Sun Tzu the inspiration for Mowbray

The Albion manager will call on the words of military commander Sun Tzu as he prepares to take on Sir Alex Ferguson with both men's troops depleted.

The famed military strategist reputedly lived up to 700 years before Christ but his most famous work, The Art of War, is still quoted widely. The studious Mowbray reckons it backs up his belief that attack is still the best form of defence against the European Champions.

He said: "Sun Tzu once said that you don't go to war and fight on your opponents' terms. You don't travel 1,000 miles to fight an army that has just eaten a big dinner and had loads to drink when you're out on your feet, because you'll get beaten.

"So you have to fight on your terms. We haven't got over-competitive players who can get physical with them. You can't play a certain game when you haven't got the players to do that.

"The problem you've got is that good footballers are the difference. Great credit to Stoke for going to Anfield and getting a point but we haven't got the players to play how they played.

"We haven't got the team or the players to play like other teams and, with due respect to them, they don't play like we do. So there might be some games that they might have lost and we have been able to win because of the way we play."

Mowbray insisted Sun's teachings simply mirrored common sense before playing down his knowledge of Chinese philosophy.

He said: "I wouldn't say I have read lots. I have read The Art of War and that kind of stuff. I'm sure every coach reads that kind of stuff but really it's just common sense and understanding the strategy of war.

"If you want to make a football match into a mini-war – not with the fighting but with the tactical battle – there are things that can be looked at and taken out of it.]

"Yet sometimes you might win a tactical battle but still lose out on a set-play."