A whole lot goes into winning football games. From rigorous training routines, drills, studying opponents to developing the best approach. This is where a manager's tactical mastery comes into play. A gifted tactician could be the difference.
Sometimes, though, tactics aren't just enough. Matches are won and lost outside the pitch. During press conferences; at a meeting or even somewhere in a restaurant while enjoying a sumptuous meal. A pinch of psychology, manipulation and mind control could outwit the opposition.
Mind games have become an integral part of the game. Several managers have mastered this dark art which has become a requisite in modern-day coaching. Although not much of a staple these days, we take a look at the best.
1 - Alex Ferguson
The legendary ex-Manchester United coach is considered the master of the mental art, flaunting a long list of victims, most notoriously . Ferguson had a way of toying with hapless foes, idly flicking chess pieces around a board while stroking a cat. He was damn good.
The 1995/96 season was when he birthed the art during a rivalry with Keegan whose famous "I'd love it if we beat them" rant was a relatively innocuous comment suggesting some teams didn't try as hard against Newcastle as they did when they faced United.
Ferguson had also wound up Kenny Dalglish, then in charge of Blackburn, when missing out on the title the season before. At one point, he commented that “Blackburn would need to do a Devon Loch” to lose from there. Dalglish responded by feigning innocence and asking whether it was a lake in Scotland, rather than the horse that infamously and inexplicably fell while leading the 1956 Grand National.
The following season, Keegan joined the cult and Ferguson got into the heads of the pair. After relinquishing the Premier League to Daglish's team, Ferguson's bants paid off as United recovered from a 20-point gap to edge Newcastle to the title. The Scotsman carried on winding up opposition managers, especially perceived rivals till he eventually retired in 2013.
He confronted Arsene Wenger during the Frenchman's debut campaign, describing him as "a novice and should keep his opinions to Japanese football". Ferguson wound up Rafael Benitez too, teasing him into his famous "facts" rant in 2009, which took place just before Liverpool suffered a poor run of results. The Scotsman rarely clashed with Jose Mourinho in England. He used his jar of tricks on Roberto Mancini, then in charge of Manchester City, once accusing the Italian of "haranguing the referee, the fourth official and the linesmen".
2 - Jose Mourinho
Mourinho was touted as Ferguson's successor at Old Trafford during his early Premier League days. A Machiavellian figure, the Portuguese stormed England with an intimidating charisma, personality and tactics. He was like an alien among humans.
And although Mourinho eventually fulfiled the wishes of the bookmakers in 2016, he did very little to justify the Ferguson comparison. However, if there is any quality the pair have in common, then it is mind games.
Mourinho, though, goes extreme, willing to make any statement in an attempt to disrupt his opponent, at the same time inspire his club. He enjoys being labelled a psychological mastermind. "Everything I say and do is mind games. The only thing that is not mind games are the results," he said in 2014. Mourinho has always been this way.
After beating United in the 2003/04 Champions League second-round first leg, he mocked Ferguson, saying his team lost to an FC Porto side "that cost one-tenth of the price". It was unusual for a relatively young, inexperienced manager to stand up to Ferguson. In 2013, the Scotsman acknowledged that Mourinho " plays games too; he is brilliant at it, you are never quite sure what he is up to. I don't go down that road. I let him get on with it."
Mourinho had a never-ending feud with Wenger
Till date, Mourinho clashes with almost every manager at the opposite dugouts. He's prickly fond of portraying the image that the whole world is against his team and they're ready to take on the whole world. Mou loves to be thought as the underdog, capitalising to infiltrate rivals' heads. Wenger and Pep Guardiola were his soft targets.
Among others, he famously branded the Frenchman "a specialist in failure" and a "voyeur" while Wenger responded, calling him stupid. They traded insults for years and the world bayed for the next instalment even though Mourinho was dominant.
While in Spain, the Portuguese severally dragged Guardiola into territory that is not his own. He always stood in front of the camera pointing fingers and making excuses while attacking the Spaniard and referees during El Clasicos.
But when his sides win, it doesn't matter how. “It’s not important how we play," he said during that time. "If you have a Ferrari and I have a small car, to beat you in a race I have to break your wheel or put sugar in your tank."
3 - Pep Guardiola
On the surface, Guardiola appears as Mourinho's opposite. Where the Portuguese is hated, he is welcomed. The Spaniard embodies the prototype manager; calm, charming with an attractive brand. Beneath, however, lies a fiery temperament and a prominent fellow in the 'mind game club'.
During his time as Barcelona boss, Guardiola toyed with Mourinho's psyche, once suggesting that the Portuguese could have his own "personal Champions League outside of the field". In another occasion in Germany, as manager of Bayern Munich, he commanded a Guardian journalist to look at him when speaking with him.
The Catalan, though, has taken the mental game to another level in the last couple of seasons, getting under the skin of Jurgen Klopp. He cutely picks times when his team's dominance is challenged to mention Liverpool, often in glowing terms, as a clear tactic to increase the pressure at Anfield.
After defeat to Norwich City in September, when asked about the Reds chances, he said: “We are in September, okay? Congratulations Liverpool, you are the champions."
It was a clear message of defiance about a season in its infancy. This was Guardiola striving to instil confidence in his players and remind them all is to play for.
Two months later, ahead of a trip to Anfield, he branded the Reds as “strongest in the world”. The last time the Catalan showered such encomium on Klopp's team, Manchester City eventually snatched the title off their nose, recovering from almost seven points.
4 - Roberto Mancini
The maverick Italian spent barely four years in England. However, from the moment he stepped foot in Manchester in December 2009, it was clear that the ex-Inter Milan boss was up for the psychological warfare with Ferguson. He didn't disappoint.
Mancini took all the pressure off his players and piled it onto the shoulders of United, claiming his team "were not favourites" and United had "easy games." He did so calmly and methodically, with a face that suggested he had been spending his time at Wengers poker school in Govan.
Mancini clinched the Premier League in 2012
City ended up with the title in 2012, and one of the abiding memories of an incredible season was Ferguson and Mancini’s touchline bust-up during the second half of what was essentially the title decider at Eastlands. The image of Ferguson’s face red with rage shouting expletives at the Italian will be one that could be defining.
Mancini never went after Ferguson directly in the way Benitez or Keegan did. He kept his distance, ensuring he doesn’t personally provoke the United boss.
5 - Arsene Wenger
Chief antagoniser to Ferguson and Mourinho for two decades, Wenger understands how crucial carefully-crafted mind games can be. For the most part, he was the former's bogey man, successfully wheedling his way under the Scotsman’s ever prickly skin.
Wenger was the major test the Scot faced. Matches between Arsenal and United at Old Trafford were packed with suspense and intensity. Antipathy played out in titanic struggles on the pitch, filled with snarling aggression, between teams fired up by the mutual hatred of their coaches.
Le Professeur had a way of getting into Fergie's head and remained there. Sometimes, he gets there two or three games before their epic showdown. In the 2008/09 season, for instance, Arsenal lost to Stoke City in November and instead of focus on the defeat, Wenger was already taking jibes at Fergie.
"Do you feel that Delap tried to play the ball when he tackled Walcott or that Shawcross tried to play the ball when he tackled Adebayor off the pitch? All the players have been injured deliberately," he said.
By condemning the referee's role in allowing such tackles, Le Boss also put some pressure on whoever that will take charge of the next game at Old Trafford. He also deflected attention off his beleaguered charges. This he did throughout his time in England.
Wenger wound up many other managers. However, he was unable to penetrate Mourinho's thick skin.
