Zonal Marking: Previous Mourinho-Guardiola tactical battles and the Manchester derby

Saturday's Manchester derby is the first Premier League meeting between Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola but they've faced each another plenty of times in the past. What, however, have we learned from those matches and will anything gleaned be relevant when United host City? Both managers make specific plans for this opposition Mourinho's contests against possession-based managers are often simple, because the approach generally does not change from game to game. This is partly why he has been so successful over the years against Arsene Wenger; Mourinho devised a plan and never needed to readjust. Guardiola, though, is a different challenge. Although he has a defined philosophy and wants to play on the front foot, he scouts opponents extensively and makes specific plans to exploit their weaknesses. Arguably Guardiola's greatest tactical triumph came in Barcelona's 3-1 victory at Real Madrid in December 2011, when he tricked Mourinho into thinking he was using a four-man defence, before shifting to more of a hybrid system that featured Dani Alves pushing forward down the right, Carles Puyol moving to full-back and Sergio Busquets playing centre- back and central midfield simultaneously. It was genius. Mourinho's moves are more defensive. When facing Guardiola's Barca as Inter manager in 2009-10, he played defender Cristian Chivu on the left of midfield to shut down Alves. To combat the Brazilian while at Real, Mourinho generally played Cristiano Ronaldo upfront or on the opposite flank, with a more disciplined player tracking the Barca right-back. Mourinho would also use Lassana Diarra to constrict Lionel Messi's space. In general, Guardiola changes things to get his key players into space, while Mourinho changes things to block opponents. That might define the tactical battle on Saturday. Mourinho has struggled to include a playmaker During the frequent meetings between Guardiola's Barcelona and Mourinho's Real Madrid, the latter discovered he was generally unable to use chief playmaker Mesut Ozil in his favoured No. 10 position. The first time the two managers met in El Clasico was in November 2010. Mourinho asked Ozil to mark Xavi Hernandez, a reasonable request given Ozil was accustomed to a left-of-centre attacking midfield role and Xavi played in a deep right-of- centre midfield role. But Xavi got the better of the duel by moving into a higher position, where Ozil would have been uncomfortable, and dictated the play from an advanced role. It's partly why Xavi found himself uncharacteristically opening the scoring from inside the box. Barcelona won 5-0. Ozil was sacrificed at half- time in that game and thereafter rarely played as a No. 10 in El Clasico as Mourinho preferred midfielders, who could do a defensive job. Sometimes Ozil was left out, other times he was accommodated on the right because Barcelona didn't have a particularly good attacking left-back. Who might Mourinho disappoint this weekend? Juan Mata is the most Ozil- esque player and is accustomed to setbacks under Mourinho, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan hasn't yet commanded a regular place. But could Wayne Rooney, afforded the freedom to play where he wanted by Sam Allardyce for England because he seems unable to play a set role, also be sacrificed? Ibrahimovic w

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