Jose Mourinho meets Tony Pulis

After his arrival from Porto, the enigmatic Jose Mourinho christened himself as “The Special One.”

The quote may well have not been far-fetched as Mourinho quickly outwitted Sir Alex Ferguson to win the Premier League in his maiden year.

The Portuguese tactician even drew more ire from Arsene Wenger as Chelsea outshone Arsenal – their London rivals, in the local derbies.

In concurrence, critics and admirers paid homage to Mourinho’s tactical onus and his ability to gain points easily from fixtures that would have been far much hard for other managers.

It was not long before the Fourth Estate and other independent observers pointed out the main criterion behind Chelsea’s wins; to Mourinho, all that mattered was the three points, and to him any theories that advanced tales of goal difference was simply alien.

The Stamford brigade had become synonymous with defending in numbers to protect slim leads; don’t outscore your opponents but rather make sure that they don’t equalize.

Unknown to Mourinho, one Tony Pulis, the then Stoke City’s manager, was taking note of his tactics – the Welshman assembled an outfit that had lots of resemblance with rugby players.

Pulis’ tactics were based on a simple Mourinho’s ideology of defending in numbers, but perfected to integrate bullying and frustrating the opponents.

You were simply lucky to escape with a point from Stoke’s Britannia Stadium.

In short, Pulis’ Stoke City Football Club was purely a side made up of play-ground bullies who had specialized in man-handling the opposition.

Pulis’ credentials as the master of defending were again showcased at the Selhurst Park when he ditched Stoke City for Crystal Palace.

Later today, Mourinho meets Pulis; master vs. student!

The action at The Hawthorns will be undermined by the fact that the stadium has lately become a haunting ground for Manchester United; we have been mugged or frustrated severally in recent years by The Baggies.

Add that with Pulis’ admiration for the Catenaccio play, a highly defensive type of play perfected by the Italians, and we could be in for a rude shock unless Mourinho comes up with something special.

Pulis himself has done his part in escalating the fear by claiming that the Catenaccio style has helped the Italians win four World Cups!

It should be noted that Pulis is one of those managers whose teams have never been relegated despite finding himself in the bottom-half of the table for most periods in the league.

Furthermore, he was never relegated during his playing days. Now, that’s a frightening statistic!

The Welshman manages to achieve some results despite managing teams that have relatively small budgets, which means that he rarely lands pricey assets during the transfer windows.

Tony Pulis has gained admiration from his fellow managers for having an endless knack to bail out clubs that are flirting with relegation; by using an approach of long balls, Pulis has consistently secured safety for Premier League clubs that are struggling, for instance Stoke City and Crystal Palace.

Couple all these with what Mourinho once said in 2015 – the Portuguese manager said that in the event that he would have been the owner of a Premier League club, he would have hired Tony Pulis as the manager!

Now in the Midlands managing West Bromwich Albion, Tony Pulis will most likely unleash his favoured tactics in a bid to go one over Mourinho.

Salomon Rondon has been in fine form – during the game against Swansea City, the Venezuelan striker scored a hat-trick that is considered rare given that it was via the head.

That simply points to Rondon’s aerial prowess and it may be scary for us in case Mourinho does not pair a central defence that is capable of dealing with the threat posed by crosses.

The matter is complicated by the reminder that Rondon scored the winner the last time we visited The Hawthorns.

Rondon’s tally of seven goals is quite impressive given that he relies on a modest midfield to feed him the ball – you just wonder what he could do with more creative players behind him in the field.

The return of James Morrison has been one of the main reasons for West Bromwich’s recent wins.

While operating behind Rondon, Morrison’s ability to link up play allows Matt Phillips to cause havoc on the left and complements Brunt’s unsullied crossing from the right.

That in itself demands a defence line that would stand all these threats – whoever gets to play on the left (Darmian or Blind) should give no room to Brunt.

Likewise, whoever plays at right-back should be able to deal with Phillip’s trickery.

The best bet for the left back position is Daley Blind while Antonio Valencia should return to fill the right back spot.

Chris Smalling has recovered and should make the bench.

However, the imperious partnership that Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo have had only relegates Smalling further.

Tony Pulis’ teams have always been characterized by their ability to convert set pieces – Pulis fields players who have a superior heading ability, and it is not a wonder that Rondon scored a hat-trick of headers against Swansea early this week.

It is in this knowledge that Man United should not give away corners or free kicks to West Bromwich Albion.

In the event that we give away set pieces, our quest for a third successive Premier League victory since August will be in great danger.

Observers have consistently said that Pulis does not care whether other managers malign him for not playing attractive football as long as these managers fear playing against him!

Due to this approach by Pulis, we need width at the Hawthorns to stretch their defence and make room for crisp passing.

As a result, Mourinho will most likely introduce Anthony Martial or Marcus Rashford.

However, the midfield should remain largely unchanged, even though Carrick may not be able to play each game now given his age.

Manchester United has for the last three or so years “donated” Johnny Evans and Darren Fletcher to West Bromwich Albion.

Ben Foster – another former Man United player, is currently The Baggies’ first choice goalkeeper.

That is not an encouraging occurrence given that these players may know a thing or two (read weaknesses) about some Man United players, unless they didn’t train together during their time at Old Trafford.

All in all, I expect Mourinho to clobber, drain, humiliate, suffocate and banish Tony Pulis!

#ManchesterUnitedvsWestBrom #JoseMourinho #Rivarlies