Mourinho Better Than Guardiola

West Brom boss, Alan Pardew, believes Jose Mourinho has a better winning formula than Pep Guardiola.

The Baggies chief revealed his admiration for Manchester United manager Mourinho’s mentality ahead of Sunday’s game at The Hawthorns.

Manchester City boss Guardiola has earned praise for City’s record-breaking Premier League winning streak this season, including a 2-1 derby victory at Old Trafford, with his side runaway leaders.

But Pardew feels Mourinho, who won the Europa League, Community Shield and League Cup in his first season at United, has a winning plan which sets him apart.

“Jose and myself would love to win a game 4-0 playing flamboyant football,” he said.

“You can’t do that, you just have to find a way to win sometimes, and that’s the thing he does better than anyone else, including Pep. He wins more trophies. He gets a lot of criticism which I think is unfounded.

“You get to the Community Shield by winning the Premier League or FA Cup. Then that’s another trophy. I don’t understand why people don’t think it’s a trophy. His targets and what he does are about winning. Simple as that.

“As managers of course, particularly if you’re manager of Manchester United, you’re going to get criticised. Sir Alex Ferguson got criticised and went through periods where fans were baying for him.

“It comes with the territory and Jose’s strong enough and big enough to win trophies, which I’m sure he’s going to do.”

Pardew also admires Mourinho for what he gets most criticised for, shutting teams down to grind out a result, which the Baggies managed to do to clinch a 0-0 draw at Liverpool on Wednesday.

It lifted them out of the bottom three before the weekend and the former Newcastle manager insists the art of defending cannot be overlooked.

“There’s always been two sides to winning football matches, defensive discipline and offensive prowess. You have to get the balance right,” he said.

“There are times people would like Jose to be more offensive, but you look at United’s defensive record – it’s pretty good.

“It’s about personnel and having the right criteria. I am of the opinion there’s beauty in the game at both ends of the pitch.”

Source: Sport360 staff