Re: Pep Guardiola : El Puto Amo!

by BarrileteCosmico Wed Oct 02, 2013 9:40 pm

I manged to watch the last 30 minutes of this City - Bayern game and this team already has Pep Munich all over it. The short, half-touch passing, retaining possession, the positioning to always make themselves available, the patience to wait for a perfect chance. Makes for very enjoyable watching. City had no game plan to deal with this.

by The Franchise Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:53 pm

Man City were the perfect opponent for this team.

Straight up 4411 with zero high pressure.

The centerbacks had all the time in the world to make passes into midfield, the midfield 3 always found space because City only had 2 men vs their 3. Then to top it off, Hart throws in a goal and Clichy doesnt doing basic defending of following runners who he can clearly see is onside.

by BarrileteCosmico Thu Oct 03, 2013 2:23 am

Yeah I definitely agree, Bayern were great but City didn't look like they tried to stop them. Not quite sure what City's plan was, it didn't look like they had one. They ceded numeric superiority in the midfield but chose not to press? Pellegrini should have known better.

by The Franchise Thu Oct 03, 2013 10:47 am

Yeah, I was baffled. I expect a heck of alot more from Pelle.

Not to take anything away from Bayern though, they are clearly a big problem for everyone.

by The Sanchez Sat Oct 05, 2013 8:03 am

Same here! Alot of people at my end of town have been craving how Bayern totally dominated City, one of the best beatings they’ve ever seen, upgrade from over Jupp’s team and upgrade from over Jupp’s team.
It was a good performance but it is nowhere close to what our team can do this season, let alone in those golden years!

Maybe my criteria is different to how beautiful football is but Bayern definitely didn’t walk over Man City as easily as how many described on The Guardian. In fact, Bayern played a better game against us last season. I guess Bayern is still in honeymoon period.

I can see an upgrade in their defense for example and the extra height they have in attacking and defending set pieces but their passing is perhaps only 70% of ours at best. So many loose passes. So many speculative shots from outside the box which we hardly do.

I am not denying that they’re a top 3 team or even the best team right now but they’re really not as mighty as how people make it out to be (based from the Man City match comments and match).

by BarrileteCosmico Sat Oct 05, 2013 8:13 am

You could make an argument comparing the relative beauty of our football to theirs, but I would not be so sure to call us better than Bayern at this point.

by alexjanosik Sat Oct 05, 2013 1:01 pm

Its fascinating watching Bayern play.Especially interesting is the role of the fullbacks and the 2 centerbacks.
When Pep was with us,he would have the 2 CB's push wide with the ball at the back thus allowing the fullbacks to push forward.
He does the same with Bayern but with some modifications.
It was not as evident in the City game but last weekend it was something like this.
Boateng goes wide to the right touchline with Dante more to the center.He advances along the right touchline.Rafinha tucks into midfield near Lahm.The 2 midfielders ahead of Lahm pushed up.
Alaba too came inside when needed.

What it means is that in the build up,the fullbacks are a lot more involved than they were with us.For us,Alves never came that inside during buildup.Nor did Abidal. Xavi or Iniesta would come deep during the buildup and help advance the play through the midfield to the final third.For them the 2 midfielders dont come that deep and dont help in the initial buildup.It is done almost exclusively by the Cb's,Lahm as the holder and the 2 fullbacks.
Ofcourse the wide men stay wide(unlike with us),thereby allowing the fullbacks to come inside.

His tactical variations within his philosophical framework(the Cruyff philosophy) are fascinating to say the least.

by The Franchise Sat Oct 05, 2013 1:17 pm

I didnt see that game, but would you say its fair to say Alex, without the likes of Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta, that tactical modification is the consequence? To fully get the most from the style of the midfield.

Bastian, Kroos, Muller, whoever been playing in midfield, are great players, but different players.

To maintain that domination in the midfield without having those guys do things which they cant/dont do and therefore decreasing the things they do well, this is the result?

It makes sense to me, Kroos likes to get on the edge of the D and create or shoot, Muller when used in midfield is a runner and box crasher if you will, Bastian is vertical in not just his movements, but his passing. Lahm moves alot, runs off the ball alot.

So for me, such unique changes make sense so they can still control the midfield while allowing those guys to do what they do best with just minor adjustments to fit his idea of playing.

And I still think because of this situation, which he saw before hand, he choose Thiago. I get some people have the impression he isnt required at Bayern. I disagree, I think he is something completely different to what they have. He already does what Pep desires ideally, meaning the midfield adjustments Pep has to make stay to the minimum.

by alexjanosik Sun Oct 06, 2013 6:31 am

I agree that he is tweaking his tactics to suit the players at his disposal.
Also think that as discussed before he may be doing this to counter park the bus teams.As you mentioned get as many players near or into the box as possible.That means the midfielders go up and the fullbacks come inside.
I do think Thiago is required.He is a midfield orchestrator the kind which they dont have.

by jibers Tue Oct 22, 2013 2:21 pm

Just re watched the 2011 CL final. That Barcelona team was a joke. Seriously. I still think Guardiola is underrated as a manager if I'm honest. Barcelona are still playing with 'his' philosophy in bits.

by Winter is Coming Tue Oct 22, 2013 11:00 pm

jibers wrote:Just re watched the 2011 CL final. That Barcelona team was a joke. Seriously. I still think Guardiola is underrated as a manager if I'm honest. Barcelona are still playing with 'his' philosophy in bits.

I wouldn't say underrated. I believe a lot of people acknowledge him and would welcome him with open arms to their clubs if given a chance. I do believe his man management is underrated tho. The way he's with his players and how he's discreet in back with them most cases is amazing. When Ribery scored against Chelsea in the super cup the way he run to Pep and excitement in both of them seemed as they won the game, or scored in CL final, but all they did was level the score. Pique recently spoke highly of Pep as well and said how he'd spend hours observing other teams and telling them what to do. I was watching BM V City and even when BM went down to 10 men I saw him gesturing his defenders to move forward help in attack, and the amount of time he'd keep yelling from the sidelines telling them to pressure.

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Pep Guardiola paid a flying visit to Barcelona on Monday where he spoke with his friend and former Blaugrana colleague Tito Vilanova.

The pair first met as teenage youth players at Barca’s La Masia academy and went on to work successfully together with Guardiola manager and Vilanova his assistant during four trophy-laden seasons until Pep stepped down in summer 2011.

However their relationship was said to have cooled after Vilanova took over as Barca boss, with some reports suggesting Tito had expected more support from his friend when he had to leave the job due to illness. The situation was also complicated by internal 'feuding' between camps associated with current Blaugrana president Sandro Rosell and his predecessor Joan Laporta.

According to Mundo Deportivo the current Bayern Munich coach flew into Barcelona via private jet on Monday morning to deal with some personal matters, and then met with Vilanova for over three hours in the afternoon.

No details of their private conversation emerged -- however the Catalan paper claimed they may have been clearing the air and letting bygones be bygones.

At his prematch news conference ahead of Wednesday's Champions League game at home to Viktoria Plzen, Guardiola simply said: "Yes, I've been there. But that's a private matter, you have to respect that, please. Thank you."

Mundo Deportivo also say that Barcelona’s board have decided to pay tribute to Vilanova via the usual fans 'mosaic' at the Camp Nou before Saturday’s La Liga Clasico against Real Madrid. 90,000 supporters are to hold up sheets of paper which together will read 'Força Tito' in a coordinated message of support

by Hapless_Hans Sat Nov 16, 2013 12:53 am

alexjanosik wrote:Its fascinating watching Bayern play.Especially interesting is the role of the fullbacks and the 2 centerbacks.
When Pep was with us,he would have the 2 CB's push wide with the ball at the back thus allowing the fullbacks to push forward.
He does the same with Bayern but with some modifications.
It was not as evident in the City game but last weekend it was something like this.
Boateng goes wide to the right touchline with Dante more to the center.He advances along the right touchline.Rafinha tucks into midfield near Lahm.The 2 midfielders ahead of Lahm pushed up.
Alaba too came inside when needed.

What it means is that in the build up,the fullbacks are a lot more involved than they were with us.For us,Alves never came that inside during buildup.Nor did Abidal. Xavi or Iniesta would come deep during the buildup and help advance the play through the midfield to the final third.For them the 2 midfielders dont come that deep and dont help in the initial buildup.It is done almost exclusively by the Cb's,Lahm as the holder and the 2 fullbacks.
Ofcourse the wide men stay wide(unlike with us),thereby allowing the fullbacks to come inside.

His tactical variations within his philosophical framework(the Cruyff philosophy) are fascinating to say the least.

I think you describe in detail here what I could only guess at in my post over in the bayern section. I thought it was somehow really interesting how our fullbacks move infield to participate in midfield play, but I'm not really that knowledgeable in tactical analysis.

I wasn't able to see our last 3 games where we obviously weren't that great, so I don't know how it looks now with Martinez as dm.

to think I was a little worried we had maybe one too many midfielders... now Schweinsteiger is out for the rest of the year along with Shaquiri, and I can't wait to finally see Thiago play some real games. Hope he's match fit after the international break.

Looking very much forward to him, still not quite sure why you would let him leave so easily.

by Winter is Coming Mon Nov 25, 2013 9:21 am

Bayern hadn't beaten Dortmund in the league since Feb 2010, till Pep accomplished that mission on Sat! Smile

by Winter is Coming Mon Dec 30, 2013 11:05 am

Barcelona midfielder Xavi admits that the Catalan giants miss certain aspects of former head coach Pep Guardiola's football philosophy.

Guardiola enjoyed a trophy-laden four years at Camp Nou, during which his side secured three La Liga titles and two Champions League triumphs.

The 42-year-old departed the Spanish champions in 2012, taking a short sabbatical before joining Bundesliga holders Bayern Munich in the close-season and Xavi hailed the "extraordinary project" engineered by his old boss during his time in Spain.

"Pep made his job in Barcelona. We are so proud he was our manager," the midfielder told reporters.

"[We had] four years when we won plenty of trophies. He led an extraordinary project until he decided to leave for a gap year and nowadays he is doing a brilliant job in Bayern Munich.

"Obviously, we miss things from him, as [we do] the other managers who left the club. We have another coach, we had [Tito] Vilanova last year and Tata [Gerardo] Martino this season.

"Each person has a different way to work. Guardiola had his way, Vilanova too and Martino as well. All of them are good managers and we were lucky with Guardiola because we made history."

by The Franchise Tue Dec 31, 2013 3:19 am

by CBarca Tue Dec 31, 2013 4:22 am

2 minutes

I would love to hear anyone who has worked with Guardiola talk about what it's like for...preferably quite a while. Even 10 minutes would be great though. Oh how brilliant that would be.

by The Franchise Tue Dec 31, 2013 4:59 pm

Hearing that he works with that kind of detail, not that I didnt know (it was merely a reminder) makes you think...you reckon Martino has that much attention to detail?

Different set peices, different corners, different ways to bring it out from the back based on which team is playing? I find it hard to believe many coaches at all have that level of attention to detail.

by futbol Wed Jan 01, 2014 8:21 am

You think working on set pieces is "detail work"? What do you think a coach does otherwise? Laughing

Most corners under Pep were played short and lots of set pieces, until Messi started taking them, included Alves blasting it from 30 yards. We played 1 coreographed freekick in the 2011 CL final and that was later revealed to be Tito's idea. Just like moving Messi into the the false 9 role because he coached him in that position in the youth ranks. Henry is filling some time on TV. Laughing

Happy new year. banana

by The Franchise Wed Jan 01, 2014 11:51 am

"Different set pieces for different teams"

by futbol Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:18 pm

Just kidding. I just wanted my first post in 2014 to be in disagreement with you. We scored the most set piece goals in La Liga in 09/10. Pep, fss.

Proud

by danyjr Wed Jan 01, 2014 1:33 pm

Arguments between futbol and The Franchise
Pep Guardiola : El Puto Amo! - Page 11 Popcorn

by Winter is Coming Thu Jan 02, 2014 5:46 pm

"His ideas are unbelievable," said midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger. CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge added: "I've been involved in professional football for 40 years, but I've never witnessed such an array of variety, such a wealth of ideas." Guardiola is "searching around the clock for the ultimate football". Therefore, it is no surprise that Guardiola recently said his side "are not the best in Europe" and that there is "still a lot of work to be done next year."

by BarrileteCosmico Sat Jan 04, 2014 8:23 pm

Mascherano wrote an article about Pep. I don't really find it interesting enough to translate the whole thing, but here is an anecdote I liked:

"I'm aware that if it were not for Guardiola I would have not been able to play for Barcelona as a central midfielder, and much less as a center back. In fact, the first time he did it without having practiced it or anything. He just put me as the starting centerback and at the end of the pre-match pep talk he said something I'll never forget: 'When you are a coach you will want to play all the midfielders, it's the best way to ensure the team plays well'. "

Full thing: http://canchallena.lanacion.com.ar/1649877-pep-guardiola-el-triunfo-de-un-gentil-liderazgo

by futbol Sat Jan 04, 2014 9:09 pm

Midfielders. :bow:

by CBarca Sun Jan 05, 2014 1:06 am

Midfielders Proud

I'm a midfielder Proud

Pep

by Winter is Coming Sun Jan 05, 2014 4:11 am

The Barcelona star claims the current Bayern Munich boss is "on another level" to any other coach he has worked with after he was transformed into a centre-back under the Spaniard

Barcelona star Javier Mascherano has paid tribute to the impact of former boss Pep Guardiola, describing him as "more than special."

Mascherano joined Barca from Liverpool in the summer of 2010 and went on to clinch the Liga title and the Champions League in his first season at the club under the guidance of the Spanish coach.

The Argentina international has developed into an effective centre-back at Camp Nou after initially being converted to the role by Guardiola, and he feels indebted to the current Bayern Munich head coach for the impact on his career.

"I've rarely seen a group managed in the same way he pursued," he said in an article for canchallena.com.

"He reinvented me. I discovered a role I never thought I could play. As a coach, he is more than special, he is distinct, unforgettable. I'm conscious that, were it not for Guardiola, I would never have managed to play for Barca.

"I've had some very prestigious coaches. But Pep is on another level. He spreads his way of living football to you."

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