Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola agree on nothing… Manchester United and Manchester City are even vastly different in size
United's team is three inches taller on average than City's tiny team
JOSE MOURINHO and Pep Guardiola fail to agree on anything.
In this ultimate clash of personalities and footballing styles, the two fierce rivals even have completely different views on the importance of a player’s height and physical strength.
For Mourinho, big is definitely beautiful and he is clearly not the only one with this philosophy. Alan Pardew and Tony Pulis also believe size really matters.
Gaze at the other end of the size chart and you will find Manchester City. For Guardiola, these statistics really are just a number.
SunSport has investigated the height of all the players who have featured in the Premier League this season, the club’s squads and even the stars who were in action this weekend.
Quite clearly, the size of players is linked to the team’s style of play.
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Manchester United boss Mourinho has been given the keys to the Old Trafford safe to break the world transfer record on 6ft 3in Paul Pogba and hand big wages to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is 6ft 5in.
The Swede has already proved his physical threat — just ask Leicester captain Wes Morgan, who was over-powered in the Community Shield at Wembley.
Meanwhile Pogba looks like the football equivalent of Inspector Gadget, with incredibly extendable limbs.
When a club scouts a player they are interested in six key credentials.
They look for a player’s athletic ability and then their technical level, followed by physicality, tactical awareness, his social skills and his mental strength.
Intriguingly, Mourinho’s three most important factors are tactical, physical and then technical.
This is why Marouane Fellaini seems to be a vital part of Mourinho’s predictably rigid but ultimately successful system.
Against Mourinho teams you know what to expect but they are still incredibly difficult to deal with.
The same applies to West Brom and Crystal Palace.
Even look at the size of Middlesbrough’s players — is it a coincidence that Boro manager Aitor Karanka is Mourinho’s friend?
Guardiola, who moulded that successful, technically-brilliant Barcelona team, has a City side with an average height of 5ft 10in.
Equally, the size of the Bayern Munich team that he managed was of no particular concern to the Spaniard.
Eddie Howe, another manager who puts an emphasis on playing the so-called right way, also has a relatively short team at Bournemouth, as does Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
Against Leicester on Saturday, Wenger fielded Alexis Sanchez up front with Santi Cazorla playing just behind.
Both stand around 5ft 6in.
Last year, Sheffield Wednesday caused uproar for releasing a height chart ahead of goalkeeping trials.
No Under-12s below 5ft 2in would be considered. Under- 14s had to be 5ft 7in and Under-16s 6ft 1in.
Ultimately, the modern need for strong, athletic footballers has made it more difficult for smaller players to thrive, particularly outside the Premier League.
Teams in League One and League Two are generally more physical, although some coaches at that level believe managers play this way to hide their tactical flaws.
Peter Crouch, who stands at 6ft 7in, scored a hat-trick in the EFL Cup for Stoke on Tuesday and claimed the new referee clampdown on contact at set-pieces is a “farce”.
Stoke, particularly under Pulis, were a nightmare to play against due to their reliance on strength.
But as the Prem title-chasers will find out this season, if they are to deny United the title, they will have to beat the giants of Old Trafford.