Guardiola’s ‘my way or the highway’attitude could see him toppled by both Conte&klopp
I HAVE long questioned whether Pep Guardiola has a Plan B and now I am starting to wonder how good a man-manager he is as well.
Because even though he is probably a slightly better coach than Antonio Conte or Jurgen Klopp, I can’t help but think their people skills could see them pip Pep to the title this season.
Conte in particular arrived at Chelsea in the summer and had a good look around the dressingroom.
He realised that in the Premier League there are 38 hurdles and
LEICESTER’S is a classic tale of a team climbing a mountain, looking over the top, and thinking: ‘Been there, done that now.’
And with respect to their players, we’re now seeing the difference between the occasional winners and the serial winners, like Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Liverpool boot-room legend Ronnie Moran.
Moran once had a carrier bag full of winners’ medals that he chucked on the floor and said: ‘There you go, boys, they don’t mean anything now.’
Leicester’s players — and perhaps boss Claudio Ranieri — don’t seem to have that. that he’d need every player at his disposal to help him clear them.
He gave Victor Moses a chance and is now reaping the rewards.
And I honestly think he might even have looked at Diego Costa and thought, ‘in the long run he might be a bit too much trouble, but I’ll put an arm round him this season at least because
I’m going to need him’.
Eden Hazard too.
Guardiola, on the other hand, didn’t do that — he got Joe Hart out of the door when he’d have probably been a better bet this campaign than Claudio Bravo. And he got into his battle with Yaya Toure and his agent when he’d have been better served keeping him as part of the group for the times he needed him.
Manchester City looked a different team when Toure came on against Chelsea and had Guardiola used the Ivorian earlier then he might just have
TWO things bother me about Liverpool – and there is a connection between the two.
One, my old side’s game management isn’t what it should be.
And, two, I’m struggling to see any natural leadership out on the pitch.
Liverpool play at full throttle.
Their
100mph approach is mentally and physically wearing, and when they drop to 60 per cent, which they have to at times, they look distinctly won his side the points that would have them on top at this stage rather than fourth.
Great managers have an ability to walk into a dressingroom, scour it and say of a player, ‘yes, he’s a little, fat, dumpy beggar and ideally he’s not for me, but in this league, in this set of circumstances, he might just be effective so I’ll tap into that’. Guardiola went down the route of ‘my way or the highway’, and it hasn’t done him any favours.
Now he looks rattled, massively so, and is starting to
average. What they need is someone who recognises the time in a game when they need to slow things down.
Someone who puts out a hand, gets on the ball, and dictates the tempo so they’re still playing effectively.
I guess that’s aimed at Anfield skipper Jordan Henderson
(left) more than anyone else and some Liverpool fans will argue he can do it.
I’m still not convinced, though.
Oh, for a Steven Gerrard in his pomp. fray a little around the edges. He came across as prickly, arrogant and a little bit condescending in his interview after the Chelsea defeat on Saturday and players don’t like that.
They’ll have it while you’re winning, but not when you’re losing and that could become a problem for him.
He was also churlish in the sarcastic applause and cheering he aimed at referee Anthony Taylor.
Could you imagine Brian Clough, Bob Paisley or Joe Fagan doing that?
I just keep looking at the Catalan and thinking to myself Sign up to listen to
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that this bloke was so spoiled with a top-quality squad of players at Barcelona that he thinks every group he works with are going to be able to do the same thing.
Yet he hasn’t got the players at City – yet – to do it and that is why he needed everybody on board from day one.
I have yet to see 11 equally talented players win a title and while Toure might be awful in one game and then brilliant the next he’s a proven Premier League winner.
Guardiola should have been tapping into that knowledge all season. MAYBE it was a case of ‘Oh ye of little faith’ with me and David Moyes at the start of the season.
Because I watched Sunderland on Saturday and they were very good in the win against Leicester as they moved the ball through the lines.
I had it on good authority that Moyes (left) would not be going anywhere when Sunderland suffered their troubled run of results.
And if players know that they realise that if they don’t knuckle down there will only be one winner.
A lot of other owners could learn from the backing Ellis Short gave his man.
IF you’re not going to win any of your away games then the pressure to deliver at home week in, week out, is massive. You just can’t go from being rubbish away to being great at home every week. That’s Burnley’s problem and Sean Dyche (above) needs to sort it out fast, because it’s only going to take a few defeats at Turf Moor and his side will find themselves in real trouble.