We take an opinionated look at why Jose Mourinho, Mauricio Pochettino and Antonio Conte are the best English Premier League has on offer currently.
At the beginning of the season, many ex-coaches were interviewed and one of the questions bordered on which team they think will win the premier league this season. Many of them gave answers that will make people wonder if they would ever succeed as football pundits.
None of the pundits named any of the coaches achieving success in England at this moment. A look at the performance of three coaches that have been doing a great job in the league will reveal to us that punters that wagering against them will suffer unfavourable football betting results online.
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José Mourinho
Many people will argue that he has a profile that is way bigger than what he is achieving in Manchester United this season and that he should qualify them for the Uefa Champions League before being rated as successful this season.
But we have to be mindful of where Manchester United is coming from. A look at the current Manchester United squad will show us a team that consists largely, of players that have failed to live up to the expectations the badge carries.
Their drive, hunger and football morale seemed dead for more than 4 years before the arrival of Mourinho. So, it is very difficult for one to rebuild something that was destroyed for such a long time within just one year.
If you want to know what it means to take on a new team that has not been performing for a long time, ask Pep Guardiola that was handed a relatively better side in terms of quality, but still couldn’t work the same magic as he has done in his previous appointments.
Mourinho has managed to get them to stop losing games, even though they now draw more games than any other team in the world. However, the unbeaten run they have been able to record is something to celebrate.
They have the highest list of injuries in world football, but have kept soldiering on with players that shouldn’t ideally be in the starting 11 of any high-profile club in the world.
Mourinho has kept his magic as the greatest match reader in the world and has also made Manchester United defence even tougher and harder to break. As much as he has no potent attack, save for the 35 years old that keeps delivering only when injury allows him.
We believe that a Manchester United with 2 young and experienced strikers apart from Rashford, and a creative midfield that is more talented than the likes of Fellaini and Rooney, will make a wonderful team next season.
That he defeated Chelsea, which is unarguably the best team in England at the moment tells the story of his tactical prowess.
But the most interesting result is that he is still on-course to achieve Champions League football for the next campaign. The probability that he will win the Europa league is high and this will get Manchester United to the Champions League. So, he stands as the third best coach in England this season.
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Mauricio Pochettino
If we are looking for a coach who knows how to bring out the best in his young players, there is hardly anyone better than the Poch. Many people have excused Pep Guardiola by saying that he just arrived -an invalid reason because he came into a good team.
Mauricio Pochettino arrived at White Hart Lane and was handed a team that has been a perpetual also-ran, a team for whom Champions League qualification has always been a struggle. In fact, each year they managed to get there, it has always been decided in the last days of the league.
But lo and behold, Pochettino has actually made them a threat to the league winners for two consecutive years. It is no longer whether Spurs will make it to Europe or the Champions League; it is now whether they will win the league.
Mauricio makes football beautiful with a great attacking force. The speedy and mobile football pattern is always a delight to watch and he manages the players perfectly well most of the time, unlike Jose and Pep, who love to stamp their authority.
Tottenham have a real gem of a squad and an even better manager, who in all likeliness, looks like the man who could carry Spurs to unprecedented success.
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Antonio Conte
When Chelsea were embroiled in the troubled waters last season, Mourinho went to the lengths of suggesting there was nothing special about these players. He said that he did a phenomenal work the season before and got the players to play above their abilities in order to win the league.
But fast forward a year and more, and Conte is flying high with these lads with only 3 new legs. Worthy of note is that one of them is a player that Jose Mourinho continually rejected.
Now, most of the Chelsea fans never wanted Antonio Conte as their coach. All of them set their minds at Diego Simeone, believing that he has the personality and drive to coach Chelsea, mostly because the Italian league has not been in the spotlight for a long time and people did not pay much heed to his records.
With such a blistering record and his style of play, no coach fits Chelsea more than Antonio, and he has done an excellent job. Conte suffered the baptism of fire, which every coach in a new league suffers. But instead of sitting back and giving excuses, he started digging deep till he discovered his own image in the team.
One of the problems many coaches suffer is trying to adapt to what they call the pattern of football in their new league. Conte has always been a 3-4-3, and sometimes 3-5-2 man at Juventus. He was never a 4-4-2 man, and his woeful start was because he started with a 4-4-2.
But from the time he switched to his favourite formation, he has become the first Manager to win the English manager of the month for 3 consecutive months. He has equalled Arsenal’s record of 13 consecutive wins in a row in a season.
Chelsea under him recorded the highest points gained by a premier league club in a month. He has secured the Premier League crown after testing victories twice against Tottenham, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal each this season. He is, without doubt, the best English Premier League has to offer at the moment.