Pellegrini and Van Gaal – comparable career paths, contrasting personalities

There is little common between the contemporaries who will face off in Sunday's English Premier League Manchester derby, writes Richard Jolly.

Manuel Pellegrini is known to be deliberately dull but incredibly passionate. Ian Walton / Getty Images

They are “the Engineer” and “the Iron Tulip” – two men in their seventh decades who are football globetrotters and have been lured to Manchester.

On Sunday, they are pitted against each other in a derby-match battle of wits.

Manuel Pellegrini and Louis van Gaal belong to the same generation and are separated by only two years.

They come from an era when players learnt other trades.

The Chilean, as his nickname suggests, is a qualified civil engineer. The Dutchman was a gymnastics teacher. Now they are managers of Manchester City and Manchester United.

They have taken the long route to England’s footballing capital. Van Gaal is in his eighth job, Pellegrini his 13th.

They have taken familiar faces with them on their travels. Van Gaal, who encouraged the Dutch influx to Catalonia, has recruited his countryman Daley Blind and is open about his admiration for another, Kevin Strootman.

Pellegrini’s trusty ally Martin Demichelis has played for him at River Plate, Malaga and City.

The United man has managed in four countries, his City counterpart in five. Each has revisited a post with Van Gaal having second spells with the Netherlands and Barcelona and Pellegrini spending three stints at Palestino.

They have gravitated to glamour clubs, but perhaps their finest achievements have come in comparative obscurity.

Pellegrini was nominated for Fifa’s coach of the year award this week but suggested he deserved to be shortlisted more for his exploits in previous seasons.

He took Villarreal, a club from a town with a population of just 50,000, to the Uefa Champions League semi-finals.

Van Gaal revived his career by winning the Dutch title with unheralded Alkmaar.

Each spent heavily and encountered teething troubles on his arrival on English shores.

Pellegrini oversaw expenditure of about £90 million (Dh528.8m) last summer while Van Gaal’s outlay extended to £152m this year. The City manager only won one of his first six away league games while his United rival is yet to taste victory on the road.

Each has been adamant their principles are right with their teams built to entertain, cramming in progressive players as their defending is criticised.

Pellegrini’s City scored 102 league goals last season while Van Gaal has overloaded his side with attackers and has talked of his hopes that United will be top scorers this season.

Both may be irritated by views in the court of public opinion, but neither changes his mind because of them. They are men of strong beliefs and each has an obstinate faith in his methods.

From when he started with City last year, Pellegrini talked about the style of play he expects and Van Gaal has been keen to mention his much-vaunted philosophy now.

This, though, is perhaps where purists differ. The United manager has a pragmatic streak, as his Netherlands side showed in the World Cup.

They counter-attacked in a 3-5-2 formation, which was not the typically Dutch, total football 4-3-3. He can be proactive and reactive.

Pellegrini is branded too inflexible, particularly tactically, while Van Gaal seems willing to shift shape by the week.

Perhaps one tinkers too little and the other too much. Van Gaal, for instance, has used four systems in nine league games as United ­manager.

Arguably the Dutchman got the better of his protege Jose Mourinho in Sunday’s strategy games whereas Pellegrini tends to be out-thought by the Portuguese as he looks to outscore opponents, not halt them.

Van Gaal’s boldness is apparent in his faith in untried players, this weekend he could field the youngest team in the division while Pellegrini may select the oldest.

There are reasons why their reputations are in a different bracket.

Van Gaal is perceived as a pioneer, a revolutionary and a managerial mastermind and his status is cemented by silverware. He has won league titles in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany and lifted the Champions League.

Pellegrini is the Premier League’s defending champion but came to England without a trophy to show for his nine years in Europe.

He was seen as the nearly man who built beautiful teams that came close, Van Gaal as the uncompromising autocrat who won.

Many of his charges can testify that the United man is the more abrupt, abrasive and aggressive.

The City coach is a mediator and a man-manager with his players – a conciliator, where the other is a controversialist.

Pellegrini’s public utterings can seem deliberately dull whereas Van Gaal is a natural showman.

Pellegrini is the antidote to his outspoken predecessor, Roberto Mancini and Van Gaal the antithesis of the timid David Moyes. They were chosen because of who they are and who they are not.

Moyes lost both Manchester derbies by an aggregate score of 7-1 last season and the games served as huge boosts to Pellegrini’s standing with the City faithful – indeed, his first major scalp was that of their neighbours.

United responded, though, and raised the bar by appointing Van Gaal, which sees these veterans, with such similarities yet such great differences, clash for the first time.

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