Pep Guardiola: - A look in the Past & a Peak in the Future

Pep Guardiola: - A look in the Past & a Peak in the Future

Josep "Pep" Guardiola i Sala (born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish football manager who will become manager of German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich at the start of the 2013–14 season. Guardiola had played as a defensive midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career with FC Barcelona. He was part of Johan Cruyff's "dream team" that won Barcelona's first European Cup.

But it’s the coaching career of Pep which is far more glorious and talked about in the football world. After managing Barcelona B side for a year he took over the post of the Barcelona’s manager in 2008. It was his luck that he had inherited a gold mine of world class players in Messi, Etoo, Xavi, and Iniesta. At the start only he knew which players to keep and which to sell, & hence there were many transfers both incoming & outgoing. Highlights of that transfer season were departure of the likes of Ronaldinho, Deco etc. Josep brought his kind of players in like Daniel Alves, Seydou Keita, and Gerard Pique etc. Tiki taka was the style which was brought in by Guardiola and this now has transformed the football world, with everyone trying to play like Barcelona. The rest is history as you say; as Barcelona went on to win the treble that year. His stint at Barcelona has been laden with trophies and for that he needs to be thankful to the World’s best player in Lionel Messi, whose brilliance was enough to break apart the opponents.

My major concern is that Barcelona did not face much competition in the La Liga with the closest competitor being Real Madrid. In the Champions League they faltered against teams who were tactically very sound at the back. Inter Milan & Chelsea were like thorns and Barcelona were never comfortable against them. It was just luck & very poor refereeing against Chelsea which allowed them into the finals of the champion’s league 2010-2011.

Josep is now going to manage arguably the best team at the present moment in Bayern Munich. The circumstances are drastically different than when he took over Barcelona. Bayern Munich have won the Bundesliga with a record number of games left to be played and are also a part of Champions league final 2012-2013. This will be their 3^rd final in 4 years which shows how consistently good they have been in Europe in the past 5 years.

Even now he inherits a group of players that are to die for. Another similarity which is there is that even here in the domestic league Bayern won’t face much competition other than Borussia Dortmund. There is enough stability in the Bayern boardroom that will provide him with the time to settle in and ring in the changes. There won’t be any problem in signing players as his new team is no short of cash & its recent success will be handy in luring in big names.

Mario Goetze one of the brightest young players around has agreed to be a Bayern Munich player next season, a 37 Million Euro’s price tag making him the most expensive German player ever. This player will suit the formation Bayern play which is of 4-2-3-1. On the other hand Guardiola fancies going with a 4-3-3 formation. It will be interesting to see whether Guardiola goes with the current formation or favors the 4-3-3 still. It won’t be wise to change the system which the players are used to and also are successful playing in it. Rumors are making rounds that Robben and Gomez will be making their way out of the Allianz Arena, with players like Lewandowski & Rooney might be coming in.

A major concern is that Bayern favor a physical approach and a possession type football. So if Guardiola wants to change this style to tiki-taka, it will be difficult and players will take some time to adapt to this new style. Even after this it’s not guaranteed that this style will be successful with this bunch of players. Schweinsteiger & Martinez are very good players but not suited to the tiki-taka style which Xavi and Iniesta are so good at. So this is a major thing to be seen under new era of Guardiola.

Guardiola didn’t have to deal with such a big squad comprising of so many good quality internationals. At Barcelona he played almost the same team day in & day out, with only a couple of changes here & there. At Bayern Munich he will have to tackle all the egos of big players & will have to get used to tinker his squad. May be he can get a few lessons on tinkering the squad from the fellow Spaniard in Rafa Benitez.

Bayern Munich at present are a tremendous team and if they win the Champions League this season then it will be difficult for Pep to follow up this trophy haul with his own the next season.

Next season will be very exciting for the Bayern Munich fans with the arrival of Josep Guardiola and Mario Gotze. Many more exciting players are still yet to come & their main competition Dortmund has weakened with the departure of their no. “10” and also their star striker Lewandowski on the verge of the exit. So the Bavarians are looking for a lot more success in the coming future.

A look at the Bayern Munich team under Pep Guardiola

                                                        

                                                Neuer

Lahm    Boateng/Badstuber                     Dante       Alaba

                      

                         Martinez                         Schweinsteiger

Shaqiri/Muller                      Gotze/Kroos                        Ribery

        

                               Lewandowski/Mandzukic/Gomez