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Pep turned up at bar for receptionist’s birthday Pizza and juice off his menu...mixed nuts in! Training drill ends with players shooting into bins
DOWN the road from Jose Mourinho’s hotel in Manchester, Pep Guardiola will wake up in his luxury apartment this morning and go through the final preparations for tomorrow’s Old Trafford derby.
Two old rivals, barely a quarter of a mile apart, with what must feel like the whole world watching.
Guardiola has chosen to live here with his fashion designer wife Cristina Serra and their three children rather than join the football fraternity in the Cheshire countryside.
And he has wasted little time ringing the changes at his new club. Some, like the decision to offload Joe Hart, Samir Nasri, Wilfried Bony and Eliaquim Mangala, have been well documented.
Other changes implemented by the 45-year-old Spaniard have been more subtle, as he attempts to take the club to the next level. Indeed, Guardiola began planning for his new job long before he arrived in Manchester from Bayern Munich this summer.
He surprised staff when he knew not only everyone’s names but also their nicknames. Indeed, most players address Guardiola by his first name. He shocked a receptionist by turning up at a city-centre bar for her birthday celebration and got her to stand on a chair before ordering everyone else in the venue to sing to her.
There was also a personal phone call to Raheem Sterling during the summer to lift his spirits after a difficult season at City. Guardiola is reaping the benefits, with the England winger back on form.
The welcome for other players has not always been so warm.
Those who turned up even a fraction overweight for pre-season were barred from training with the first-team squad, with Nasri the first to fall foul of the ‘Fat Club’ rule before he was shipped out to Sevilla on loan.
Certain foods, particularly pizza and some juices, are strictly off the menu in a more formal after-match meal in the new players’ lounge which has been moved upstairs at the Etihad. All the squad are expected to attend and head there straight from the dressing room, often carrying a bowl of mixed nuts to help boost their energy.
City used to train at the Etihad before every home fixture under Manuel Pellegrini and stay overnight in 32 custom-built hotel rooms at the £200millon training ground next door.
Guardiola likes to train on the morning of a game but doesn’t see the need to do so at the stadium very often, and prefers to let the players stay at home with their families before matches to help take their minds off the game.
Tonight will be a rare exception because of the lunchtime kick-off tomorrow.
The usual morning training session was also put back until 4pm yesterday to give players more time at home after returning from the international break.
Guardiola expects his players to be more independent and has cut back on the services provided to the players by club liaison officers. Training is more intense under Guardiola, with players often used out of position to make them more adaptable. This has been particularly true in the opening weeks of the season of the full backs, who have been tucking into central midfield roles at times. Guardiola still likes to inject some humour into training, including one drill which ends with the players trying to shoot balls into dustbins. He has borrowed the routine from Barcelona, and new City keeper Claudio Bravo is particularly adept at it.
While Guardiola is keen to nurture the club’s youth, they have to work hard to catch his eye. He has moved the Under 21s from training alongside the first team to another part of the campus. The message is clear: you need to earn the right to train here.
Meanwhile, his own office on the first floor of City’s training base is said to be more accessible than under previous managers.
This is partly because Guardiola has a bigger backroom staff and there is more interaction between their offices. Guardiola still plans to recruit a dietician and recognised that changes needed to be made to the medical department. Earlier this week he brought in Dr Eduardo Mauri, who had been part of the Barcelona-based clinic that looked after City captain Vincent Kompany.
Not everyone is happy under the new regime, though. Some players, particularly those being offloaded, point to a lack of communication and a reluctance for confrontation. For others, Spanish seems to have taken over as the first language.
That will not worry Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, the former Barcelona executives who brought Guardiola to Manchester.
With four wins from four, and all to play for going into the first Manchester derby of the season, everything is going to plan.
8 MANCHESTER CITY will miss Sergio Aguero tomorrow. Since joining the club in 2011, the suspended striker has scored eight of City’s 25 goals in the derby — including their last three in this fixture.