The Catalan's antics are reminiscent of those of his arch nemesis, and he must heed warning signs before he falls to the same fate
Before Manchester City headed to Liverpool on Sunday, Pep Guardiola had said "the previous nine years are dead", acknowledging that his glorious record in the past would not protect him if his side's dismal run of form continued. So why then, as his side were on their way to a fourth consecutive Premier League defeat, did he hold up six fingers to the Anfield crowd?
As Guardiola raised one finger for each Premier League title won to Liverpool fans chanting "You're getting sacked in the morning,", he was not living by that old business adage about only being good as your last success. Instead, he was using his previous achievements as a comfort blanket in a time of great distress.
"I’m so proud of my six Premier Leagues against that team and the previous teams," Guardiola explained, and there is nothing wrong with being proud of his astonishing achievements. But by pointing to his former successes amid his worst run of form in 17 years as a coach, Guardiola is beginning to resemble another serial winning manager who lost his way when no one expected it.
Yes, the Catalan is slowly starting to mimic the actions of Jose Mourinho, once his sworn enemy.
GettyToday's empires, tomorrow's ashes
Guardiola did not just flash the six-finger salute in a response to Liverpool fans, he also did it at the end of the game towards the visiting City fans in a bid to lift their spirits after yet another chastening defeat, a sixth loss in seven games in all competitions.
A fair few City fans were not alive the last time their team lost four Premier League games, in August 2008, just after the club had been taken over by the Abu Dhabi royal family. But they might well remember watching another coaching empire crumble and see similar patterns of behaviour between Mourinho and their own boss.
The Portuguese won a third Premier League title with Chelsea in 2015, his eighth league crown, and then presided over one of the worst title defences in the league's history. Mourinho became more and more agitated with each defeat, and after losing at home to Southampton in October, a fourth loss in the opening eight league games, he fired out a warning to the Chelsea hierarchy.
"This is a crucial moment in the history of this club because, if they sack me, they sack the best manager this club has had," he said. But two months later, he was indeed fired after defeat at Leicester, a ninth loss in 16 league games.
AdvertisementGettyPointing fingers
Mourinho was not making hand gestures in his final days as Chelsea boss, but finger-pointing became a feature of his turbulent reign at Manchester United. When the Portuguese led United to win the Europa League in his first season, he was desperate to claim he had just presided over a treble triumph, after also winning the Carabao Cup and the Community Shield. And so as they celebrated their win over Ajax at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, the manager urged his players to hold up three fingers to signify each trophy won.
Mourinho was very keen to point out that he was back doing what he did best, winning silverware. But insisting that beating Leicester to win the Community Shield was some great triumph instead merely highlighted that he had fallen from the top rungs of the elite coaching ladder. He underlined this point with increasingly unhinged appearances in press conferences while at United, yelling about "football heritage" after being knocked out of the Champions League by Sevilla and calling for "respect" after losing 3-0 at home to Tottenham.
The Portuguese got his fingers out again a year later when he was nearing the end of his time as United boss. Back at Stamford Bridge and being taunted by Chelsea fans, he wanted to remind his former supporters of the good times he had presided over, displaying three fingers for his title wins in 2005, 2006 and 2015. Again, it smacked of desperation. United had just conceded a late equaliser and had won only four of their nine league games.
Two months later, Mourinho was fired by the Red Devils. That was his last elite job, and now the Portuguese is not even in an elite league, plying his trade with Fenerbahce in Turkey. His side are off the pace in the title race and he is only making headlines for his bizarre touchline antics and box-office interviews.
GettyMind games in Madrid
Pointed gestures and unmissable press conferences are very much part of the Mourinho brand. But we have come to expect better from Guardiola, who always used to let his teams do the talking on the pitch.
Mourinho and Guardiola formed a ferocious rivalry in the last decade, their story beginning when they were both at Barcelona working under Sir Bobby Robson and got on well. Mourinho then got under Guardiola's skin during the epic Champions League semi-final tie between Barca and Inter in 2010, and their rivalry was ramped up the following season in Spain, reaching boiling point amid four Clasicos between Mourinho's Madrid and Guardiola's Barca.
The flashpoint was the press conference before the Champions League semi-final between the two sides at Santiago Bernabeu, when Mourinho had sought to play his usual mind-games by accusing Guardiola of complaining about the referee's decision in the Copa del Rey final defeat to Madrid. Guardiola arrived in the press room like a man possessed, and infamously declared: "In this room he is the puto jefe, the puto amo – the f*cking boss, the f*cking master. I don't want to compete with him for a moment. Off the pitch, he is the winner… But this is a game of football."
Barca proceeded to play Madrid off the park the following night, winning 2-0 to reach the Champions League final, where they lifted a second European crown in three years, while they also won La Liga by a landslide. A year later, Mourinho's Madrid took the title off Barca, but when the pair were reunited in Manchester in 2016, the usual wrangling between the two great enemies was conspicuous by its absence. That's largely because there was no contest at all; Guardiola's City finished 19 points ahead of Mourinho's United in the 2017-18 season as the Portuguese bizarrely claimed that coming second was one of his greatest achievements.
Getty Images SportCalling out his players
Mourinho would boast about his achievements during good times and bad, whereas Guardiola preferred to praise his players rather than himself. But now that he has fallen upon bad times, the Catalan is displaying the same traits as Mourinho. He is doing it with a smile, for now, and he has not yet resorted to the dark arts the Portuguese has dabbled in, be it poking rival coaches in the eye or shouting at referees in car parks.
It was not just at Anfield that Guardiola let his guard down, though. The previous week, he went on what could be best described as a rant during his press conference before facing Tottenham, telling journalists on more than one occasion: "I'm sorry guys, I won six Premier League titles." He has also criticised his players, something he would very rarely do previously.
Unlike Mourinho, who loved to have a scapegoat, Guardiola has not yet focused on individuals, instead citing collective problems. After the 4-1 thrashing by Sporting CP, he said players were "not emotionally stable". After the 4-0 hammering by Tottenham, he said the team were "fragile". How long before he turns on individuals again?
Two seasons ago, Guardiola called Kalvin Phillips "overweight" and questioned Kyle Walker's tactical intelligence. Phillips never recovered from that public slight, but as City won the treble it did not get much attention. Guardiola's remarks about Walker ended up leading to a remarkable resurgence in the form of the defender, who he begged to stay and who was then made captain. Walker now, however, looks to be on an irreversible decline; could the same thing be happening to Guardiola?
