Pardew: Mourinho has a better winning mentality than Guardiola

LONDON: West Bromwich Albion manager Alan Pardew believes his Manchester United counterpart Jose Mourinho has been unfairly criticized, saying that no one, including Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, was better than the Portuguese at winning trophies.

After leading his teams to various triumphs across England, Spain, Italy and Portugal, Mourinho joined United last season and led them to a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League and the Europa League, League Cup and Community Shield titles.

Pardew praised Mourinho’s tactical nuance and said the former Chelsea boss was better at winning than Guardiola, whose team have a significant lead at the top of the league standings after embarking on a record-breaking 16-game winning streak.

“Jose and myself would love to win a game 4-0 playing flamboyant football,” Pardew was quoted as saying by Sky Sports. “You can’t do that, you just have to find a way to win sometimes.

“That’s the thing he does better than anyone else, including Pep. He wins more trophies. He gets a lot of criticism which I think is unfounded ... His targets and what he does are about winning.”

Last week, former United manager Louis Van Gaal said the club had become more boring under his successor Mourinho, but Pardew dismissed the criticism as a routine part of being a manager at a top club. “It comes with the territory and Jose’s strong enough and big enough to win trophies, which I’m sure he’s going to do,” Pardew added.

“... There are times people would like Jose to be more offensive, but you look at United’s defensive record – it’s pretty good. It’s about personnel and having the right criteria.

“I am of the opinion there’s beauty in the game at both ends of the pitch.” – Reuters