That was the question posed in this month’s editorial meeting, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that, never mind the answer, there was a problem with the question itself.
I don’t think we really know quite what we are demanding in the first place.
There are certainly a few schools of thought.
Art or science?
Would we rather see fantastic football, the envy of even other clubs who are more successful on paper, or would we rather have a packed trophy cabinet even if it means watching Mourinho style performances?
There’s a reason the Portuguese hasn’t been able tear his attention from our club and our manager, even at the peak of his success.
There are exponents of both styles at the top of the Premier League table at the moment.
Mourinho’s current club, Manchester United, and Chelsea, a club still suffering from his legacy, are highly proficient in snatch and grab results, playing boring but effective defensive football to win often by a single goal, or perhaps two if they can pick up a second on the counter late in the game. Perhaps that should be our blueprint, given our own affinity with a “1-0 to the Arsenal” scoreline.
And then of course there is Manchester City, who tend to annihilate teams in the first half of the season with their high intensity, high pressing game, only to crash and burn in the second half of the year when the fatigue and fixture congestion kicks in.
It’s easy to cast envious eyes at continental clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich, as they win their respective leagues at a canter and go deep into the Champions League each year. But at Pep Guardiola found out to his cost last season, what works in Spain, France and Germany doesn’t always translate well in the Premier League, where you can play matches with a high intensity for 20 minutes and then coast, or where smaller teams turn up and roll over.
The gap between the top and bottom clubs in the Premier League is so much closer, as we regularly see with results like our loss to Watford, Chelsea’s defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace and United’s demise at Huddersfield. And of course, the mighty Burnley have taken points off all three of Spurs, Liverpool and Chelsea away from home.
No, it will be interesting to see if Guardiola’s side can sustain their levels of performance for longer this year, or indeed if anyone will be close enough for it to matter by the time they do drop their level. Perhaps the Carabao Cup game against Wolves was the first chink in the armour, or maybe it was simply a bad day at the office.