In the age of the philosophers, Jose Mourinho remains the archpractice, who is totally unconcerned about having his own Plan A when it is possible to stop the opposition from carrying out their plan.
It’s an approach that has won titles, Champions Leagues and countless major games before, but one that gets older when tried against modern top coaches.
Yet Mourinho’s approach in its own way is also fascinating.
He is so determined to work backwards from the opposition that he will end up deploying systems that are totally unlike anything else we see in the Premier League. His response to coming up to the sides with the help of fullbacks on either side of a front three is often to drop his wingers back into a back six. He formed a back-six in a very different way earlier this season when Tottenham met Manchester City and asked his two central midfielders to become bonus center-backs. It worked brilliantly in a 2-0 win for Spurs. It’s not …