Josep Guardiola: The Wonder Maker For Barcelona
No manager in the history of football has achieved success like the young Spaniard, Josep Guardiola. He came into the limelight of football management at a time of crisis, but was not perturbed by any problems, at all. Instead, he gave the World a kind of football, which would be remembered for a very long time.
Guardiola is not new to Barcelona, as he was a member of the Barca’s youth academy. He rose through the ranks and became a part of the Barcelona side, as a defensive midfielder. During his time, between 1990 and 2001, he won 6 La Liga titles, 2 domestic cups and one European Cup. After his long spell of more than 400 appearances for Barcelona, he went to other clubs but was not as successful. Therefore, he retired in 2006 and had to wait for a full year before becoming the coach of Barcelona’s B side in June 2007.
When Guardiola came into Barcelona as a coach, the team was going through a lot of problems. The Dutch coach, Frank Raijkaard, was having issues in player management, which had resulted in the team’s underperformance. When the recently promoted Numancia defeated Barcelona on the first day of the start of the new La Liga Season, the days of Frank Raijkaard were over. However, it was very surprising to see Guardiola promoted to the job of the manager, despite his total lack of experience in this field.
However Guardiola had something else that proved advantageous for the Barcelona side, i.e. he was very young and was a part of the team, six years ago. As Barcelona had most of the players promoted from the youth system, many of the current Barca players had been in the club during the playing days of Guardiola. So, Guardiola proved to be a great man manager, which earned him a lot of respect from his players. When the issues of player-management were over, Barcelona proved to be one of the best teams in the World. Josep Guardiola won six trophies in his first complete season, including a first ever treble in the Spanish League. Guardiola won La Liga, Copa Del Ray, UEFA Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, Euro Super Cup and FIFA Club World Championships.
The first season of Guardiola was more than enough to prove his worth to the critics. He earned a lot of respect in the football circles in and out of Spain. He formed a Barcelona team which could be more powerful than the Glacticos of Real Madrid. Even the Spanish National side ate the fruits of the hard work of Josep Guardiola, as they won their first ever World Cup, where seven of the starting players in the final were the stars from Barcelona.
The real achievement of Guardiola, in terms of football, is the introduction of beautiful brand of football. He uses an unconventional 4-3-3 formation, while focusing on a game based on short passes. His team has developed so much skill that they have been dominating more possession in every single game that they have played.
On the other hand, the Guardiola’s lack of tactical knowledge, because of the lack of experience, has also emerged at one stage or the other. He is criticized because he is often bemused and mystified in situations where the usual tactics are not working and a slight change is needed. The Barcelona’s defeat against Inter Milan, in the Semi Final of the Champions League in 2010, is one of the biggest examples. He was clearly outplayed by the in-depth tactical knowledge of Jose Mourinho, as he had no other way to respond to such a problem.
Yet, Josep Guardiola must have learnt a lot from his last season’s defeat against Inter Milan and this time he would be more prepared in situations where the usual is worthless. Barcelona would definitely progress more and more under Guardiola, however, this season would be crucial as Mourinho, the man who tactically outplayed Guardiola, has been brought in as a manager of the rivals, Real Madrid. The next season’s battle between these two big coaches would be an interesting one.
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