Since being thrust into the limelight in 2008, when he took the step up from Barcelona’s B team to take the reins of one of world football’s biggest clubs, Pep Guardiola’s success has seen him reach heights that others can only dream of throughout their whole careers; let alone by the age of 42.
Four trophy-laden years at the Camp Nou saw Pep win everything that club football has to offer: 3 La Liga titles and 2 Champions League crowns the highlights alongside 5 domestic cup triumphs and 4 other international victories. That’s 14 trophies in 4 years for those of you who were counting. Impressive stuff. And as I’ve already mentioned, he is still only 42 years of age; he’s not exactly had a long term managerial career to build experience (one season in charge of Barcelona B hardly counts now does it?).
What is most impressive about Guardiola’s short reign at Barcelona however, is the demeanour in which his victories came about. Creating a team capable of winning a title is an achievement in itself, but continued triumphs are even greater. They say that climbing to the mountain top isn’t the hard part; it’s staying there.
But even more so than this, is that Pep’s Barcelona aren’t just the greatest team in the world of the last few years; they are arguably the greatest club side ever. Among all the incredible teams that have graced a football pitch, be it a Di Stefano-Puskas inspired Real Madrid side who stormed to five consecutive European titles to the great Milan side of the late ‘80s to early ‘90s, this current crop of talent at Barcelona arguably top it all.
And here is where the critics may begin to pipe up: ‘Guardiola did amazing because he had an incredible team’, ‘It’s not difficult when you have as many stars as Messi and Xavi’ and ‘My nan could’ve done just as well given the chance’. Okay, but let’s break this down slightly.
Guardiola took the reins in a difficult period. Barcelona were going through one of their most successful stages, but Guardiola took the brave decision to get rid of star striker Samuel Eto’o and talisman Ronaldinho, among others. And to replace them, he afforded youth a chance.
Now it can be argued that, who wouldn’t give youth a chance if you also had the famed ‘La Masia’ consistently rolling out top talent, but it is still a gamble nonetheless; playing academy football doesn’t give you a divine right to become a top, first team star. It was Pep’s tactical nous that provided them with the platform to elevate themselves onto higher pedestals. Who knows if Messi would have ever become so successful had Ronaldinho’s love of the nightlife influenced the young Argentine?
And this is before we even mention what an incredible tactician Pep is, having established the footballing philosophy that is known as ‘tiki-taka’. This style of football is not new to Barcelona, tracing long back to the days of legendary Dutchman Johan Cruyff that has seen it implemented throughout the club, but Guardiola has fantastically developed it. And this has resulted in a team who maintain possession as if playing with their lives, with a devastating forward line to finish off any attacks. It is quite beautiful to watch.
And then Pep left. And in doing so, established his position as the most sought after manager in world football. So where would he go? German giants Bayern Munich.
It might seem slightly ridiculous, but this is where my article truly now starts. For all the talent that I have argued Pep possesses, his tactical supremacy flows through as we can see just how much of a genius he is at mapping out his career. Let me explain…
While I have so far argued that Pep is so terrifically talented, they are many concerns that get masked by the phenomenal statistics. Most of these I mentioned in my ‘Replacing Sir Alex’ article, but let me refresh your memory.
For a start, as I pretended at the beginning, how many people actually would have done an equal job to Pep had they been afforded the opportunity of managing one of world football’s greatest sides, knowing a young Messi was coming through the ranks and a midfield partnership of pass masters beginning to form?
Secondly, it has to be said that, for all of the tactical ability for getting these stars to merge, his success in the transfer market may be seen as less than impressive. As they had so many talented youngsters coming through, Pep had money to burn on transfers; yet €125m spent on Ibrahimovic, Caceres, Chygrynskiy and Keirrison. Really, Pep? Sure, Fabregas has worked out, as too have David Villa and Alexis Sanchez, but that is a vast sum of money that cannot be ignored as wasted?
The last query however, which I think is an incredibly interesting concept, is that we’ve never seen Pep as the underdog. Think about it; he was incredibly successful until his last season when he lost the title to rivals Real Madrid. This means that we’ve never seen him fighting to get something back. Fighting to chase others.
Fighting to react when the going gets tough. Can Pep really be successful in difficult times, or is he a fair-weather manager; only there for the good times? And this is where Pep has shown incredibly tactical nous to guide his career.