Foreign coaches are finding that the game in England is different to anywhere else in Europe.
Their style of play, their theories and their philosophies appear to work extremely well on the continent, but they don’t necessarily translate to our game.
The British public like a fast approach, whereas in Europe it is often a slower build-up, more touches and more patience going forward, which is often too prolonged for the typical Premier League fan.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City arrival was announced back in February this year with the Bayern Munich boss signing a three year deal with the Eastlands club.
It is easy to see why Manchester City went for Guardiola. His style comes from the Johan Cruyff school of football, which emanates through all tiers at Barcelona, plus his success as a manager makes him almost iconic.
He was Barcelona’s most successful manager with 14 trophies in four years, including three La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues.
The Spaniard then won the league twice in his two full seasons with Bayern, while also securing domestic cup victories, but the Champions League eluded Guardiola with the German club – he was been knocked out at the semi-final stage twice.
However, despite the success he has enjoyed, it won’t all be plain sailing at Manchester City.
As is the case with any successful manager coming from abroad at any club, the blue half of Manchester now expect. They crave a return to winning ways and that will be expected almost instantaneously. The eyes are on Pep to sprinkle his magic on a team that were at best inconsistent and blew their league titles aspirations earlier than usual. The club did progress in the Champions League, but then meekly limped out of the competition at the semi-final stage. This time around, with the history of titles that Pep carries with him, everyone connected with City, will be looking for nothing less than titles and trophies.
However, Guardiola will soon learn that he won’t have it all his own way. The old order is expected to re-establish itself next season and the pretenders, like Leicester, Tottenham and West Ham, will be forced to find their positions lower down the league table. With a new manager in place at neighbours United, Chelsea hiring the fiery Antonio Conte and Jurgen Klopp stamping his own mark on a timid Liverpool side, these clubs will be spending massively and will then be looking to forge ahead with their own agendas. And that won’t include showing Pep’s team much respect in the process.
With some of the playing staff currently at a crossroads in their career, there will be a clearing out of the deadwood and a host of Guardiola’s players coming in. Again, the competition to sign the top names will be fierce. Not only will some of the cream of European management be sitting in Premier League dug-outs this coming year, but those other managers reputations will make a player stop and consider which manager and which team he wants to play for. Just because it is Pep won’t guarantee a major signing. The side doesn’t need a major overhaul, but three or four quality signings will make all the difference.
Another issue for the new boss is club captain, Vincent Kompany. “The word at City is that Vincent Kompany will be given every chance to prove he can regain long-term fitness and stay at the Etihad,” says the Daily Mail. “However, the latest set-back of an injury-ravaged campaign shows that their unlucky captain still has a long way to go to convince the club that he is free of his persistent muscle problems.” It is obvious that Manchester City over-rely on Kompany and Guardiola will need to consider if he can persist with a 30 year old whose previous injury setbacks cost him 18 weeks of last season. Kompany is also a leader and when the Belgian international is missing, no one else seems keen to lead on or off the pitch. Aymeric Laporte, the Athletic Bilbao player, is a star Guardiola knows well and could be lined up to take Kompany’s place, but Laporte is expected to be out until August with a broken leg and dislocated ankle. Another centre-back injury jinx?
Finally, Pep may well have to adapt his playing style. Guardiola has always had the best, so he has been able to indulge his idealism. He doesn’t like passing for the sake of it, to him it serves no purpose. The ‘tiki-taka’ style of play, a phrase that Guardiola hates, is still a winning formula, but Guardiola injects new life into it. Pep isn’t unbeatable, and he’s not an idiot – he will soon realise that he will have to fine tune his way, to suit our league. He will need to learn that conceding possession at times isn’t a bad thing, as opposed to his possession type of play and that counter attacking football, when you react rather than go into a game proactively, is not a negative either. He will build a strong team, an exciting team and he will go into a new phase of learning here.
It will be an interesting season in the Premier League and especially at clubs like Manchester City. The fixtures against rivals United will take on extra significance. Now it won’t just be the local bragging rights up for grabs, but an intense dislike between the two managers that should add fuel to the fire.
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