Pep Guardiola

[Behrox]

You can repeat that, the same excuse for the next 10 Seasons, if we stick to our tactics that don't work in big matches.

Look, someone will always get injured.
Someone will always get a red card.
We will always concede an unlucky corner-goal.

In 2012: Against Chelsea, excuse=we were unlucky, Messi missed a penalty
In 2013: Against Bayern, excuse=we had too many injured defenders, we would have won without injuries..
In 2014: Against Atletico, excuse=we again had injuries, we were unlucky

We had 1000s of injuries in some other Seasons, but we have won everything.
There will always be injuries and a tough luck. The real winners can overcome injuries, some red cards and corner goals.

Our current team and tactics, are sadly, not good enough for the highest positions.

We can repeat the same excuse in the next 10 Seasons if nothing changes. Someone will always be injured, and we will always concede one unlucky goal that will cost us..

It can also be argued that we had a much more capable bench those seasons unlike the magnificent Sergi Roberto and Tello the usually make up our bench these days also we used to have some damn defenders in Puyol and Pique

 

[BBZ8800]

I won't be surprised to see him try it again Pep's only flaw as a manager is that he is stubborn

Yes. He acknowledged that, but he will play exactly the same in the next matches and in the next Season.

Has he ever played anything else than his "only" tactic?

Yes, people will say: "But those tactics brought him so much success."
True, but that was a few years ago.
What if that doesn't work anymore? Will he repeat them till death and expect a better outcome?

Or he will evolve one day?
That remains to be seen.

Till now, he hasn't evolved. He sticks to his style and hopes for the best. No plan B, no sign of any bigger changes in his approach.
If it works well=awesome.
If it doesn't work well=nothing happens, he just repeats the same thing 1000 times over and over.

 

[Gooch]

Just a reminder that some of us enjoy watching beautiful football even if our team loses. If I'm interested in winning only, I'll hire Mourinho, who is the best I've seen at implementing the negative tactics that maximize the chances of winning.

Is there a 'balance'? Not as much as you think. Tata balanced about as well as he could with the personnel he had. To tilt the balance more, you'd need to change your players, get bigger and faster players, and you'll have something like Bayern. I'm not interested in watching Bayern (except Ribery) no matter how much they win.

For some of us with memories of 1980's Brazil and 90's Colombia, Barca/Spain is something we've been waiting for a long time - something we thought we'd never see again - artists on the ball. Let's hope it continues.

 

[darthvader7888]

I have a feeling this thrashing will make him a better coach.

 

[DB10]

Seems to me Pep and Mourinho's footballing philosophy both have a element of fear behind them. Pep wants the ball at all times and doesn't want to give it to the opposition whist Mourinho is the opposite. Fear to give it away and fear to have it. At their both nuanced I don't enjoy either of the styles, you can admire it but its dull to watch.

Would rather watch Rijkaard's Barca, Wenger's Invincibles, Klopp's Dortmund or Bayern of last season.

 

[Povikas]

I have a feeling this thrashing will make him a better coach.

Without a doubt; only these kinds of cuts and slashes carve a character.

 

[linetty]

To me, it looked like he didnt really care. Maybe he doesnt even want to stay in Germany?

 

[BarcaGirl]

To me, it looked like he didnt really care. Maybe he doesnt even want to stay in Germany?

Maybe he finally realized that he joined the german version of Real Madrid

 

[DinhoR10]

Or maybe his Best friend just died? Did he even get to go to the funeral? BEST FRIEND, he should have been giving the eulogy or something.

 

[Hamzah]

Seems to me Pep and Mourinho's footballing philosophy both have a element of fear behind them. Pep wants the ball at all times and doesn't want to give it to the opposition whist Mourinho is the opposite. Fear to give it away and fear to have it. At their both nuanced I don't enjoy either of the styles, you can admire it but its dull to watch.

Would rather watch Rijkaard's Barca, Wenger's Invincibles, Klopp's Dortmund or Bayern of last season.

Interesting and true, the other styles are built on self belief and are more entertaining. Though I still think Peps Barca was very good to watch.

 

[Alarcón]

Seems to me Pep and Mourinho's footballing philosophy both have a element of fear behind them. Pep wants the ball at all times and doesn't want to give it to the opposition whist Mourinho is the opposite. Fear to give it away and fear to have it. At their both nuanced I don't enjoy either of the styles, you can admire it but its dull to watch.

Would rather watch Rijkaard's Barca, Wenger's Invincibles, Klopp's Dortmund or Bayern of last season.

Has nothing to do with fear... it's common sense, when you have the ball, you can score and you can't concede. But you have to play it right and yesterday, Bayern did everything wrong, not only from a tactical point of view, but they also looked tired and very unmotivated. If you have a mixture of lack of motivation and lack of tactical awareness and the coach for some reason puts the wrong players on top of that, you lose, no matter the style of play.

I also wonder why the people who proclaim tiki-taka's death right now didn't do so when we won 4-3 and 2-1 against Madrid because we played exactly the same kind of football back then as Bayern did yesterday.

If anyone wants to see real tiki-taka, go back a few years and look at how Barça played when Pep was here or how Spain played (and to some extent still play). That's tiki-taka. What Barça are doing right now and what Bayern have done for the last couple of weeks is not. The problem is that Pep doesn't have the players and we don't have the coach for it.

 

[Theconomist]

There have been massive overreactions and overassumptions because of the loss but Pep was annihilated today, no other way of putting it. The disrespect he's getting is kind of surprising though, coming from cules.

Of course, this is the opportunity for underground haters to rise up and voice opinions they held back while he was successful.

He needs a tactical growth. If he's going to stick with his philosophy, he's going to have to take an approach FAR different from what he's done today (nightmare choices). Mandzukic is nothing but a 'wait for the ball' target man who doesn't participate in any team transition, disrupting unity which should be and always was a key part of Pep's system. Sticking physical yet not technical players like Schweinsteiger and Kroos to run a midfield that's trying to dominate a game, having no DM to give a natural balance, etc. All of these are horrible decisions.

Bayern would've been much better had they fielded a trio of: Kroos-Martinez-Lahm or if he hadn't gotten injured, Thiago-Martinez-Lahm. Schweinsteiger is in total turd form and in all honesty, is much more of an engine for vertical attacking football than the base for tiki-taka. Lahm has the workrate and technique to succeed in a box-to-box role but as a lone CDM to give a backbone to play? No way. Martinez gives this in a 4-3-3 (or 4-1-4-1) and that would be the most balanced Bayern side (with a lot of other improvements though).

And to those who talk about tiki taka being dead are really not disproving anything except for the fact that possession football is dead. Sure, Bayern play with a lot of short passes but to actually classify that itself as what made the Barca system so successful for 4 years is ridiculous. The fact that the midfield setup was completely wrong and screwed them in both attack and defense only tells part of the story. Over the past month, Bayern's attack phase has turned to fuck all. The moment they reach the point where they should accelerate to create chances, they turn into a line of midfielders behind RM's midfield shield + lonely Mandzukic way up top serving no purpose. The fact that they break shape like that shows some sort of dysfunction in the attacking system. The slowing down also forces them to commit too many players forward and leave a backline to get slaughtered on the counter. Issues arise all over when a team doesn't stay true to their team shape, hence being tactically outclassed by Ancelotti and Madrid.

I always thought he was overrated but not in the sense that he sucks like many misread ANYTHING negative said about anything touching barca but rather that he is a good coach sure, but he isn't as great as people make him out to be. He isn't a very good tactician once things don't go his way, if they do it's brilliant to watch however. Another thing I've always held against him (which is linked to the first) he absolutely sucks at making game changing substitutions. As much as I dislike Mourinho's character, he is amazing in this regard.
Pep is a good coach but that's it. Nothing more nothing less. - this messiah aura that he holds in the eyes of some cules is understandable but we should still try to look past that.

Your analysis is spot on, you've obviously watched Bayern much more than me this season however one thing I'd like to add: they're missing the Ribbery factor, last year he was a monster, this year? meeh.

 

[Blaugrana Bull]

Another thing I've always held against him (which is linked to the first) he absolutely sucks at making game changing substitutions. As much as I dislike Mourinho's character, he is amazing in this regard.

Actually that is one of Pep's biggest qualities. When he had a fit squad in the first half of the season, he always made the right changes and subs so that Bayern could win games when they were behind.
Mourinho is absolutely clueless what to do when his first 11 doesn't fit. He waits until he is behind and then subs in 3 strikers.

 

[footyfan]

Let's see how he does next season, I think Bayern will be much stronger with Lewandowski.

 

[Barcaman]

If he doesn't get fired, that is.
What can change with Lewa? Pep's trying to copy his Barca without Barca players. There's a problem for you.