Long post warning.
I'm gonna start off by saying when comparing Lucho and Pep's Barcelona, its impossible to ignore how they functioned as players as influence in how they shape their team tactics today. Pep as we all know played at the heart of our midfield and made his bread and butter in being tactically one step ahead and using his technique and passing ability to help his team. Lucho, on the other hand, used his physique and drive to impose his will on opponents ruthlessly. To put it shortly, Pep played with his head, Lucho his heart.
This for me is the key variance that signifies both coaches and their teams qualities. Lucho's base is the same, but his execution is different enough for it to be measureable. Defensively, at least when this team is in form, he is more conservative in his approach and doesn't mind to have his lines deep. That's why we've seen more counters and direct play with much less build-up. Pep played and continues to play with a higher defensive line, forcing, coming from what others have said, opponents to park two boeings in front of goal.
Offensively, the key difference is, at least in short, were the degrees of freedom. Pep is neurotically methodical, it his greatest and worst quality, I'll come back to that later. Lucho is much less structured offensively and allows his players to be more expressive and feel out the game which allows our attacks to form much more organically. Particularly with players like Neymar, it's a system that's less mentally demanding and easier to adapt to if you aren't bred in La Masia.
That's as objective as I can be about the two. Personally I share [MENTION=12202]Stric[/MENTION] sentiment when comparisons of the two are made. Lucho is a great manager in his own right, I'm not nor can anyone rational say that he's not. It's just for our club, the philosophy we've been based on and how our club has structured itself in the sporting aspect (investment and trust in youth team, promotion system etc.), Pep's overall template was more in touch with the clubs ethos and in my opinion much more economically sustainable.
I am very fearful of this club turning into Real 2.0 after Messi leaves, especially with Barto money bags calling the shots. And this is my underlying distaste for Lucho's system. I'm not taking anything away from what Rakitic and Busi and Piqué's revival has done for the team but we for the most part ended up where we did due to MSN, one of which is a freak of nature, the other two being galacticos.
If Lucho's lasting legacy on this club is a top heavy style, reliant on players producing individual brilliance, especially with La Masia drying up rapidly, it's going to force us to just buy more players and further push the club toward the commercial path. Again, Lucho is an excellent coach but in my opinion, his instinct was right when he first tried Roma, his style best suits an Italian team. Defensive discipline, physicality, quick paced attacks, these were common themes in past great Italian teams and had he gone to a club with more financial clout than Roma, I think he would have been more successful.
The thing about Pep's style, at least to me, is it's more team-oriented, easier to replicate and it's not something that requires players to be individually skilled. Philip Lahm is a perfect example of this. Nothing flashy, he's not going to hit screamers or dribble in his half like Dani Alves, he's just does the basics with precise execution and plays with his head. He took to his style like a fish to water. From a coaching aspect, it's much easier to nuture players like Lahm, Xavi, Puyol, Pedro, Busquets, players who play with their heads but do the small things well than buy players like Neymar and hope it works out.
Pep showed the world how effective possession football can be in this era and I think he has bent the trajectory of the game, now and into the future. Coaches 10, 15, 20 years from now will be talking about and referencing him like we talk about Cryuff and Rinus today. His style, unquestionably, catapulted the Spanish NT from underachievers to world beaters, for 4 years. Only Beckenbauer had that sort of impact on his club and country to find a comparison, as far as longevic dominance. When he was here, I thought he was going to be our Sir Alex Ferguson and I think he will be whenever he does come back. For me, I think he'd still be here if we had repeated the CL or if the whole Ibrah and Mou media shitshow wouldn't have been a thing. That's the thing for me: Inter in 2009 and Chelsea in 2011 was simply margins. With Inter, yeah they played well in the first leg but they had two questionable goals in the first leg and we were all over them in the 2nd leg. They clung for dear fucking life and if Ibrah hadn't reduced the game to virtually 10 on 11, things might go different, not to mention Bojan's disallowed goal, which could have completely changed his career. Think about it. Who knows, we simply sell Eto'o and buy Villa a season early, maybe we repeat the treble. Chelsea 2011 was even more a fluke and a sham. RDM is a great defensive coach (another coach I'd like to see in Italy) but we even moreso outclassed them then during Inter for comparison. Villa's CWC injury completely changed our season that year. We'd create chance after chance after chance and besides Messi, who had to score an insane amount of goals himself to keep us competitive, they'd go to waste. Who knows, Villa stays healthy that season, maybe we defend the CL? (Moudrid were excellent that year in La Liga, Ozïl was flying that season).
My point is, it was the narrowest of margins that kept Pep's team from being even more successful than they were. For those 4 seasons, it was no question which team was the best in Europe. If things go a bit different, I think there is enough to reasonably speculate that he'd might still be here.
Now it remains to be seen if Lucho can have this sort of impact but from what I've seen from this team so far, I don't think he can sustain this for nearly as long. We've seen how much of a dip in quality has resulted in Neymar's abscence. One player is absent and the system is severely blunted. I know others might disagree with me, but Pep's system was not this vulnerable. Yes, he was reliant on Messi and Xaviniesta but every team is reliant upon their star players to make their systems work. With Pep's, players like Bojan, Pedro, Keita, Thiago, Afellay etc. could have greater impacts as subs and role players than players like Munir, Roberto, Bartra and Rafinha can in Lucho's system.
To conclude, Lucho is basically using a modified version of Pep's tactics. It's the same formation, with the same overlapping wing backs with intense pressing and tight passing in the build up in the middle to attacking third. He's just made it more defensive, less reliant on precision passing and positioning and with a world class trio up top. Basically a more defensive Pep 2008 with Henry-Eto'o-Messi. If the tables were flipped and it were Pep inheriting Lucho's team, I don't think it'd be nearly as strong.
Now I know Tata definitely influenced things a bit but for the most part, Pep's style stayed intact up until Lucho arrived. I think Pep can learn a lot from Lucho about being flexible and adaptable, that's the best quality we have now when we are in full rhythm is are ability to know when to hold the ball and when to run. But for me, Pep's style is better for this club. Not better in general, better specially for this club.
We will never find someone who is better suited to coach this club, at least until Xavi starts coaching, and it's plainly because he was bred in this club. The basis of everything for him in terms of football stems from this club and Lucho can't say that, he didn't have the experiences Pep did. It's why he was like a kid again at the City game.
Both great managers who have gotten the best out of the best club player of all time.
