A few days ago the former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg caused a minor sensation by telling NBC's Men In Blazers podcast that he had intentionally let a number of red card offences slide in the famous game between Chelsea and Spurs that saw Leicester win the title in 2016.
"I went in with a game plan that I didn't want Tottenham Hotspur blaming Mark Clattenburg that they were gonna lose the title. It should've been three red cards to Tottenham; I allowed them to self-destruct so all the media, all the people in the world went, 'Tottenham lost the title'. If I sent 3 players off from Tottenham, what's the headlines? 'Clattenburg lost Tottenham the title'," he revealed.
Clattenburg has since said that his comments were “misinterpreted”. “I probably said it in the wrong way,” he told the BBC. “One thing I certainly don’t want to do is be the centre of attention.”
Of course Clattenburg hadn’t said it the wrong way, it was quite clear what he had meant. His mistake was to admit something that referees obviously think but are not supposed to say; their decisions are influenced by what they think the perception of those decisions will be.
This is quite normal and understandable. It’s very unpleasant when the English media decide to make you “the centre of attention”, to the extent that even their prime minister tries desperately to avoid doing anything that might anger some of the more choleric elements of that media.
Some managers are no different. José Mourinho knew that the Manchester derby represented the toughest test of his progress in 18 months at Old Trafford. He decided that it would be more comfortable if he could transfer some of this pressure onto the referee, Michael Oliver.
Before the game, Mourinho announced that City’s game plan was largely based on clever tactical fouls designed to choke opponents’ counterattacks, adding that City’s players “lose their balance very easily – a little a bit of wind and they fall.”
After United lost 2-1, Mourinho was under even more pressure than he was before the game, and again he decided to share it with the referee.
“It is like last season,” Mourinho said. “Exactly the same, you can speak about anything you want, you can bring any football theory, you can bring the stats, the ball possession, you can bring everything you want – but like last season it is a huge penalty in a crucial moment of the game. I feel sorry for Michael Oliver.”
Mourinho was fooling nobody. The penalty he was complaining about was not a penalty. Ander Herrera's boot had frozen on the ground as though his foot had got stuck in a pothole. He was plainly trying to sucker a foul out of Nicolas Otamendi; perhaps not a bad strategy, but certainly not an honest one, and he had been correctly rumbled and booked by Oliver.
Been outplayed
Mourinho was correct about one thing, and that is that the match was exactly like last season’s, though not in the way he claimed. The real similarity was that, once again, his team had been outplayed. By now it should be plain to even the most partisan of United fans that when it comes to Mourinho’s side in big matches, getting outplayed is not a bug, it’s a feature.
When Mourinho became <a class="search" href='javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:"7.1213540", $action:"view", $target:"work"})' polopoly:contentid="7.1213540" polopoly:searchtag="tag_organisation">Manchester United</a> manager, he was effectively agreeing to participate in a laboratory experiment
United have now played all the other members of the top six, and in each of those matches the opponent has had more of the ball and more shots on target. United have won two of five against Arsenal, Chelsea, City, Liverpool, and Tottenham, averaging 37 per cent possession and three shots on goal to the opponents' eight.
Compare this to City’s record in the same matches. They have yet to play Tottenham, but in the four matches against Arsenal, Chelsea, United and Liverpool they have won four out of four, averaging 63 per cent possession and seven shots on target to four. No wonder Mourinho hates when people mention the stats.
Pep Guardiola was exultant after ending United’s 40-match unbeaten home run on a night when snow and wind complicated City’s usual precision game, but his satisfaction had little to do with the fact that he had defeated his old rival. Guardiola’s eyes are on a larger goal.
"Always people say the way we play in Barcelona, in England is not possible. It is possible," he told Sky after the match.
He has heard all the criticism that it's all very well winning trophies with clubs like Barcelona and Bayern, but England is a real league where five or six teams can feasibly win the title. So Guardiola is out to prove something, he is a man on a mission.
City's two goals yesterday came about thanks to lucky bounces of the ball, as happens so often in football, but City's desire to control the play tilts every game so much in their favour that it's no wonder the ball tends to bounce their way. In midfield, Kevin de Bruyne had as many touches as Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic combined.
It would be a mistake to put this superiority down to money: according to the latest Global Salaries Survey from sportingintelligence.com, United’s players are paid fractionally more than City’s. It’s not about lucky richochets or bad refereeing decisions either.
When Mourinho accepted the chance to become the Manchester United manager and go up against Guardiola at City, he was effectively agreeing to participate in an almost perfect laboratory experiment to see whose methods worked better.
As to how that experiment is working out, well, you can take all the football theory and the stats and the ball possession, anything you want – but there’s really no need. The answer is already obvious to everybody.
