The greatest manager in the modern game?
One of the elite managers in the game today is Pep Guardiola. He is probably the most sought after manager of today. But how seasoned is Pep Guardiola?
There is doubt about his experience with difficulty in coaching. A majority, if not all of this doubt generates from the fact that he is yet to manage a struggling team. His coaching resume will show teams that were almost on top of the football world even before he joined. The two teams on his resume are FC Barcelona and FC Bayern Munich. (FCB and FCB). Both of these teams were nowhere near struggle when Guardiola took over.
Guardiola is a great tactician, but can he manage a team that is inferior?.
Guardiola knows what formation he needs to put pressure on the opposition. This is why his teams are difficult to beat. He is far from a defensive manager, despite being a defensive midfielder in his playing days. There is probable no product of Barcelona is fond of defensive tactics. With that in mind, he will need a squad that can dominate every match they play. His team has to be ‘pound for pound’ better than the opposition.
You will have a strong argument to say that Pep Guardiola has managed 2 of the top 3 teams in current time. Top 3 being FC Barcelona, FC Bayern, Real Madrid CF.
FC Barcelona has proven that they can win, even with managerial changes. Luis Enrique winning of the ‘treble’ with Barcelona in 2015 might have proven that Messi and Barcelona can make any decent manager great. We will never attempt to take credit away from a coach like Pep Guardiola, however, was winning with a team like Barcelona a challenging thing to do. When players like Xavi and Iniesta in their prime, and Messi who was charging up. He had an FC Barcelona team that was possibly the greatest ever club side of any era at his disposal. Plus Lionel Messi, who is probably the arguably the best player the world has seen.
He has done a decent job with Bayern Munich. They were the best team in the Bundesliga when he took over. Bayern was a ‘Treble’ winning side when Guardiola took over, and he has managed them to keep winning the Bundesliga. Winning the Bundesliga with Bayern is the least fans of the team expect from any manager. We can’t confidently say he enhance Bayern Munich. His record with the team is great on paper, but was there competition? When Bayern is buying the star players of their domestic and international rivals. The team was dominating Bundesliga before he came around. They were the champions of Europe. He won the FIFA Club World Cup with Bayern. This is a competition in which he has had a 100% success rate.
The Champions
He won the European Cup (UEFA Champions League) as a player in 1992. This was the first title for the club. Throughout his managerial career, he has been in charge of teams that were competing in the UEFA Champions League. His UCL record is quite amazing. He hasn’t lost a UCL final in his managerial career. It takes a destined champion to beat a team managed by Guardiola in the UCL. His teams are either winners or are the losers to the eventual winners. His team have also not been eliminated before the semifinal. If Bayern reaches the semifinal or beyond in the 2015/16 edition of the UCL, his record will be intact. Bayern reaching that far in the competition is a very achievable goal. He has won the competition twice, courtesy of FC Barcelona. And he has been eliminated from the competition two occasions by a La Liga team. Arch- rival Real Madrid in 2014, and his own FC Barcelona in 2015.
He won all Supercopa with Barcelona and lost all DFL- Supercup with Bayern.
Can he deal with pressure?
Guardiola has never been fired from a coaching job. The football world can sense that the team is in good hands when Pep is in charge. With all the big names on his roster, one would expect ego to circulate in the dressing room. He seems to bring stability to the clubs he manages. There is nothing intimidating about his presence. He seems to be very approachable. The aura seems to be a good one.
His exit from his teams is questionable. There is a sense of under accomplishment when he leaves a team. There is a sense that he is avoiding the potential of a humiliating season.
But his exit is questionable. He seems to leave when arrows are pointing down, or looks flat. It seems like he doesn’t stick around to rebuild. Not only have we probably not seen him build a struggling team, we have not seen him rebuild a strong team. He left FC Barcelona in 2012 when the team was looking like they were coming back down from the peak of football success. And he is leaving Bayern in 2016 after not achieving European success, yet.
