Guardiola the best coach of all time

Jakarta (medialnews) – The Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea is still a week away. Even Man City has their last league game on Sunday evening.

But all that is no obstacle to proclaiming Pep Guardiola the best manager of all time, at least for some parts of the European football community.

When Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer called Alex Ferguson the greatest manager of all time, his former colleague Gary Neville argued that it was Guardiola who deserved the title more.

Also read: List of Premier League champions: Manchester City is now equal to Aston Villa

And indeed, with the exception of the World Cup and European Cup trophies that he has not won so far because he has never coached a national team, Guardiola has been great for 12 years at the head of three super strong European teams that are not only dominant in their national competitions, but have also become very important actors in European football theater. During those 12 years, Guadiola has never failed to present a trophy to the teams he coached.

The caution of Guardiola’s resume is endless. He has won 31 trophies; 10 trophies each for Manchester City, 14 trophies for Barcelona and seven trophies for Bayern Munich. He also helps his players to earn individual prizes.

All the gifts filled the closet. And this is not because of luck or playing football that just wins. No, Guardiola is not such a coach. When his team is to win, it has to be accomplished in a beautiful way that links plan, tactics, technique, skill and talent.

It’s no wonder that wherever he plays, be it Barcelona, ​​Bayern or City, Guardiola always presents attractive games that almost never disappoint anyone who sees him.

His football philosophy, which includes the philosophy of attacking total football introduced by his mentor Johan Cruff in Barcelona, ​​allows him to always present a team that combines attractive play with impressive results. Seeing the players of Man City in action is like looking back at the beautiful but deadly tiki-taka in Barcelona’s golden age.

The players are not just footballers, they are also green field performers, from dribbling and positioning to kicking and passing, they don’t just pass, cut or block the ball, but they do it with nice maneuvers so it’s really fun. to be seen.

That is not all. Guardiola’s cunning and intelligence in formulating the team and managing the squad kept City consistent throughout the season. It’s tucked away, but never repeated. Don’t expect them to lose for playing poorly, especially as they were pressured by their opponents.

Their last game against Brighton was on May 19. They lost 2-3, but it happened because they had to play with 10 players from the 10th minute after Joao Cancelo was sent off.

Also read: Klopp directly congratulated Pep and Gundogan on the city title

Transformative power

Guardiola has clearly made City a very hard-to-beat team, having lost only six defeats with Manchester United, even though they are still among the three defeats Liverpool suffered in winning last season.

Now he is the second manager in the five major European leagues presenting the most league championships after Sir Alex Feguson, who has awarded 13 trophies. Guardiola has nine trophies or one more trophy than Giovanni Trapattoni. Guardiola also made City the fifth most successful club in the Premier League.

The combination of his cold hands and the relentless abundance of money flowing from his owners in Abu Dhabi has turned City into the elite force of European football.

In this year alone, with nearly all clubs tightening their belts, City could in fact spend as much as £ 100 million (Rp 2 trillion) to bring in two defenders. One defender, Nathan Ake, failed to shine, but the other, Ruben Dias, was key to City’s success this season.

Dias helped transform City and is considered the most influential new Premier League addition since Virgil van Dijk changed the face of Liverpool.

Also read: Guardiola called the Premier League title his toughest champion this season

But it is not only money from Abu Dhabi that makes this possible. Guardiola’s genius who juggled City as it is today is also a very important factor. Not only is he good at picking players and putting together teams, but also a genius at managing wealthy clubs. This genius is what Abu Dhabi bought.

When most clubs suffer from the absence of some key figures, not to mention the pandemic that sometimes wipes out the game plan because it is not uncommon for key players to be unable to play because they have been affected by the coronavirus, Guardiola is basically building a team that is evenly reinforced, between the first team and the tier team. both, so it was okay to take someone down when confronted with someone.

Indeed, he was a bit limped at the start of the league, but he slowly built up a city that always triumphed despite the number of player rotations as other clubs had. But the result of Guardiola’s rotation is different from the rotation of other clubs.

His expertise in building a second team as strong as the first team has brought him on par with Alex Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby, Arsene Wenger, Bob Paisley and Bill Shankly.

Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Sergio Aguero could leave or disappear for him, but he soon found successors in Dias, Phil Foden and Ilkay Gundogan.

City even made him the first Premier League champion to win without a pure striker. When City confirmed the championship, their top scorer was the club’s top scorer who scored the lowest goals in the history of the league, namely Gundogan with 12 goals.

Also read: Seven records that graced the city title this season

Rich in improvisation

Guardiola is an expert in adapting to the needs of the era and the realities of the field. He doesn’t distract from the lack of a killer instinct forward or a new defender who doesn’t shine like Nathan Ake, because he has the principle that he doesn’t want to be dependent on a single player or a handful of players.

In addition, he is rich in improvisation and very innovative. And this gives his team a consistency that other Premier League clubs don’t have.

But his love for improvisation and innovation kept him from wanting to follow the same performance formula from season to season. On the other hand, every season will be different so attitudes, patterns and treatments should be different.

So don’t be surprised if he becomes a pure striker this season, especially if his opponents later demand that Guardiola install a pure striker, as he did for Aguero.

That’s why he might be pushing club management next season to buy Erling Haaland or Harry Kane or Jack Grealish.

Guardiola may not be taking the same steps as Liverpool, who were fed up with an existing squad after last season to successfully end a 30-year drought in the league title.

Also read: Pep Guardiola: sooner or later Ruben Dias will be the captain of Man City

On the other hand, Guardiola might have taken a different approach. Not because you don’t believe that the players will always offer high quality. But more because it requires a guarantee that all players are always ready to play, so that every game plan is applied correctly to produce maximum results.

Under such assumptions, Man City, especially until they successfully win Champions League status, will be even more cruel the following season, following the brutality of the Premier League competition when all of the Premier League teams’ stadiums are likely to be replenished. by football fans.

But even before going there, Guardiola was still committed to the title to bring a major transformation to his team. Football observer who is also a former Leicester City player Robbie Savage did not hesitate to ask Guardiola to be bigger than Sir Alex.

Likewise Gary Neville. He called Guardiola the greatest coach of all time. “I think Man City probably has the greatest manager of all time because of the way he has invaded other countries, dominated football and influenced others. “I’ve never seen anyone like that,” said Neville.

If you look at the curriculum vitae while at Barcelona, ​​even though Munich has failed to lead this German club to win the Champions League, and have been in charge of City for the last four years, making this club history for the first time. wrote. Champions League final, Guardiola is indeed the best coach in the world.

On May 30, the Estadio do Dragao in Porto can confirm its status.

Also read: The Champions League final has officially been moved from Istanbul to Porto

By Jafar M Sidik
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