Manchester City vs Tottenham | Clash of two ideologies
The Premier League is back, but last weekend was just a mere glimpse into the season that its shaping up to be. The real start is this weekend as Manchester City battle Tottenham in what should prove to be a title decider. But decider or not, this is not about the clubs but about the two managers.
There is an article by Jack Pitt-Brooke claiming that if Ossie Ardiles had the defense that Arsene Wenger inherited, Tottenham would be the North London force. Whether that is true or not is up for debate, but one thing that Pitt-Brooke does get spot-on is the football that Ardiles played was beyond what England could imagine. It shocked and awed. He introduced what Arsene Wenger would eventually pave the way forward for.
Expansive, aggressive and technically gorgeous football, but the Ardiles project failed. Yet for all the plaudits he gets, Ardiles’ biggest achievement was his failure. It showed everyone else the way, and the missing ingredient, a solid backline, which is what Wenger inherited. But one game stands out more than most in the Ardiles experiment, a 5-2 loss to Manchester City, now regarded as a classic. Not thanks to the players or even the managers, but thanks to the brand of football being played.
It was free-flowing, aggressive and exciting to watch, it was a mere peek into the future rather exciting future English football was about to have. What it helped with was eventually pave the way to Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino’s first encounter. It was the beginning of a beautiful rivalry not so dissimilar to what their predecessors in Ossie Ardiles and Brian Horton, albeit the roles reversed. Pochettino may never get on a list of the most boring managers in England, but his style of play is more Horton than it is Ardiles.
Officially, it started in Spain. Officially if you believe the history books, it started with Barcelona vs Espanyol, with a young Pochettino and an equally young Pep. But that is not the first this article cares about. No, this first that we concern ourselves with is the 2-0 win that Pochettino’s Tottenham physically forced on Guardiola’s Manchester City. It was a masterclass in brutality and technical strength against a Manchester City in transition.
It was a silver spoon against a fight to the very top, it was Guardiola vs Pochettino and it was rather nice to watch. And it was just what Guardiola needed. A welcome to the Premier League wake up call, and who better to provide it than his old foe?
That is just what Tottenham did and they did it oh so well, but three years on and time has not been their best friend. Instead with a Champions League runners-up "trophy" in their hand, Pochettino has done his best to keep up, as Guardiola dominated England. Sure the last few years have seen Liverpool’s emergence as a genuine contender, but City have been the dominant force.
It what saw many suggest that his debut season wasn’t his fault, that other factors were at play and "Fraudiola" wasn’t real! Pochettino, on the other hand, arrived to no party or even celebration other than from Tottenham. He inherited a team eerily similar as Guardiola did a slew of new arrivals but not to his liking. It was also a side that finished seventh in the league, reeling from the loss of a superstar. He like Guardiola changed a lot, creating an identity and implementing - his way or the highway method.
By the time his old foe walked back into his life, the Argentine had a team in place to challenge for the top four. Then came the 2-0 win and that changed English football. Then Manchester City shattered the norm. But like a lot of things, it came at a cost, a heavy monetary cost that doesn’t even seem to have dented Manchester City. Because Pep and Manchester City would go on to spend €909 million from the 2015/16 season onwards. In comparison, Spurs spent a mere €390 million. And it was always going to be the same.
Pep Guardiola at a bigger and more financially friendly side with Mauricio Pochettino at the financially poor if not poverty-stricken sides. It was the same at Espanyol and Barcelona, the same at Bayern Munich and Southampton and the same here. It’s what defined their relationship the best, although that may just have changed. Spurs now may have money to bankroll any project but it isn’t Qatari Oil money that could buy top tier three clubs and still have spare change to dominate the world.
But it’s to Pochettino what €909 million was to Guardiola, as after years on a shoestring budget, the Argentine is like a child in a candy store after his first summer job. Yet, it’s the battle that shaped the two men, and how they evolved to fight their battles. It’s arguably a brilliant definition of the Robert Frost poem, the road not taken and it shows just how different theirs has been. Because they both have the same point of origin in the eccentric yet brilliant Marcelo Bielsa.
Pochettino’s experience has seen him become more rigid, tactically flexible, brutal and merciless when he wants, not to mention very physical. Guardiola, on the other hand, is the polar opposite - playing fluid, aesthetic football with an emphasis on dominating the game.  Some of the Spaniard’s influence does come from Johan Cruyff with a mix of Bielsa, although the Bielsa is overpowered by the Cruyffian instincts.
The Argentine, on the other hand, has a blend of football that is a pure and lethal dose of himself and Bielsa. It’s arguably what led to the turbocharged arena in the Champions League quarter-finals. It’s also why many have dubbed this game as the revenge. But that’s not what it is. Instead, it’s a battle between two of the world’s most exciting managers, yet tactically opposite managers. It’s the clash that should, could and may end up defining the season, even though we’re one game into it.
That’s how hyped things have become when these two meet, and given the fixtures gone by, hype is the perfect word. It’s the game that could effectively decide if Liverpool ends their 30-year drought and one look at the fixture list tells you why. However, never forget, that the Premier League is unpredictable and that’s what makes it the Premier League. No two seasons are ever the same, although Guardiola is irritatingly proving that wrong.
The question, however, is if Tottenham are in the running for a title? That is something only they can answer, and there is no better way to do it, that beat Guardiola’s Manchester City. Yet again.
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