KOEMAN: PEP’S THE GREATEST
PEP GUARDIOLA has surpassed his mentor Johan Cruyff with his exploits at Manchester City – according to one of the coaches who knows him best.
Guardiola takes his swashbuckling side to Liverpool tomorrow for the first leg of their all-premier League Champions League quarter-final showdown.
The Spaniard has transformed the English game this season, with his City side playing a style of football that has set them apart. They can clinch the title on Saturday with victory over
Manchester United at the Etihad.
And their emergence as a major force in
Europe has been recognised with
Guardiola’s side second-favourites to win the Champions League.
Former Everton boss Ronald Koeman, now in charge of Holland, played with Guardiola at Barca – where they learned from the master tactician and exponent of ‘Total Football’, Cruyff (inset).
Koeman took the 17-year-old Guardiola under his wing at Barca and believes he has taken Cruyff’s revered coaching blueprint to an even more exalted level.
“Pep is the best football coach in the world,” said Koeman. “The football he’s bringing is sensational and he gets the best out of every player.
“All his teams produce fantastic football. He’s done it at Barcelona, at Bayern Munich and now at City.
“I know his ideas about football probably better than anyone else. They come, obviously, from the Cruyff philosophy at Barcelona. We played under him and both knew how adventurous that was.
“It was attacking football like people had never seen, with a central defender moving into midfield, wingers, a striker, a shadow striker, and always putting pressure on the opponents.
“Pep has taken Cruyff’s ideas even more to the extreme. His tactical plans start with the keeper in the build-up and his right and left-back become attacking players on the wings.
“He always has players on the inside and outside, and everywhere on the pitch he will create a situation with an extra man to combine with.
“The football Pep wants his teams to play is the most difficult there is at top level. It is fantastic to watch and we should all admire it.”
Koeman remains close to the City boss, 30 years after they first crossed paths.
“We’ve become great friends,” added Koeman.
“When Cruyff was manager of Barcelona he pulled me aside one day and said, ‘I have this kid in the reserves and I think he’s ready for the first team. I want you to help him and would like him to be your room-mate from now on. His name is Pep Guardiola.’
“Pep and I got on from the first moment and he was a clever player. We had fabulous times as players and I wasn’t surprised that with his intelligence he became a brilliant coach.
“What’s also amazing is the progress of players. Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, David Silva, Ederson – you name them, they’re all playing the best football of their career under Pep.”