For those who have ambitions to pursue a career as a top-class coach, getting to know and gain knowledge from Josep ‘Pep’ Guardiola feels like a privilege. Those who learn from Pep are like applying the adage of stepping on the shoulders of giants – they can reach certain career points because they have learned from their mentor.
If in the early days of his career as a coach Pep studied with Johan Cruyff, Juan Manuel Lillo and Marcelo Bielsa, now it is Pep’s turn to become a teacher for his former foster children. Pep is certainly not a teacher in the sense of someone who teaches coaching science. However, there must be a lot of coaching and managerial knowledge that will be instilled in his foster children.
Players currently coached by Pep have become managers, namely Xavi Hernandez, Vincent Kompany and Xabi Alonso. Xavi now has the opportunity to lead Barcelona to win La Liga, Kompany brings Burnley back to promotion to the Premier League, while Xabi brings Bayer Leverkusen to the semifinals of the Europa League.
Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta, his former assistant at Manchester City, is now competing for the Premier League trophy. Xavi and Pep were two key figures for Barcelona’s glory from 2009 to 2012. Xavi became Pep’s mainstay to organize the Blaugrana’s midfield.
Xavi openly admits that he is Pep’s student even though he has no intention of beating his former coach. Watching Xavi become Pep’s foster child is like imagining when Pep became Johan Cruyff’s foster child. “It’s not a question of ego, I don’t want to beat Pep or Johan (Cruyff) or anyone. On the contrary, I have nurtured myself thanks to them, I am their student, my dream is to return Barca to the top of the world,” Xavi said in July 2022 then quoted from Goal.
The former Al Sadd coach also admitted that the tactics he applied at Al Sadd were similar to Pep’s tactical concept, namely dominating the game, possession, strong possession, and carrying out many attacks.
“It’s about attacking opponents skillfully in a certain way. In this case it wasn’t my idea. I’ve learned a lot with Guardiola, from the way, the ambition he has, the desire and passion he feels. He is a football-obsessed tactician and a joy to be around close,” Xavi told John Edwards and Cesc Guimera of Mancity.com in 2020.
Vincent Kompany admits that Pep has given him a new way of looking at football. Pep gave him the language of football that he understands and that motivated the former Manchester City captain to write his own football career story.
“That kind of approach to chess suits my way of thinking but I’ve never done it before. I’ve had amazing coaches and managers who taught me a lot of things before, but not the strategic side of the game. I think most players understand that, that’s his strength. Once you experience it, it’s hard to think any other way,” Kompany said in an interview with SkySports.
It seems that Pep feels that there is extraordinary potential in Kompany, to the extent that he says that Kompany will coach Manchester City in the future. “Maybe he (Kompany) doesn’t agree with me but after seeing his team (Burnley), I’m more than sure today, he’ll be back. When? When I said how I felt last week, this part I don’t know. But it will happen ,” said Pep ahead of Manchester City’s match against Burnley in the FA Cup quarter-finals last March 19.
However, Kompany has asked his former coach to stop tying himself to a return to Manchester City. The 37-year-old said he was only the manager of a Championship team and he suggested that Pep would stay in charge of The Citizens for another ten years or more.
Kompany also said that City needed to have a world-class manager. Indirectly, he praised Pep as a first-class manager and he felt he was still far from Pep’s level. Pep’s foster children at FC Bayern, Xabi Alonso, admit that Pep is a very special person. As a manager, said Alonso, Pep understands how to read football in the smallest detail – about what the team needs to control and create chances. Xabi considers Manchester City to be very stable and able to control all matches. To do that in the Premier League, according to Xabi, is very difficult and this success is part of Pep’s knowledge of the game and his passion as a manager.
“He (Pep) always tries to cheer up the team and transmit that spirit. All this knowledge cannot be transmitted without heart and without passion. That combination is what makes him so brilliant,” he said.
Xabi’s teammate at FC Bayern, Phillip Lahm, thinks Xabi definitely has the capital to become a successful manager. According to Lahm, Xabi has conquered the three best leagues in the world with Liverpool (Premier League), Real Madrid (La Liga) and FC Bayern (Bundesliga). Xabi was also trained by experienced managers such as Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafael Benitez, Vicente del Bosque, and of course Pep Guardiola.
“His playing career is no guarantee Xabi will become a great coach. But he certainly has everything it takes: charisma, age, qualifications and a character that wants to keep growing. And knowledge that you can only gain on the pitch,” Lahm wrote in an essay that appeared on The Guardians.
Three and a half seasons as Pep’s assistant made Arteta absorb Pep’s knowledge a lot. Now, Arteta is Pep’s competitor in the race for the Premier League title. Since handling Arsenal, Arteta has tried to apply posesional football as Pep has implemented at Manchester City. It’s just that Arteta changed players more because the composition of his players was not as evenly distributed as The Citizens.
On the other hand, Arteta also explicitly released players who were not included in his scheme, such as Alexandre Lacazette, Hector Bellerin and Shkodran Mustafi. Pep did the same when he first landed at Manchester City, by not giving Yaya Toure, Joe Hart and Sergio Aguero a place.
Arteta admitted that he did not imitate anyone as a coach. However, he admits that he has been inspired by Pep, both as a player and as a coach. As a manager, Pep did not hesitate to admit that Arteta had a big role in shaping him into a better manager. “I don’t know what part of me he was but the influence he had on me was huge, very big, very important to become a better manager,” said Pep.
On the other hand, several coaches admit that they have learned a lot from Pep. Erik ten Hag, for example. The man who is now the manager of Manchester United admits that he learned a lot from the former FC Bayern coach. Ten Hag and Pep did work together in 2013-2015. At that time, Pep was the main coach of FC Bayern while Ten Hag was the reserve team coach.
“Football in Germany has been different since Pep arrived. The whole league changed because of the way football is played. I watch almost every training (session). I learned a lot from his methods, how he transfers his philosophy to the pitch,” said Ten Hag.
ASL
