Chapter 909: Why Manchester City?
While Guardiola and others were studying how to deal with Barcelona in the hotel, Barcelona coach Mourinho was also discussing the current situation with his assistants in the hotel.
In the Champions League group stage draw, Barcelona had pretty good luck.
Although AC Milan is strong, Mourinho is still confident that they can compete for the first place in the group. Moreover, AC Milan is no longer the AC Milan of the Ancelotti era. The style of play adopted by Allegri is completely different from that of previous AC Milan. Even Pirlo has been sent away.
Barcelona is quite experienced in dealing with such teams.
Relying on the achievements of last season, Barcelona is now full of pride and has been dubbed the Dream Team III. Mourinho and his assistants are also quite proud and have a feeling of looking down on others.
If Guardiola has a love-hate relationship with Barcelona, then Mourinho and his team only have resentment towards Guardiola and his Manchester City, without any feelings at all.
Ever since Mourinho took over as Barcelona head coach, he has been questioned.
Including Cruyff, almost everyone believed that Mourinho was the head coach who was least in line with Barcelona's tradition. Some even concluded that he would not be able to succeed at Barcelona. All of them always firmly supported Guardiola.
At that time, Guardiola was only the head coach of Barcelona's second team and had never officially coached the first team.
How could Mourinho accept that such a rookie was so popular that his position was shaken? During his time as Barcelona coach, Mourinho and Guardiola were colleagues in the first and second teams, but they never interacted with each other. Mourinho was even unwilling to recruit players from the youth team, let alone Guardiola's favorite players, which also led to the departure of Busquets and Thiago.
But Mourinho has no regrets because he has a superstar like Yaya Toure.
Even after winning the Champions League, Cruyff and others still stubbornly believed that Barcelona's orthodoxy lies in Manchester City and Guardiola, rather than the Dream Team III led by Mourinho.
When they win the game, they will praise Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and everyone else, but they won't praise Mourinho.
Why? Mourinho knows it very well, but the more this happens, the more motivated he becomes and the more he wants to slap everyone in the face.
Isn’t it said that the orthodoxy is in Manchester City?
Well, I will beat this upstart Manchester City hard right now and show you all that your so-called orthodoxy can't beat me at all! If you want to win, you have to rely on me! Throughout his coaching career, the player Mourinho wanted most was Su Dong, but whether it was in Porto, Chelsea, or later in Barcelona, he missed Su Dong in the end for various reasons.
He reached five European finals, one Europa League and four Champions League finals, but lost to the Soviet Union in the first four.
It can be said that Su Dong has become the biggest knot in his heart.
Even last season, it was only when Su Dong transferred to Manchester City and missed the Champions League that Mourinho was able to lead Barcelona to win the Champions League final. There were so many doubts at the time that people thought that if Su Dong had been able to participate, Mourinho would probably have no chance in the Champions League.
This also made Mourinho extremely dissatisfied.
Is Su Dong very powerful?
I will beat him now to show you! Let you know that Su Dong is not omnipotent! Therefore, both in public and private, Mourinho must win this game! ...
"What tactics do you think our opponents will adopt tomorrow night?"
Mourinho looked at the assistants in front of him and asked with concern.
Everyone fell into deep thought.
This is a very important issue because it is related to the targeted tactics of the starting lineup.
As the saying goes, well begun is half done, and an effective starting tactic is half of a well begun.
"I think he will stick to the passing and controlling style of play and play offense against us," Tito Vilanova said firmly.
Everyone, including Mourinho, showed surprised expressions.
Play a head-on game with Barcelona?
Are you looking for death?
Mourinho smiled slightly, "Tito, do you think they will stick to their style of play?"
Vilanova nodded affirmatively, "I know Guardiola's character."
After a pause, Vilanova looked at Mourinho again and added: "Some people will compromise for their goals, and some people are even willing to go against their own will, but Guardiola's character makes him determined not to do such a thing. He would rather lose than not stick to himself."
"For a man like him, a victory won against his will is worse than a loss!"
After hearing what Vilanova said, Mourinho's expression changed continuously and looked a little unpleasant.
The Portuguese madman was a little confused. Was Vilanova objectively evaluating Guardiola or was he using Guardiola's words to criticize Mourinho?
You know, in the past few years of coaching Barcelona, Mourinho has changed Barcelona's playing style many times for the sake of victory. Sometimes he was even forced to make decisions that went against Barcelona's traditions and adopt tactics that the players could not accept.
Although he won in the end, it also brought about huge controversy.
What many people want is not just to win, but to win in the Barca tradition.
If winning means going against Barcelona's tradition, it would be better to lose.
But this is completely inconsistent with Mourinho's values. He is a professional head coach and his belief is to do everything he can to help Barcelona win. As for whether to follow Barcelona's tradition, it depends on the specific situation.
This is also the point that Mourinho has been criticized by Barcelona legends, players and the media.
Now that Vilanova said this, Mourinho really can't tell the difference.
Not only Mourinho couldn't tell the difference, but his assistants couldn't tell the difference either.
After Vilanova finished speaking and Mourinho's face changed, another right-hand man, Faria, spoke up to refute.
"Don't be ridiculous, Tito! We are discussing a European Super Cup match. If it were you, would you rather win or lose? As a professional head coach, isn't the greatest professional ethics to help the team win? Only after winning the game, you are qualified to talk about whether it is in accordance with your own wishes, right?"
"Yes." Others also spoke up. "How glorious were Real Madrid's Galacticos back then? But what's the result? Over the years, Real Madrid has never been able to win a game, whether using its own traditions or other methods. It has always been the 16th place in the Champions League. In this case, is there any meaning in sticking to its own traditions?"
"Winning is the first thing to consider before thinking about other things."
"It's a bit lofty for Guardiola to say this, but he also lacks the professional ethics of a professional head coach."
Mourinho's values make the coaching staff members he recruits basically consistent with him, especially in the current environment, they naturally stand on his side.
"Okay!" Mourinho also noticed Vilanova's expression and immediately called a stop.
"We are discussing Guardiola and his Manchester City now, only discussing opponents, not expanding the scope."
Although these words were meant to dissuade his assistant, they were also intended to warn Vilanova.
Nimei, what you just said has expanded the scope of attack.
Vilanova knows, but he is helpless, "I still insist that Guardiola and Manchester City will adopt offensive tactics."
"If it is true what Tito said, that Manchester City will attack us head-on, then it will be easy to deal with. Our passing and ball control ability can easily tear through their defense. Add Messi, and Manchester City will not be able to defend at all." Faria said this with a proud smile, "If Guardiola wants to die, then we have no reason to stop him, right?"
Everyone smiled.
"In fact, what I am most worried about is that Manchester City will adopt a counterattack tactic contrary to its usual practice, just like Arsenal last season. This will be troublesome because Sudong is too terrible!" Mourinho frowned.
When Su Dong was mentioned, everyone present couldn't help but frown.
Su Dong is indeed terrible.
The main reason is that no one knows how to defend him.
Once he is given space and allowed to charge, it will be difficult for one or two people to stop him.
To put it simply, he is like a combination of Ibrahimovic, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi.
"We are never afraid of opponents pressing forward. Instead, our most difficult opponents are those who shrink their defense."
"Yes, if Guardiola chooses to press forward, it will be a good thing for us."
"Although Manchester City's passing and possession ability is very strong, that is in the Premier League. I don't think he will be so stupid. Instead, he may adopt a defensive counterattack tactic like Wenger's Arsenal."
"Playing offensive against us? Why would Manchester City do that?"
The coaching staff were all talking to each other, and they all looked down on Manchester City and Guardiola to some extent.
Of course, this was mainly because Vilanova had just said some things that made them uncomfortable, so they were taking the opportunity to vent.
In fact, no one will underestimate Manchester City, especially Su Dong.
But if you say that Manchester City is going to play a head-on game against Barcelona, not only Mourinho and his team, but probably few people in the world would believe it.
In the past few years, all teams that have played against Barcelona have basically died miserably.
Vilanova really wanted to say something, but when he saw Mourinho and the coaching team's attitude, he hesitated and finally chose not to say anything.
Barcelona under Mourinho is certainly very strong, even super strong, but when it comes to passing and controlling the ball, there are still major flaws and hidden dangers. Vilanova believes that he can see it, but how can Guardiola, who is more familiar with and understands Barcelona's tactical system and traditions than him, not see it?
If Guardiola uses this point to attack Barcelona, will the chances of winning be improved?
But Vilanova couldn't say.
He just pointed it out just now, but it made Mourinho and others so uncomfortable. If he said it again now, there would probably be a quarrel.
Thinking of this, Vilanova sighed inwardly.
The days of sandwiches are getting harder and harder!
Today I accompanied my child to a very important exam. He entered the examination room while I was typing outside, hoping to get good grades.
(End of this chapter)
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