Manchester City under Pep Guardiola look more like a Sir Alex Ferguson team than Jose Mourinho's United

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It will hurt Manchester United fans to hear this but their neighbours Manchester City, so often subordinates in the past, have the look of an Alex Ferguson team. It is not just the relentless attacking, wave after wave of players coming at you. It is also those late wins which are reminiscent of United from 10 years ago.

There is a feeling that even if you hold City for 90 minutes, somehow they will find a way to beat you. Southampton know that feeling but also West Ham, Huddersfield and Feyenoord. It is so hard to keep holding off attack after attack after attack, which is exactly how it was playing against United.

In their hearts, United fans know this already. And they will also surely know that should Jose Mourinho try to take on Pep Guardiola with a gung-ho tactical approach of attacking football, which some would say is the United way, they will fail. Mourinho knows that he simply hasn’t got the players to do that.

Manchester City's habit of winning games late reminds me of Sir Alex Ferguson's teams

Raheem Sterling has scored a late winners against Southampton and Huddersfield recently

This United team are in a very different phase of their evolution compared to City. I think all United fans would recognise that, after 10 months of David Moyes and two rather mixed years under Louis van Gaal, they are still rebuilding after the Ferguson era.

And when we look back one day to analyse what Mourinho achieved at Old Trafford, we may well end up focusing on last spring as a crucial time, when he won the League Cup and the Europa League.

Of course they are minor cups, trophies which United shouldn’t ordinarily be focused upon. But Mourinho needed a foundation on which to build and those two trophies provided it.

Crucially, it allowed Jose entry into the Champions League, which has bought him time and credibility. It has given him the chance to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League as group winners and perhaps to reach the quarter-finals. Then he can argue that United have returned to the territory they ought to inhabit.

He can probably afford to finish second in the Premier League given that United’s record of late has been finishing seventh, fourth, fifth and sixth since Ferguson left.

I say probably, because if he finishes 15 points behind City, you can’t say United have been title contenders. However, if they were to finish five points behind, then he could legitimately demonstrate progress. 

A Champions League quarter-final and second place close to City would be sufficient because he already has those two trophies won and some silverware banked. Next season he will have no such luxury. 

Then he knows he has to go to head-to-head with Guardiola, not just for the title and challenging for the Champions League but in being able to take them on, unafraid, in games like this.

Ferguson's best teams were known for their late goals, as in the 1999 Champions League final

Jose Mourinho is not attempting to recreate the style of play witnessed under Ferguson

That is why you would anticipate another huge summer for United and why the likes of Antoine Griezmann are persistently linked with Mourinho. He will need more attacking players to match the talent of Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Bernardo Silva.

Mourinho can’t lose. When he knows that, he rarely does lose. But he doesn’t need to win. As long as he can keep City from running away at the top, he’ll be happy.

Overall, there is still more pressure on Guardiola this season. And that is because of those trophies that Mourinho won. As yet Guardiola has nothing and was a relative failure last season. 

He started the season with everyone focusing on him and his style of football and thus far he is delivering, with some of the best football we have seen for some time in the Premier League. He looks to have a team who can win the Premier League and maybe set records doing so.

Mourinho has less pressure on his shoulders after winning two trophies with United last term

He has definitely now adapted his play to England. In Ederson, he not only has the confident keeper he lacked last season — notwithstanding his mistake on Wednesday — but he also has someone who will play the ball long occasionally.

He also looks to have a team who could challenge for the Champions League and no English side have really done that since Chelsea won it in 2012. Manchester City and Chelsea have both since made semi-finals, but were well beaten.

That said, he will worry about the injury to John Stones and be fearful should Vincent Kompany break down again. Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi is not a defensive partnership you would want to take into the latter stages of the Champions League.

At left-back, he will want Benjamin Mendy back as quickly as possible, even though Fabian Delph has filled in well. City are not impregnable. There are weaknesses there to probe and Mourinho will find them. But City are very good. Too good for Mourinho to take on head to head just yet.

Pep Guardiola is settled in English football and looks capable of winning just about everything