English football has transformed at a rapid rate in the 21st century, as a more attacking brand of football has been implemented by many of the most successful managers ever to increase the quality and popularity in the English Premier League.
With the help of more money and higher wages introduced into the world game, Manchester United and Manchester City, as well as other high profile clubs in the Premier League such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, have brought in players with high potential from lower-tier teams or other successful clubs in the biggest leagues in Europe.
For Manchester United, the appointment of Sir Alex Ferguson in 1986 changed the way United played, introducing a rapid and more attacking brand of football. This relied on players like Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and other high profile players to transform play from defence to attack in quick succession, which is seen in the football world as ‘counter-attacking’.
Cristiano Ronaldo became one of United’s best signings in the 21st century since the likes of George Best, David Beckham and Eric Cantona.
He was blessed with searing pace, trickery with the ball, blistering free kicks, and could score headers like a trademark centre-forward – a valuable asset to Manchester United and English football’s development in the new era, and a type of player that was never seen before.
Along with other players including Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs, they transformed the way United played, and defeated teams with ease, creating entertainment for all.
When Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, David Moyes was appointed and was shortly followed by Louis van Gaal in a stagnant three-year period of football for Manchester United.
Van Gaal brought upon a very defensive game philosophy. Like Barcelona’s possession game, van Gaal believed in a heavy possession-based style of play. However, the difference is that Barcelona are able to keep the ball and tire the opposition, and link their possession to quick-fire counter-attacks and goals.
Manchester United were not able to do this, as they would get caught on the ball as a result of passing the ball around too much and ‘recycling play’.
This approach to every game disheartened all Manchester United fans and was regarded as ‘boring’ football.
Since Jose Mourinho has took over Manchester United in 2016, his game philosophy has been regarded as the best attacking football United have played since the Ferguson reign, however, still not as exhilarating and exciting as fans would’ve wanted or expected.
Bringing in prolific players such as Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku has encouraged an attacking brand of football at Manchester United throughout the last couple of seasons.
In late 2017, United came out of their pre-season tour, with a mindset that fixed their goals on winning the Premier League. Many pundits and fans thought the 2017/2018 season was Manchester United’s season. They were somewhat right, but only for so long.
They came out against West Ham with a heavily convincing 4-0 victory, and shortly followed up against Swansea with another 4-0 thrashing. It seemed Mourinho had brought back Ferguson’s convincing and entertaining attacking brand of football, and the real Manchester United of old was brought back from the football graves.
However, over the past month or two, Mourinho has been receiving heavy criticism regarding his coaching philosophy.
This started after their Champions League loss to Sevilla – a Spanish side currently sixth in the La Liga standings, 30 points off the top of the table leaders FC Barcelona, and not to qualify for the next Champions League.
For a club of Manchester United’s reputation, these score-lines are unacceptable. While the Red Devils are known as one of the best sides on paper, their execution in-game can be quite poor and, in other instances, can be entertaining to watch.
They are reasonably inconsistent with their performances in the English Premier League, against different sides of different qualities.
From the passionate Manchester United fans that attend every game, hail or snow, rain or shine, to the supporters around the world watching on TV, all fans are baffled as to what Mourinho’s game plan is.
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Why does Mourinho ‘park the bus’ when United are a goal or two up? Why can’t United play the way they were playing at the beginning of the season; showcasing their attacking threat towards the opposition for the whole game?
Why doesn’t Paul Pogba play in an attacking midfielder role? He is wasted as a holding midfielder.
These are some of the frustrations United fans deal with every week after a disappointing or unconvincing performance.
On the other hand, Manchester City, in the 21st century, have revolutionised English football in the form of unseen tactics over the past couple of seasons.
This is thanks largely to a new attacking brand of football, brought upon by one of the most successful managers to ever grace the managerial game in Pep Guardiola, who arrived at City in 2016, the same time as Mourinho arrived at United.
As these two successful managers entered the competitiveness of English football in the Premier League, there was gossip over who was to succeed and who was to fail.
Guardiola is a very attacking manager, who has led other teams such as Bayern Munich and Barcelona to multiple league titles and other successes. He was particularly well known for enforcing the possession tactic called ‘tiki-taka’ which was a form of possession play adopted by numerous Spanish sides in the La Liga, however, Guardiola perfected it.
He adapted to the Premier League very quickly, and brought in a number of players through the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, Bernado Silva, Nicolas Otamendi, Ederson and many more, who have radically transformed English football.
Pep Guardiola uses the experience he has to manipulate and change the way his sides perform under him, and uses a variety of effective tactics that other teams struggle to master.
An example of a small tactic Manchester City adopt in the attacking third, is known as the ‘pocket’. This ‘pocket’ refers to the distance between the centre back and full back on a football pitch in-game.
For many teams in the Premier League, there is a vulnerable pocket of space between these two positions. Manchester City are able to take advantage of this vulnerable point on the pitch, and exploit this space effectively by playing through balls in-behind the defensive line.
This ‘pocket’ tactic has come into practice into many of their games this season. A high proportion of Manchester City’s goals this season have been ‘tap-ins’ inside the box, which is what all attacking-based players treasure.
However, not only are Manchester City clinical in the attacking third or the box, the quality of the distribution and execution of their set-plays are consistent, and are constantly resulting in goals on many occasions.
Having quality passers of the ball in midfield, including Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva allows for these opportunities in front of goal.
Many pundits and football analysts have claimed Manchester City are displaying the best and most entertaining football since Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign at Manchester United, and have stated that they will continue to transform English football in the coming years.
Other sides in the ‘top six’ must strive to reach their level of quality on the pitch. Manchester United, in particular, are still yet to live up to their high expectations.
At this stage, United have a lot of refurbishing to do and are seen to be in a period of ‘transition’, quoted by Jose Mourinho. As it stands, Manchester United are nowhere near Manchester City’s exceptional quality.
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