As Football moves on through the seasons, managers and coaches alike are consistently looking for new ways to get the upper hand on their opponent. The days of just throwing your players onto the training field and pointing your fingers in a fancy direction have gone. Professional football’s introduction to technology has seen a massive rise in analytical studies being carried out by (and on) each and every club. Scouting has also become a massive factor in the last 15 years, as has the increasingly large amount of tactics & gamesmanship seen in today’s game (Just ask Neil Warnock).

Like modern technology, football is taking frighteningly big steps forward. But one thing which has been constant in the game throughout the last couple of decades (mainly thanks to the media’s large involvement) has been mind games.

What are mind games? Are they merely a myth? Can players and coaches alike really be talked out of a match before it has even started?

Let’s start with the facts. Nowadays, top managers and tacticians are paid bucket loads of cash to take over teams with ambitions of winning shiny silverware (and big bucks). They too are the face of the team. When the team triumphs, they are to thank. When the team fail, they are to blame. Most importantly, it is their job to ensure results for the board and the fans.

So can a mere human being effect the job they do with the words that come out of their mouths? Does Alex Ferguson really question his ability to lead, and more so his teams ability to win, when Mourinho declares that Chelsea WILL catch United in the Championship race?

Mind games are a focus now that it has become compulsory for managers to face the media both before and after the game. Leading questions often result on talk of a competitive nature, more so for the big games between the high profile characters. This, therefore, is the perfect opportunity for ‘fight talk’. Managers are now more often focusing their post match conferences on other teams, even when they haven’t just faced that club.

Why? Is it really because the media lead them to speak dirty of fellow pro’s? Or is it out of choice?

Take Jose Mourinho for example. After his sides gritty 1-0 win over Bolton, he commented on the title race and how he believes Chelsea will ‘topple’ Manchester United.

“I don't think it will take a lot of time to be top of the league. With the very good run Manchester United are having, they have to be frustrated to have only a three-point lead."

Does Sir Alex listen? He has been in the job longer than anybody else, facing many personal battles. He is a master of preparation, both physically, and maybe more importantly, mentally. He will have gone through hours of prep work, studying each of his players and getting them ready for the battle they face, both pre-season and mid-season. But so did a certain Mr. Kevin Keegan…

We all remember KK’s famous outburst in the run up to the 1995/96 title decider, which was being fought out between Alex himself and a very good Newcastle side. That same team seemingly lost faith in the poor man after he ‘cracked’ to comments and quotes from his rival. United went on too win the title…

For Ferguson it lives long in the memory, conceivably Mourinho too.

One’s thing for sure. There will be many factors which help to decide who lifts the Premiership Trophy at the end of the season. Mind games will play a big part in the countdown to May, with each in the hope that the other will maybe, just maybe, crack under the pressure.