Noisy neighbours

The mind games are at fever pitch for today’s Manchester derby, the biggest game in Premier League history. James Ducker reports from both camps

Jose Mourinho has fanned the flames ahead of today’s potentially explosive Manchester derby by urging referee Michael Oliver to clamp down on what he claims to be Manchester City’s deliberate “tactical fouling”.

The Manchester United manager has also raised the prospect of playing negatively at Old Trafford by claiming Paul Pogba’s suspension had robbed his side of their midfield creativity and would force them to “play a different way”. Mourinho had already lit the touchpaper by branding City a team of divers and claiming manager Pep Guardiola had received preferential treatment from the authorities by being allowed to wear a yellow ribbon in support of jailed Catalan pro-independence politicians. And the Portuguese has now aimed another barb at the Premier League leaders by accusing them of committing cynical fouls when they lose the ball.

“I know, yes, yes,” Mourinho said when it was suggested City employ a tactic of strategic fouling. “It is a strategy that they have. They attack with a lot of players. When they lose the ball, they are many times unbalanced in numbers, they have lots of people surrounding the ball area and they have a very strong – and this is a great quality – transition in the next few seconds after they lose the ball. And many times, they need what is called a tactical foul and then it is up to the referee to analyse and to make a decision about it, but I cannot speak about that.”

Mourinho made no attempt to sugar-coat the loss of Pogba, whose red card against Arsenal has ruled him out of the next three matches.

“Do you think I have in my team a midfield player who can create what Pogba did for the third goal at Arsenal? We don’t have one,” Mourinho said of the impact of Pogba’s suspension. “So, it’s not being pessimistic, it’s just to play a different way.” Pep Guardiola has admitted he might have ended up managing Manchester United had he realised Sir Alex Ferguson was trying to line him up as his Old Trafford successor over dinner in New York.

But ahead of today’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford, Guardiola insisted he had no regrets about joining Manchester City and said no club made more of an effort to secure his services.

City will open up 11-point lead over Jose Mourinho’s side at the top of the Premier League if they claim a 14th successive league win, and deal a huge blow to their rivals’ own title hopes in the process.

Yet Guardiola (right) could have been standing in the United dugout today had he better understood Ferguson’s overtures to him when the pair met in Dec 2012, six months before the Scot retired after 27 years at the Old Trafford helm.

Ferguson claimed in his book, Leading, that he asked Guardiola, who was half- way through a 12-month sabbatical after leaving Barcelona, to contact him before he accepted an offer from another club. But the Catalan said he failed to grasp Ferguson’s wish and instead took charge at Bayern Munich, with United eventually turning to David Moyes.

“My English in that period was not as good as it is right now – and so maybe I just didn’t understand what Sir Alex said,” admitted Guardiola. “We met in a magnificent restaurant for dinner and I think he has said he suggested to me something about going to Old Trafford. But I really don’t remember that! We spoke about life, about football, about the Premier League. But there was no message sent to me under the table about United. I think I would remember that!

“It was just two friends, colleagues in football, talking about many things. But what I do remember is that Sir Alex spoke really fast and it was difficult to understand him! But it was nice because he chose an amazing restaurant – and of course he paid!”

Guardiola said he had already made his mind up at that time to move to Bayern but said no English club made more of an effort to entice him than City, whom he joined last year after three seasons in

Bavaria.

“Bayern Munich were the first to call me, and then Manchester City, but I had already decided to try to prove myself in Germany and live that experience,” he said. “After that, from almost the day I arrived [at Bayern], Manchester City asked me again and I said that if I went to the Premier League I would go to them. They showed more interest than any other club to pick me up. That was so important to me.”