A Storm Is Coming : The Guardiola Chapter.

Josep ‘Pep’ Guardiola is arguably the best manager of his generation, and he has the trophy cabinet to prove it. The Catalan has won trophies everywhere he has coached and his Barcelona team will be remembered as one of the greatest teams of all time. He is also credited with triggering the emergence of quite a number of stars including arguably the G.O.A.T, Lionel Messi. Now he comes to Manchester City FC, looking to apply his Midas touch and make the team a force to reckon with. He has been described as a very intense coach by many of his former charges-a perfectionist actually.

His brand of football delivers a delicate mix of great aesthetic value and results-and by extension, silverware. He is a ruthless competitor-after all he wants to win. The possession-based style (‘tiki-taka’) he has employed over the years has served him well. He has had to develop and evolve it to keep himself a step ahead of his peers. It's about patience and letting the ball do the work while looking for an opening. It features incisive and inventive one-touch passing, with fast thinking and constant ball movement in little triangles that leave the opponent isolated and chasing shadows. The one-twos to carve out openings or create space are a thing of beauty. He also ensures his players counter press to win the ball back as soon as possible. This formula often leaves his opponents bewildered and spectators mesmerised.
His Barcelona and Bayern teams were utterly dominant domestically and continentally (with Barca-not Bayern).

Admittedly, his style of play tends to suffer when it comes up against deep lying and tactically disciplined defences. Teams are quite happy to cede possession and look to catch him on the break. This has proved his undoing and probably his weakness on many occasions – being battered by Real Madrid in the 13/14 Champions League semi-final proved a low point in his career. Athletico Madrid made it clear last season that Pep hasn’t entirely dealt with this apparent Achilles heel. Some will see his Bayern tenure as a failure-he failed to win the Champions league. But that’s only when compared to his and Jupp Heynckes’ lofty standards.

At City, he will be tasked with imprinting his philosophy on the team. In his first interview, he stated that the style of play will take precedence initially; stressing that the way team plays should excite its fans and the world at large. Silverware should follow. He definitely has to adapt his style to the more robust English Premier League, but years spent in the Bundesliga-the league most similar to the EPL-will give him an idea as to how to go about it. He has the tools needed to succeed City in terms of personnel with more than enough funds available for him to secure additional personnel to fit his tactical jigsaw and make it work. As to whether his style will work or not in the PL remains to be seen, but if his previous exploits are anything to go by, Manchester City has the right man. Even if the weaknesses in his style are exploited, you wouldn’t bet against Pep to have a few tricks up his sleeve to further his ‘tiki-taka’ into a new phase of development and dominance. Surely, the opportunity to stick it to Mourinho in his own playground is motivation enough-but it would be foolish to take his eye off his other rivals.

It’s the dawn of a new Era for Manchester City, and with Pep in the driving seat, the future looks brighter than ever. Let the Guardiola Era begin.

Kaizer