Mourinho wants United to play the same power game as his Chelsea Mk I side


There has been plenty of attention on how Jose Mourinho's time ended at Chelsea ahead of his return to Stamford Bridge on Sunday as the boss of Manchester United.

But the more interesting comparison is how Mourinho is bringing some of the attributes of his first great Chelsea team to this current United side.

I played against the Chelsea team who won the Premier League in 2005 and 2006 and they were aggressive and physically imposing.

At Everton, we used to say before kick-off we'd try to 'beat up' the opposition metaphorically, roll them over at Goodison. But you couldn't do that to Mourinho's Chelsea Mark I. They had John Terry, William Gallas, Ricardo Carvalho, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba.

Mourinho's not silly. He'll know that even at United when we were at our most successful, we had that physical factor. Yeah, we could play football, but we could mix it, too.

The last couple of years under Louis van Gaal, some of the steel had gone. They were a bit lightweight.

Now look at the United team lining up in the tunnel. They look strong and powerful: Eric Bailly, Chris Smalling, Marouane Fellaini, Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Mourinho knew from the moment he came into English football that had to be part of any successful team in the Premier League.
I know Mourinho got criticism for the way United played to get a 0-0 at Anfield on Monday. I may be in the minority, but I thought they were fantastic. For the first time, it was a United performance.

People have this vision of United being silky under Sir Alex Ferguson, tiki-taka. First and foremost, we were horrible to play against, just like Chelsea a decade ago, just like Mourinho will want United to be now.

It wasn't United parking the bus. I've watched the game two or three times and if Zlatan's header had gone in, we'd all be talking about a Mourinho masterclass now.

He may change it a little bit for the Chelsea game, perhaps a Jesse Lingard or Juan Mata might come in to try to add a finishing touch.

But don't think Mourinho will be put off by the reviews of the last game. All the great Premier League teams, and that includes Arsenal's Invincibles as well, could be nasty when they had to.

Mourinho's Chelsea had people in their pomp who could put their foot in. I think that is the basis of great teams, to be able to do the good and the ugly side.

I played against that Chelsea team. If they were winning with 10 or 15 minutes to go, Drogba would go and play centre-back. They'd play it long and direct if they had to; you could very rarely beat them physically.

And it's not just been a Mourinho trait in England. When he won La Liga at Real Madrid, he had Pepe in midfield, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane.

There is a lot of talk this season about a new style of football, that Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino have introduced some new beautiful football that has somehow made Mourinho's style old-fashioned. I don't agree.

Running power is as important now as 15 years ago. Pochettino's Tottenham are aggressive, they defend from the front. Mourinho has players with speed and power.

Ok, Ibrahimovic isn't going to chase down balls like Luis Suarez but, as a team, United have players with legs around him, like Marcus Rashford and Lingard. They won't be bullied any more, that is for sure.

You can't win a league by press-press-press for 90 minutes in any case. You need to decide when to go for it, when to sit off.
There is no evidence that a team pressing for 90 minutes have become champions. You've seen that by teams blowing up in March and April.

Talking of tactics, it might be Antonio Conte at Chelsea who has to change his, rather than Mourinho.

The 3-4-3 worked well against Hull and Leicester, but if he puts N'Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic in midfield on their own against United, they are in danger of being overrun.

Conte will know to do the same again may play into Mourinho's hands. They can't risk being outnumbered in midfield.

Not when United are rediscovering the art of being horrible to play against — just like their manager's first title-winning team at Chelsea.

- Phil Neville



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