed in the past. And the more coaches rely on their players to think for themselves, the worse they'll do - drill is key.
I wonder if Mourinho and Joao Sacremento think the same way - Sacremento is one of Europe's most promising young tacticians, and a big shift in Mourinho's management style from the days of the fitness-focused Rui Faria as his second. And it will be interesting to see if we go down that road ourselves in time.
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