Guardiola now at the peak of his powers
The sneering of City manager’s first-season ‘failure’ has gone silent and he has been rewarded for sticking to his principles
THERE was a moment during Pep Guardiola’s first season in England when it occurred to me he may not only be the greatest coach in the world, but also the most underrated.
Last December Manchester City lost 4-2 at Leicester City – the opponents they face this weekend. What followed was a full-scale re-evaluation of Guardiola’s methods. Everything he stood for was scrutinised, many arguing his approach could not work in England.
For every word of praise for his extraordinary success, there is always a mutter of cynicism lurking in the background. This criticism peaked in ferocity that afternoon.
“Look at the players he was lucky enough to manage in Barcelona,” some argued.
“How much competition did he have in Germany with Bayern Munich? What about all the money he’s spent at Manchester City? How can he not win?”
I am increasingly enraged by the ignorance of this sneering. What we are seeing at City this season is more compelling evidence of a master at work – a manager creating a great side out of good players; a manager winning by implementing a style we have never seen in England: Total Football.
When I saw City’s starting XI at the start of the season, I was not awestruck by individual quality. There were question marks against several players.
OK, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne are among the best players in the Premier League and Europe, and Sergio Agüero is one of the greatest ever Premier League strikers.
But how many would get into the great Arsenal team of ‘Invincibles’ or Alex Ferguson’s Treble winners of 1999?
Raheem Sterling (right) and Kyle Walker were mocked for their price tag. Leroy Sané was a player of potential but not the finished article. Centre-backs Nicolás Otamendi and John Stones were considered untrustworthy to form a partnership. City’s title hopes were said to be determined by Vincent Kompany’s fitness. Kompany has started only three Premier League games.
How many managers looked at Fabian Delph and saw a left-back? Guardiola inherited an ageing squad at City, 12 first team players over 30. In just over a year he has reduced the average age from the fourth oldest in the Premier League (28 years 310 days) to the fifth youngest (26 years 232 days). Now his players are earning weekly acclaim. This is down to one man and his methods.
When Pep moved to England plenty said he must compromise. After his first season I sensed a quiet satisfaction from some quarters he had not immediately recreated his winning formula. The views expressed after that Leicester defeat gathered momentum. Why?
I do not understand this mentality. Why would any neutral want Guardiola to fail and feel compelled to embrace less purist tactics? What kind of football do we want? English football will benefit if Guardiola’s way works. He can show others an idealistic, technical brand of passing football works. So many games follow the same formula, coaches believing defending is about allowing opponents to keep possession while they sit deep. We sit through a lot of boring, predictable games.
Guardiola is defined as ‘an attacking coach’ who risks defensive resilience. I often hear it said his philosophy is based on the concept ‘we’ll score more than you’.
This is nonsense. His idea of defending is just very different. Naturally, the focus is on the goals City have scored so far (38). But they have conceded only seven.
It was similar at Barcelona. If was often said ‘getting at them’ would expose defensive weakness. The statistics never stood that up. Opposition teams would not get enough of the ball to threaten, but this is not solely due to a passing style.
ACCOMPLISHMENT
Guardiola’s greatest accomplishment as a manager is ensuring world-class players sacrifice themselves for the team. They are as impressive hunting for possession as retaining it. Arrigo Sacchi once said of his legendary Milan side of the mid-80s – a team I would rank alongside Barça as the greatest of all club sides – that their finest quality was humility. Players of the calibre of Franco Baresi, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten put ego aside to do their job, especially defensively.
This is what Guardiola is implementing at City. It separates him from other coaches. In their last fixture against Arsenal, who for all their flaws remain one of the league’s best passing teams, City did not allow the opponent to string three or four passes together for 70 minutes.
Guardiola learned from his first year in England, but the changes are in personnel, not ideology. City execute his ideas better. He did not change the style of goalkeeper he wanted, he changed the identity of the goalkeeper to ensure that style was implemented. Claudio Bravo was not good enough. Ederson is the keeper Bravo was supposed to be, so comfortable on the ball he looks like he can play midfield.
Of course it helps having the finances to correct faults. We can’t ignore the influence of £220 million invested last summer, but spending big does not make winning the league inevitable, and certainly does not guarantee entertaining football. It gives you a better chance, but the Premier League is the most competitive in Europe.
Coaching at the world’s biggest clubs brings a different type of pressure and expectation. Guardiola deserves all the credit he gets for an astonishing managerial CV. Prior to his appointment at Barcelona in 2008, the team finished third in La Liga. He did not inherit an all-conquering team. He created one. He elevated the quality in Barcelona – and Spain generally – to a level never seen in club football. He was as much an architect of Spain’s World Cup and European Championship success as that of his Barça team.
At Bayern Munich, successive Bundesligas brought only grudging recognition. The recent fate of Carlo Ancelotti – one of the most successful managers ever – demonstrates you don’t just turn up, pick a team and collect trophies.
There is still much to do at City. Guardiola will be first to acknowledge possible bumps in the road. History tells us the months between December and February can be difficult for Pep – City toiled at this stage last season – but the signs are ominous for the rest.
After wins over Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, should City emerge unscathed from forthcoming meetings with Manchester United and Spurs, it is difficult to see who will catch them. Offer every manager in the top six a guarantee they will win the title once in the next four years, I believe they would snatch it. Except one.
That would not be enough for Pep. He is eyeing multiple titles and the Champions League at Manchester City, a competition I am not yet sure they are strong enough to win. Long-term he wants complete domination.
Should he achieve it in England, it will confirm what I felt the day City appointed him. We should cherish every second he is working in England. A win at Leicester today may not be his most important since moving to City, but it could be his most symbolic. (© Daily Telegraph, London)