Music lover Guardiola holds key to creating a ‘special’ era at City
Coach’s former assistant reveals to Steve Brenner in New York that jazz is Pep’s secret weapon
Pep Guardiola is often regarded as an intense football obsessive determined to leave an indelible mark on the game. His former assistant at Manchester City, however, has helped to conjure a slightly different, warmer picture of his friend and colleague of 11 years.
“Pep loves music in general and I am the same,” said Domenec Torrent, the saxophone-playing Spanish coach who left the Etihad earlier this year to take control of City’s sister MLS club, New York City FC. “When we worked in the office, we always had music on. Not rock music. Just something relaxing. Jazz, maybe Sade.”
Picturing Guardiola plotting Premier League and Champions League assaults while dancing to Sade’s classic Smooth Operator might be hard to comprehend but nothing, not even the most soulful of sounds, can detract from his steely resolve.
“The motivation for Pep is to create something special,” said Torrent, who was by Guardiola’s side at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and in Manchester. “I am sure he will try to convince the club and the players they can do it because they have quality to create something special in football – not just in the Premier League – and Pep is a special coach. For me, he has something special. Pep is always motivated to improve not just the club but himself. He’s a genius, for me.
“Some people say, ‘Forget it, Pep is able to play good because they have the best players’. OK, I agree but some players play better with Pep as a manager. He’s the best I have ever seen.”
Torrent knows Guardiola well and is acutely aware of his propensity to never remain at a club for too long.
Much was achieved during four glorious years at Barcelona but once staleness crept in, the end was nigh. A new contract at City was signed at the end of last season which will take the 47-year-old through to 2020.
“Maybe City will be the team Pep is in charge of for longest because he was at Barcelona four years, Bayern three and maybe Manchester five,” mused Torrent, who spent two years at the Etihad.
“He’s very happy right now. I don’t know the future – everything can change in football in one second – but he is very happy to live there and his relationship with the owners, Txiki [Begiristain] and Ferran [Soriano] and Khaldoon [Al-mubarak] is amazing. City have such a young, quality team. For me, it is the right moment to improve and create something like Barcelona 10 years ago or Real Madrid. Something special.”
Torrent’s jovial and warm demeanour provides an insightful glimpse into the working methods of Guardiola. Along with former Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta and the rest of his coaching staff, one gets the impression of a team working in harmony for the greater good. Guardiola’s attention to detail on the training ground, and his ability to change systems in an instant has, however, been key to his managerial success.
“Pep changes every single day,” revealed Torrent. “People talk about Pep and say he plays 4-3-3. Yeah, that is maybe true, but believe me, before every game in training we practise two or three changes.
“Mentally he is very fast. He can change two positions on the pitch in one second. You play 4-3-3 and in the first five minutes the opponent says, ‘What happened here?’ In that moment the team is able to win the game. He can change two concepts in seconds.
“It was not easy in the first season, he conceded more goals than ever before. We spoke a lot about it. We needed to change the transitions a little bit. When we lose the ball it’s very important for Pep to press high in five seconds.
“If you don’t win it back within five seconds then make a foul and go back. We had many problems when we lost the ball and the team didn’t react quickly enough. We were in trouble during many games. The second year we practised the transitions a lot in training. What happens when you lose the ball? In the first two months every single training session was like that. Lose the ball, react quickly. You’ve got five seconds. Attack quickly. We improved a lot in the second year.”
While Torrent is thriving in his new role – the 55 year-old has started superbly in MLS since replacing Patrick Vieira, who departed for Nice, winning four of his first five games – he will miss those Manchester days. “We were so comfortable in the city,” he said. “Pep, Mikel and I liked going to the restaurants. We would go to Wing’s. There were pictures of Park Ji-sung and [Louis] Van Gaal but we didn’t have our pictures up. Also, many times we went to watch matches at Juan Mata’s restaurant. Yes it’s Manchester United but it’s Juan Mata – he’s a friend. It was not a problem for Pep to walk the streets or to go to restaurants. We had two amazing years in Manchester.”