Pep Confidential (32 page)

Pep has been reading Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué’s comments that there are more and more teams who want to play open, possession-based football. ‘I hope Piqué’s right. That’s exactly what I want to see. Let the others all play out from the back, because then we can rob the ball off them! But, I’m afraid, the norm is that they close ranks at the back with four defenders and two defensive midfielders and look to release their four quick guys on the counter. They lob the ball over the top of Thiago or Kroos and, if we aren’t in position, we’re lost. That’s why we can’t launch the ball and look to go up and support it, because that will leave Thiago and Kroos running up and down the pitch the whole time. We need to go step by step, all of us in unison. Lose the ball and – pam! – we win it back quickly because our positional play has us all tightly linked.’

Pep has exactly two days to prepare for the Werder Bremen match, less time than he really needs. Usually he likes to have two-and-a-half days to analyse his opponents. He watches their games and works out how to attack them. He then prepares his three team talks. Given that they generally have two matches a week, Pep has time to plan only for the next game, although his assistants always provide him with a basic summary of their last encounter, which the coach studies into the small hours of the night.

Before immersing himself in his plan for Werder Bremen, he’ll spend some time with Javi Martínez at the end of morning training, going over the problems with the U and the need for more boldness. He’ll also take time out to have that tactical talk with Ribéry, postponed a few months ago when he realised that he needed to go a bit more slowly with the Frenchman. Today the pair sit down and study footage of a false No.9. Pep wants to convince the player that he can play in this zone, not necessarily permanently but certainly for a few minutes every game. He needs him to understand that he can do exactly the same as he does on the wing, only with no exterior line to restrict him. In the middle he’ll be able to move with total freedom.

Pep is determined about this. He has no intention of changing Ribéry, forcing him to move from the wing to the centre of the pitch, but he does want him to develop the ability to move to the centre for short bursts. He is convinced that it will be a useful extension to the Frenchman’s repertoire as well as a qualitative leap forward for the whole team.

I suggest to Guardiola that this would be one more step in his quest for constant improvement, the pursuit of excellence, but he laughs. ‘Excellence! And what exactly is excellence? Excellence is like a bubble. You can look for it as much as you like, but it only appears from time to time. Okay, you have to be ready, you have to be in the right place when it does come along.’

40

‘MISTAKES COME WHEN YOU RELAX.’

Munich, December 14, 2013

IN THE NORTH of Germany, Hurricane Xaver was whipping up winds of 90 miles per hour and the resulting downpour was close to bringing the Werder Bremen match to a halt. In the Weserstadion, Franck Ribéry dropped in and out of the central attacking position, as per the instructions he received two days previously, and with shattering results. The Frenchman played superbly and was a lethal part of Bremen’s worst-ever home defeat – 7-0.

Bayern played with five midfielders (Rafinha, Kroos, Thiago, Götze and Alaba), with the three forwards taking on very different roles: Müller played wide, like a winger, but with licence to make constant diagonal runs infield; Mandžukić started centrally but repeatedly drifted wide left, leaving the centre-forward position wide open; and Ribéry dropped in to combine with the midfielders, effectively performing like a false 9. This constant movement, change of position and combination play demolished their opponents and drew this comment from Pep Guardiola: ‘This is the first time we’ve played a great match using my definition of positional play.

‘I’d like to thank my players for what they have done. It’s an honour to be their coach.’

The then president Uli Hoeness was quick to highlight one of the coach’s main qualities: ‘This is incredible. Whoever’s playing, they play well, but Pep always wants to correct something.’

It was a thrilling experience and for Pep, there were two particularly spectacular moments in the match. The opening goal came from Ribéry’s cross to the front post. Alaba and Mandžukić powered towards the cross like hungry wolves as Werder defender Lukimya put the ball in his own net. It reminded Pep of Miguel Soler’s phrase: ‘A hard, low cross towards the front post is like a goal half scored.’

The second stand-out moment for Guardiola was the sixth goal, created by Ribéry. The Frenchman started it by taking a corner and ended up tucking the goal away himself. This apparently impossible sequence of events was in fact a set-piece Bayern had practised repeatedly in training. Ribéry passed it hard and low to Pizarro, who held it up just about on the vertical edge of the six-yard box. Alaba had been outside the box but sprinted in, beyond Pizarro and the Chilean flicked the ball back to him. Alaba was now on the touchline and immediately cut it back to Ribéry, who had run in unmarked from the corner spot, to score. An exceptional goal, created in seven seconds and scored by the guy who began it at the corner flag.

Bayern were euphoric and the technical team was particularly satisfied, having just seen the results of their strategic planning, the hours of analysis and experimentation they had put in.

The match marked Guardiola’s 200th win in 274 official games across his time with Barcelona and Bayern. As Bayern coach he had now also beaten a Bundesliga record, having avoided defeat in his first 15 matches (a record he would continue to extend). And there was more good news awaiting Pep: Bayer Leverkusen had won 1-0 at Dortmund, which meant that Jürgen Klopp’s side were now trailing the champions by 10 points. Bayern were on cloud nine.

It was left to Manuel Pellegrini to bring them crashing back down to earth.

Guardiola gets irritated by errors made on the pitch, but he is willing to forgive them. Although he is less permissive in private than he might appear in public, he accepts that mistakes do happen. He was a player himself and remembers the many times he messed up in his playing days. However, he is infuriated if he believes a player is moving down a gear because he thinks it’s already in the bag. Guardiola holds dear the belief that you have to earn everything in sport with daily effort and concentration. No wonder his passion is excited by footballers like Mascherano and Iniesta at Barcelona or Lahm and Neuer at Bayern. None of them drops their concentration in any game.

One evening, dining at the Allianz Arena, Pep joined us to watch an unusual video which I had filmed from the main stand of the stadium. It focused exclusively on Neuer as Bayern incessantly attacked, over and again, at the other end of the pitch.

In the film you could only see Neuer, with brief appearances from Dante and Boateng, because Bayern were exercising almost total control of the game. The opposition were pinned back in their own area, but Neuer followed every single move as if he were involved in them, even though the action was 60 metres or more away. Not once did he lose focus as he moved around his area, and outside it, in unison with his team – constantly trying to preview where the play might result in a gap in the Bayern structure, which might need him to intervene. Guardiola was knocked out by it. ‘Manuel is unique, just unique.’

As if still propelled by the Bremen hurricane, Bayern hit the ground running against Manchester City in the Allianz. Ribéry was at false 9 again, Mandžukić had been allowed to drop wide as regularly as he wanted and Müller was pegged to the right wing. Behind them Thiago, Kroos and Götze stroked the ball about at high tempo, joined by Lahm at right-back. With 11 minutes gone Müller and Götze had made it 2-0 and another demolition was on the cards. Bayern were en route to six straight Champions League wins in the group stage, something no reigning champion had managed since the competition replaced the old European Cup in 1992/3.

Then it happened. Bayern started to rest on their laurels. The chances had been flooding in and their domination had been overwhelming. Pep’s players were taking victory for granted.

‘Mistakes come when you relax, if you lose focus when you pass the ball, or receive it, or press for it. It’s when you think everything’s done,’ Pep explained later.

Boateng watched the ball go into the box without intervening; Dante bundled James Milner over in the box when the Englishman had already let the ball get away from him. And finally, at the hour mark, Boateng topped a grim night by failing to clear an easy ball in the box. These three errors allowed City three goals past Neuer, who until then hadn’t let one in for five consecutive matches.

In fact, since joining Bayern, Neuer had never conceded three goals in the same game.

Pep responded by taking a large gulp of water from his bottle and turning to Torrent and Gerland, seated beside him, who reminded him that if City scored one more then they, not Bayern, would top the group. This was significant in that it would mean losing the advantage of playing away first in the next round. Bayern would also have to face a group winner, probably one of the great European clubs. Pep paused momentarily then, with 10 minutes left, called Müller over to the touchline to give him very firm instructions. ‘Kill the game Thomas, get them to kill it off like this – they mustn’t score again.’

From the moment City scored their third, Bayern had looked groggy, incapable of recovering their normal level of play. Pep decided to protect Bayern’s position in the group.

The big surprise wasn’t that Bayern closed the game down but that City didn’t accelerate. Nobody in the English club – not the coach, not his technical staff, nor their sports director – realised that a fourth goal would make them group winners. After the match, they admitted as much (as a result of the final standings, City would draw Barcelona in the last 16 and lose 4-1 over two legs).

Bayern’s Catalan coach was offended more by the manner of the defeat, by the fact that his players relaxed. Matthias Sammer, who two months previously had rocked the club with his demands that the players abandon their comfort zone, was still more irritated than Pep. But neither of them acknowledged this in public.

Both men know that the big rows usually come after a victory. After a defeat – calm. Publicly Pep commented: ‘Congratulations to City for their great win. Now and again you lose a game. I want to congratulate my players for winning the group and hope that they now realise how difficult it can be playing in Europe. Of course they have the right to have an off day every now and again. We’ve got more work to do.’

Nor, over the next few days, would Pep talk to them about the defeat, leaving his players to reflect on what had happened and why. Having observed the way they absorb new tactical concepts he had concluded that, sometimes, less is more. Better, also, to teach the lessons from this defeat at exactly the right moment.

Four days later, on December 14, Bayern play their last match of the year at the Allianz. Hamburg are sent home with a 3-1 defeat in a game which, once more, stands out for the connection between Thiago and Götze, which has gone from strength to strength. Dortmund draw at Hoffenheim and Leverkusen lose at home to Eintracht Frankfurt, meaning that Bayern now head to Marrakech with a seven-point advantage at the top of the table – ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and 12 ahead of Dortmund. It is a decisive distance unimaginable to Pep only two months previously.

Bayern will go to Marrakech in search of one more trophy: the Club World Cup. En route to the airport, Guardiola sums up the year. Bayern have played 33 Bundesliga matches in 2013, winning 30, drawing three for a historic record of 93 points. Heynckes managed 17 of them, drawing once, Pep the rest, 14 wins and two draws. The new man’s first 16 games are unbeaten for 44 points with 42 goals for and only eight against.

The Hamburg win means Bayern are 41 games unbeaten in the league (35 wins and six draws) and that’s it for home games until 2014. There’s a sense of invincibility in the air. Naturally, Pep is not of that mind.

‘We’ve a lot to improve – a
lot
.’

41

‘HERE WE ARE AGAIN. ANOTHER FINAL.’

Marrakech, December 21, 2013

WHAT SURPRISED GUARDIOLA most was the festive atmosphere in the streets of Marrakech. ‘People had come from miles around. It reminded me of Barcelona the day we won the Champions League. There were thousands and thousands of people out and it was a real struggle getting to the hotel.’

Pep had attended the semi-final between Raja Casablanca and Atlético Mineiro with a few members of his technical team. They were all surprised by the score. The Moroccan team defeated Ronaldinho and company with two breathtaking counter-attacks of Bundesliga quality.

Hoping to avoid the triumphant crowds who were certain to flood the streets, Pep and his party left early, six minutes before the end. Just in time, as it turned out, because thousands of fans were already pouring into the centre of Marrakech to celebrate their victory. Raja had made it to the final of the Club World Cup and were about to go up against the mighty Bayern, who, the day before, in Agadir, had scored all three of their goals against Marcello Lippi’s Guangzhou Evergrande in an explosive seven-minute period.

In the bus en route from Agadir to Marrakech, Manel Estiarte didn’t have a lot to say except: ‘Here we are again. Another final.’ It would be Guardiola’s 15th final and his eighth in international competition. He had been defeated in only two: by Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid in extra-time of the 2011 Copa del Rey and by Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund in the 2013 German Super Cup. His record suggested that, as long as his team made it to a final, there was a far better than even chance they’d win.

And so it proves. They dance rings round Raja and after 20 minutes they lead 2-0 through goals from Dante and Thiago. Pep’s men look so comfortable out on the pitch and change position so frequently that, at times, their game evokes Barcelona’s performance against Santos in the same competition in 2011. That day the Brazilian side’s coach swore that Guardiola had played with a 3-7-0. Without going quite that far, the German champions have certainly varied their formation, switching seamlessly at times from a 3-1-6-0 to a 3-2-5-0, given that Müller has once again performed fluidly, certainly not occupying the traditional centre-forward position. Pep has asked them to play three at the back and bring the ball out with courage and panache – the system he practised at the beginning of the month but didn’t use at Augsburg.